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Showing posts from 2009

New Year's Prayer

First of all I would like to wish you a blessed 2010! I pray that God will give you a year full of love, wisdom protection and health; a fruitful year full of personal, professional but especially spiritual growth in order to love God and the others and to be able to use your gifts and talents even more than this year! Also I would like to thank you for your interest, prayers and encouragements for my mission and work in East Europe. I hope that the stories I wrote on this blog reflect a bit the situation and challenges of some of the countries where I was active for the ECPM. With Gods Help I hope to continue this also in the new year! Last but not least, I would like to leave you a prayer for the New Year. It is a combination of two prayers that which inspired me, together with a personal thought. I hope that we can pray this together as a joined prayer for 2010: Our God and Father , GIVE us the kindness to hear with compassion,to offer support,loving comfort, and care. GIVE us the

Belarus: the battle for recognition, a battle for freedom (part 3, final)

In the afternoon, a number of interesting questions were discussed and voted on. First there was the question of whether the party should participate in the local elections in 2010. These elections would most probably not be held honestly. Would it not be better just to boycott the elections? Finally people voted for the option to participate in the elections. There should be a signal given to the people that an opposition and therefore alternatives exist. Also the campaigns could be used to spread the messages of the party and to make the party better known in Belarus. Another question was concerning the presidential elections planned for 2011. In these elections, all the opposition parties together form a coalition and name one presidential candidate. This joint candidate is chosen based on the support that this candidate has. Finally people voted that the co-chairman Vital Rymasheuski be nominated as presidential candidate for the BCD in the race for presidential elections for the j

Belarus: the battle for recognition, a battle for freedom (part 2)

It was very busy in the hall of the conference centre as people were being registered. The organizers worked very hard throughout the night to finish everything in time and the conference room was decorated well for the congress. At 10:30 a.m. the congress was officially opened with the announcement that despite the fact that people were stopped on their way by the police (here called “militia”), and the presence of police and army at the square, the congress could take place, now 18 years after the independence of Belarus. This was followed with a loud “Long live Belarus”. This slogan was repeated throughout the congress After the opening prayer and practical and statutory matters, important persons gave their greetings. The first greeting, given by Stanislau Shushkievich, was remarkable. He was the one who signed, together with Boris Yeltsin and Leanid Crauchuk, the document for the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991. He was also the first prime minister of the independent Belar

Belarus: the battle for recognition, a battle for freedom (part 1)

Minsk is a big, clean city, well lit and beautiful, with impressive buildings: a pleasant city to live in. On the other hand you see posters with militaristic, communist symbols on these big buildings. In front of the “parliament” building there is a big statue of Lenin. If you travel further, you will pass a big yellow building: the headquarters of the Belarusian secret service, still called the KGB here.Further, crossing the river you will see a kind of barn. This is the place where Lenin held his first communist congress in 1898. When you walk further, you will arrive at the Victory Square where a monument with an eternal flame to remember the victims of the Second World War when also many people were killed and 80% of the houses were destroyed.If you go further and leave the city, you will find one of the mass graves where hundreds of thousands of people were killed by this same communist regime. Every year, on the second Sunday in November, a procession is held to remember the vic

European Directive on "Equal Treatment"

Dear friends, At the end of November the "Equal Treatment" directive will be discussed in the European Council of Ministers. This directive can have serious consequences for the freedom of expression and many other issues. More information you will find on the website from the "Christian Concern for Our Nation": http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=848 Let us pray and act that this Directive in its current form not will be accepted and for wisdom for our ministers. Greetings and blessings Leo van Doesburg

Follow the mini-blogs during the International Summer School

During the whole week of the International Summer School "(South East) Europe between Identity and Integration" you can follow the developments by reading the mini-blogs on the ECPYN blogspot. Jonathan van Tongeren, secretary general of ECPYN will post there regularly. You can find the ECPYN blogspot at http://ecpyn.blogspot.com

Walls that divide, Walls that unite: personal lessons from the trip to Poland

(Picture: message on the remains of the Berlin Wall, East Gallery) On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip. Last time I wrote my impressions about Armenia and Georgia. This is my last destination from that trip: Warsaw! In the early morning, together with our friends from the Christian Democratic Movement of Georgia (CDM), I boarded the flight to Warsaw where I was to take part in the meeting organized by the "East European Bureau for Christian Democratic parties" from the former Soviet countries. This is an agreement between the Christian Democratic parties of Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia, Moldovia and Ukraine. The founders of the Christian Democratic party of Russia were observers. This meeting was organized within the conference of the European People's Party. At the airport in Vienna where we had to change planes, I saw Gevorg who just arrived from Yerevan. Unfortunately he had to wait for another plane w

Georgia: The Rose of the Caucasus (part 2)

Last time I shared my first impressions of the visit to Georgia and the beauty of the country. Here is the second part of my impressions of my trip to Georgia. In addition to everything I saw and learned about Georgia, it was impressive to visit one of the regional offices of the CDM in Telavi. The leader of the office demonstrated how they try to involve the local people in the activities of the CDM. They have a lot of people involved already and have organized special actions, like a walk to a local church that was difficult to reach. This created not only a good team feeling for the leadership team of the regional branch of the party but also much goodwill for the people in the area that is difficult to reach, because although the cities are well-developed, the rural areas are still quite poor and in need of development. Toast your heritage In the evening, a special surprise was prepared: for my birthday they organized a special dinner in a very traditional place in

Georgia: The Rose of the Caucasus (part 1)

On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip, visiting Armenia, Georgia and Warsaw. In this third report I would like to tell about my trip to Georgia. The aim of that visit was to learn more about their situation, about the work of the Christian Democratic Movement and to discuss collaboration with the ECPM. Although the city was blocked for some time because of the demonstrations against President Saakashvili, and the situation in Georgia was still tense, the CDM organized an impressive program to learn more about the beautiful country of Georgia, about the party and also about their local offices. In the first evening, I had dinner with the party leader of the CDM, George Targamadze, and with the Director of International Relations, George Rukhadze, (interesting: the Georges from Georgia) in a beautiful setting, overlooking the beautiful skyline of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. When you see the skyline, you notice two things. First, that T

Intermezzo: The Thorns of the Rose Revolution

On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip. Last time I wrote about the impressions of Armenia. This is the second report, as intermezzo before giving my impressions of the trip to Georgia. My plane landed, after a short flight, in Tblisi. The difference between the international airports of Armenia and Georgia is interesting. The airport in Yerevan is small, has a real round shape, but the messages were not announced in English. I had to concentrate to hear if something about Tblisi was mentioned. The Tblisi airport seemed much grander and more according to international standards, with announcements also in English but with a very strict security! I had to wait a very long time for our luggage. Also there were billboards telling that if your luggage had a yellow sticker, then you should go directly to the customs and security!. The thorns of the rose revolution in Georgia It was clear for me that the situation in Georgia was still tense and dif

Armenia: About pomegranates, fruitfulness and travelling on Noah’s height

On 20th April, Easter Monday, I left Romania again for an exciting new trip. This time I was to visit Armenia in preparation for the ECPM congress; Georgia to visit the Christian Democratic Movement and to learn more about the political situation and how the ECPM could play a role to promote the Christian democratic values in this country; and to visit the meeting of the Eastern European Bureau for Christian Democracy that would take place during the Annual Congress of the European Popular Party in Warsaw. This is the first report, with impressions of the trip to Armenia. Monday evening I left Timisoara and went via Vienna to Yerevan. In the airplane I noticed that in Armenia it was three hours later in Vienna and so I arrived in the middle of the night in Yerevan but not at alltired. Accommodation was arranged by an old friend of mine, Levon Bardakjian, who offered to let me stay with his family. I arrived at his place, a nice house on a hill where I had a marvelous vie
Dear friends, For a long time, people tried to convince me to make a blogspot where I could say a little bit about my travels, the things that are happening in Eastern Europe and my personal thoughts. However, I never have had time or opportunity to create one, but Jonathan van Tongeren and Auke Minnema - both involved in the activities of the European Christian Political Youth Network (ECPYN) – gave me a nice surprise and created this blog called: “Leo cel mare” (this is Romanian for “Leo the Great”). They explained the title as follows: “This blogspot was presented to Leo by some friends, because he is a great guy, hence the title 'Leo the Great'.” Personally I think that they made a mistake in the interpretation. Besides „great”, the Romanian word „mare” can also mean „big” referring to size or volume. Maybe this meaning of „Leo cel Mare” could fit better for me! But in any case whatever meaning is given to „Leo cel Mare”, I am very happy with the blogspot they creat