Warsaw man dresses as dinosaur every day to cheer up Ukrainian refugee children

Millions of Poles have helped those fleeing the war in Ukraine, providing accommodation, food and other forms of support. But perhaps none has done so more eye-catchingly than a man who dons a dinosaur costume every day to entertain child refugees in Warsaw.

Tomasz Grzywiński had the idea of dressing up as a dinosaur and handing out treats to children at Warsaw’s main railway station – where many refugees have been sleeping on the floor – after initially taking sandwiches to help feed new arrivals, reports Wirtualna Polska.

Now he has begun roaming further afield in the capital – including visiting children queuing outside the Ukrainian consulate – and is joining forces with other dinosaurs trying to spread some joy to children forced to flee their homes.

More than two million Ukrainians have crossed the border into Poland since war broke out in their country, around half of them being children. There are over 300,000 refugees in Warsaw alone, raising the city’s population by around 17%.

“The sight of the children overwhelmed and moved me,” Grzywiński told Wirtualna Polska. “Little ones who look like my own children and who [until recently] were going to the swimming pool and on trips with their parents in Kyiv. Now they’ve left everything to flee from the war.”

Grzywiński told Polskie Radio RDC that he wanted to do something based on his own professional experiences. “I’ve been making entertainment programmes and films my whole life,” he said. “I know children, so I know that they get bored during journeys, even when going on holiday. And what if they’re fleeing from bombs?”

His seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter gave their dad the seal of approval after he put on the costume for the first time. After three minutes at the station, despite the heat and poor visibility, he knew the idea was a good one.

“Some of the children had traumatic experiences such as pushing through enormous crowds at the station in Lviv,” says Grzywiński. “Others had a slightly better journey.”

“Reactions have varied hugely,” he explains. “One day I met a little girl aged around two and a half, who came up and grabbed the dinosaur by the leg. She just stood there hugging. That completely threw me. She didn’t want any sweets, she just needed a cuddle, at least for a moment.”

“I meet kids like that almost every day. Others run up and give me five, while others still are very frightened,” he adds.

A collection point was organised at a Warsaw café for people wanting to donate sweets to be handed out, although it soon had to be suspended as it was full. An online collection has so far raised more than 46,000 zloty (€9,800) to support the venture.

Despite the renown he has achieved, Grzywiński rejects suggestions that he is a hero. “People really do a lot more than me,” he told Nasze Miasto, a local news website, earlier this month.

“Volunteers work a dozen or more hours at a time. I try to get out every day for an hour or two between my own responsibilities, with three kids and work. To put a smile on the faces of the children at least for a moment.”

The dinosaur from Warsaw Central station has already been joined by other representatives of his species outside the Ukrainian embassy and consulate, and says that he would like the idea to spread further afield.

“There’s an army of dinosaurs forming to fight for children’s smiles,” he told RDC. “I would like to reach displaced children’s homes. There’s one near Warsaw with 700 children who nobody has visited yet. They’d already had a hard life, and now their children’s home has been bombed and they’ve fled to us. These are children who would be happy to see such dinosaurs.”

Main image credit: Adam Zapała/Dinozaur z Centralnego/Facebook

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.