Diary

Memorable programs, memorable people

23 June 2019

Our Pride, Our Hopes

It was twelve years ago that my parents established the Herczegh Károly Foundation to provide support for the preservation of the native culture of Hungarians living in the Ung Region. The choice of the name of the foundation intended to pay tribute to my grandfather living in the region, the foundation, though, targeted future generations already upon its inception. A fruit of the work of the foundation was the essay competition entitled Our Pride, and my mother and I welcomed the winners in the courtyard of the Hungarian Community Centre in Nagykapos. Students of the Hungarian schools in Fülek, Szőgyén and Királyhelmec had the most outstanding results, which were also presented at the awards ceremony in Kapos, showcasing the portraits of some prominent natives of their region. Twenty-three teams competed all coming from Slovakia and were joined by students from the Vojvodina and Hungary, as well. Twenty-three lifetime achievements came to life in the course of the competition. These students studied heroes of the past, the careers of often little-known figures of national pride and set examples for themselves and others by focusing on dedicated people, who served throughout their entire life, the rise of their communities. At the closing event of the memorial year named after my father, kindergarteners from Nagykapos, as well as the residents of the Children’s Home Saint Michael of Rát performed, and the participants of the charity race ‘We are of the same blood’ also arrived. Children from Transcarpathia and Slovakia sang together the song Nélküled (Without You), of the band Ismerős arcok (Familiar Faces), with the burden “We are of the same blood.” I think, they are our hopes.