Deputy Foreign Minister Kyriakos Gerontopoulos this afternoon visited the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad (GSGA) summer camps in Malesina and met with young Greeks from 11 foreign countries who were hosted at the summer camps from 7 to 20 August. Thirty-four young Greeks of the Diaspora participated in the programme, which was discontinued in 2009 and reinitiated this year, following actions on the part of the Foreign Ministry.
This was the third programme carried out by the Foreign Ministry and the GSGA this summer. The two earlier programmes were for adolescents aged 15 to 17, who were hosted in Athens and visited archaeological and other sites of historical interest, and for teachers from countries of the former Soviet Union, who attended the Greek language teaching programme. In the latter programme, 60 teachers received additional training in teaching Greek from the Thessaloniki Centre for the Greek Language.
Mr. Gerontopoulos met with all the participants in the three programmes and had the opportunity, during his visit to the Malesina summer camps, to visit all the facilities, talk to the young Greeks from abroad, and participate in their activities, presenting them with gifts of books of Greek literature.
Discussing the three programmes that were re-launched this year and completed successfully, Mr. Gerontopoulos stated that “it is a very good start, and I feel satisfied and pleased that we managed, with the persistence of the Foreign Ministry and, even more so, the GSGA, to breathe new life into these programmes, which were completed with absolute success. It was a big wager, and I think we won it.
I met with the children in both programmes, as well as with the teachers, and I really did see the joy and satisfaction in their eyes. The ties with the motherland were made even closer. I thank the GSGA for the effort made towards the success of these programmes, and I also thank all of those who contributed so that we could get this result.
Now our attention is on the organization of next year’s programmes. On 1 September we will begin working to promote our programmes at all of our Embassies, so that we can have even greater participation. We also plan to move ahead with the winter programmes for children from the southern hemisphere, so that they can come during their summer holidays.”
August 21, 2014