Apart from day-to-day medication, the spiritual factor, which was repressed for decades in Hungary, is also important and more and more people have realised to what extent the power of faith and religion or the work of non-governmental organisations can help healing, Minister of State for Social and Family Affairs Miklós Soltész from the Ministry of Human Resources said in Zalaszabar on Monday.
On the occasion of the Gyógyuló Holnapocska (“Healing Tomorrow”) Camp open day, Mr. Soltész reported on the value-creating activities of and support provided to civilian organisations that organise and run summer camps for children recovering from cancer.
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The Minister of State also mentioned that the National Cooperation Fund – operated by the State within the framework of the Ministry – has provided 365 million forints (EUR 1.18 million) in funding to 525 applicants for organisation of similar camps this year. In contrast, the Norway Grants, which “have rightly been the subject of heated debate”, has provided 1.3 billion forints (EUR 4.2 million) in funding to 136 applicants this year, meaning quadruple the funding for 25% less places, Mr. Soltész said, adding that this system in which “funding is often provided totally unnecessarily through the Norway Grants to organisations that are under the influence of foreign non-governmental agencies” is “catastrophic and bad” compared to the subsidies provided by the Hungarian state.
By way of illustration he mentioned that a lesbian organisation had received funding of 20 million forints from the Fund. “It is no accident that the Hungarian Government has begun to take action against this”, he said, adding that “the Government would definitely adopt a totally different approach” during the 2014-2020 financial period. There will be no extreme disproportionality of this kind and “we will not be funding non-governmental organisations that advocate a lack of values and needless things”, he stated.
In answer to a question from the press, Mr. Soltész explained that there are currently some 60 thousand non-governmental organisations operating in Hungary, and they receive a total of some 40 billion forints (EUR 130 million) in funding from various sources.
He pointed out that in the future more emphasis shall be placed on providing funding to non-governmental organisations engaged in activities that help families and support healing. He also mentioned that EU funding “is not received as a gift; we have the same right to this funding as other member states do”. We must have our say in assuring that money received for non-governmental agencies from the EU, the Norway Grants or the Swiss Enlargement Contribution “really does go to the right places and is well-utilised”, he declared.
Founder of the Healing Tomorrow Camp Zoltán Szabadics stated that they had organising camps for children recovering from cancer for three years now, in co-operation with the Paediatric Clinic of the Semmelweis University in Budapest. This time 25 schoolchildren were hosted for one week, and this is the first time that a number of children could also be accompanied by their siblings.
He added that after years of treatment these experiences also help children “return to the environment they were torn out of by their disease”. Based on their social responsibility, anyone has the opportunity to help these children become healthy members of society as early as possible, either as volunteers “or just with a tray of cookies”.
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Miklós Garami, paediatric oncology specialist at the Semmelweis University Paediatrics Clinic, confirmed that medication itself is not sufficient for healing. To enable children to regain their full health – and eight out of ten children can be healed – physical, psychological and spiritual rehabilitation should begin as soon as the disease is diagnosed, and the camp in Zalaszabar is a perfect location for that, he added.
(Ministry of Human Resources)
