Hungarianness, security and friendship are represented by the church-founded Erzsébet camps, the President of the Republic said on Monday at the ten-year jubilee ceremony of the Erzsébet camps in Zánká.
In the Erzsébet camp, you can learn about belonging to the thousand-year-old nation, what it means to be Hungarian in the Great Plains, Zala, Tolna, Transdanubia or Borsod, throughout the Carpathian Basin, in the Highlands, in the Southern Region, in Subcarpathia, in Transylvania and in the diaspora Katalin Novák emphasized.
The President of the Republic added:
the camp also means safety in a mental and physical sense, parents do not have to worry about their children, in addition, new friendships are formed and old friendships can become stronger.
The Erzsébet camps also express the trinity of God, home, and family, since Erzsébet, who has a church background, exercises the founding rights over the Foundation for Children of the Carpathian Basin in the Szeged-Csanád Diocese and the Danube Reformed Church District. Therefore, those who camp here can also experience what it means to be a God-fearing, God-believing person, he said.
Katalin Novák also touched on the fact that a million children have camped in the Erzsébet camps, the renewed Zánka and Fonyódliget camps, and the Transylvanian camp, as well as various types of day care and overnight camps.
The Erzsébet camp is an oasis for those children who would not be able to get to the shores of Lake Balaton on their own, he said.
Katalin Novák thanked the teachers, those who help in spiritual strengthening and all the contributors for their work, who not only keep it alive, but also fill the camp sites with more and more life.
Tibor Hornyák, the chairman of the foundation's board of trustees, reminded: the Elizabeth camps started ten years ago, and since then the camp program has been serving Hungarian children in Hungary and beyond the border with the help of the government.
He emphasized: on the 10th birthday, it is not necessary to celebrate the camp or the camp site, but rather to focus on the gifts and opportunities that the Elizabeth camps gave and are giving to the children who camp.
The Erzsébet camps started in the Erzsébet program in 2012 under the auspices of the Hungarian National Holiday Foundation, and since 2016, for the seventh year, they have been organized by the church-founded Erzsébet Foundation, receiving a lot of support from the state, he said.
He added: they also took ownership of the campsites in Fonyódliget, Zánka and Transylvania, receiving support for renovations as well.
In the past two years, the camp sites have been able to be completely renovated, their accommodation capacity has increased, the program offer and the system have also improved. While 30,000 people camped in 2012, 180,000 campers will come to some type of camp this year, emphasized Tibor Hornyák.
Children from Subcarpathia, Transylvania, Southern Region, Highlands and Croatia also come to Erzsébet camps. From June 19 to August 26, around 35,000 children camp in the experience camps in Zánka and Fonyódliget.
At the birthday celebration, a time capsule was placed at the main building, the Elizabeth song was sung, and the brothers serving in the Elizabeth camps said a blessing, and then the birthday cake was cut.
Source: vasarnap.hu/MTI
Featured image: MTI
