“Two types of danger threaten Western Christianity: the extremist Islam increasing with migration and woke culture / extreme liberalism which would just as well abolish the fundamental rights of Christians,” Tristan Azbej revealed in his interview with Magyar Nemzet. The State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps Program discussed the past year’s achievements, the most worrying consequences of migration, and the processes endangering European Christianity.
“After a 2020 dominated by pandemic restrictions and defense, the Hungary Helps program was renewed with fresh vigor in 2021. By the end of the year, we reached more and more people in need and – if we try to quantify this mission, when in reality it has a much larger meaning – we helped persecuted Christians in over 40 countries and other crisis-stricken communities with nearly 200 aid programs and donations,” said the state secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office in charge of assisting persecuted Christians and the Hungary Helps program. Tristan Azbej pointed out that the Hungary Helps program
reached a very significant milestone last year by helping more than half a million people worldwide.
Helping to recover
The Hungary Helps programs have been successfully implemented in many parts of the world, helping to keep communities alive and well. “This is the case in Kosovo as well, whose location sticks out, yet follows the same principle,” he said of his visit to Kamenica in December. Kosovo was devastated by bloody war in the late 1990s, and although the peacekeeping mission there was able to put a stop to the war, the wounds of the conflict have not yet healed in society. The Serbian and Albanian-speaking ethnic groups are completely segregated, and acts of violence occur from time to time –Kamenica is in a particularly disadvantaged region. The local youth center set up at the behest of the community and opened in December also offers a range of vocational training opportunities, including IT and business development skills, foreign languages, and creative arts. “We are glad that we could contribute, and the Kosovars deserve to finally leave the devastation of war behind them,” said the politician. He believes it also especially important to mention that the Hungarian soldiers in the Kosovo peace-mission have done an enormous job; currently over 500 Hungarian soldiers are serving in the region.