Kispest chapter of the sister town student exchange program drew to a close on Sunday: some fifty Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian and Turkish young people finished their camping in Káptalanfüred. Nearly thirty children of Kispest spent the summer holiday in the social camp of the local government and got acquainted with the foreign students. Peter Gajda mayor, György Vinczek deputy mayor and Mrs J. Bogó local representative also paid a visit to the camp this Thursday.
The sister town student exchange program of this year ended in the framework of which students from Smolyan (Bulgaria), Sombor (Serbia) and Krzeszowice (Poland) visited Kispest where they were camping together with Hungarian children. During ten days of the program organized for the 12th occasion this year participants could get more acquainted with culture and traditions of each other, they could form their foreign relations and see main sights of Budapest and environs of Lake Balaton.
First three days of the program the students were put up by families of Kispest with whom they saw sights of Budapest and met Peter Gajda, mayor, too. The children spent the following days in Káptalanfüred in the holiday camp of the local government where, among others, sport events, beach volleyball, excursions, contests, lectures and beach facilities were waiting them. They went and saw the sights of some towns in the Balaton region, visited the queens’ town and the zoo in Veszprém, sailed to Tihany, they could improve their knowledge of environment in Csopak, and as a novelty paintball and bobsleighing were also included in the program. Participants could enjoy performances of each other – they gave the guests a foretaste of their culture and traditions – in Polish, Bulgarian and Turkish folklore evenings. Children could improve their experience regarding the Union in the framework of quizzes and contests. The summer student exchange program – in the course of which young people could also improve their English knowledge – was supported by the European Union.
István Szilágyi, official in charge of sister town program, leader of the camp of 120 told that twenty students each arrived from Poland and Bulgaria, six from Serbia and ten from Turkey altogether with fourteen attendants. Leaders of the minority governments – Ferenc Molnár, president of the Polish Minority Municipality of Kispest, Tütünkov-Hrisztov Jordán, president of the Bulgarian Minority Municipality of Kispest and Rusz Boriszláv, president of the Serbian Minority Municipality of Kispest – also took their share in arrangement of the programs. In addition, two teachers of the Deák Ferenc Secondary School and – in the framework of communal work – eight students of the same also contributed to success of the camping. Prior to the summer holiday in Balaton twenty students each travelled to Smolyan (Bulgaria) from Gábor Áron Primary School and to Krzeszowice (Poland) from Eötvös József Primary School, many of them had also taken part in the camp in Káptalanfüred.
Twenty-six children of Kispest spent their summer holiday in the social camp of the local government and – joining the program of the international camp – got acquainted with the foreign students. Mrs Vígh Erzsébet Vincze, director of the Social Service Centre of Kispest informed us that every school of the district “delegated” two students to the camp and children also came managed by the family welfare service. All the young people, we inquired, enjoyed the one-week camp very much, children were happy to tell about the mixed and interesting programs, pointing out quality of meals in the camp, and also told that – apart from storm raging in the middle of the week – the weather, fortunately, also took the campers into its good graces.