State Secretary Ingrid Brocková at the Official Opening in Trenčín of the Exhibition Entitled HELP! How Slovaks Help Abroad: “We do not experience the terrors of war, but we all are experiencing an extremely difficult period. Only solidarity, empathy and mutual assistance will help us overcome it.”

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Ingrid Brocková, accompanied by the Mayor of Trenčín, Richard Rybníček, the photographer Ján Husár, and the director of the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation (SAIDC) Sabina Slimáková, officially opened the exhibition, entitled HELP!How Slovaks Help Abroad, at Štúrovo námestie square in Trenčín today (28 August 2021). The exhibition, which goes to three regional Slovak cities this year, was prepared by SAIDC to commemorate the activities of the international development cooperation and humanitarian aid of the Slovak Republic.

The Slovak Agency for International and Development Cooperation was founded by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic in 2007. With the commitment of the Slovak Republic to international solidarity, SAIDC supports projects via its partners from among non-governmental and international organizations and entities, under the SlovakAid brand. These projects are targeted to help people in the least developed and most endangered regions of the world. 

“We closely cooperate with a wide spectrum of non-governmental international and other organizations and entities that realize projects supported by SlovakAid. Only with their help is our assistance possible.  The pictures we are looking at were created during the realization of these projects,” stated the State Secretary.

"If people look at the exhibition, they will realize that even though life in Slovakia has its problems, there are communities of people in the world who are really struggling with existential problems. I am glad that our country, which has only recently started to build development aid capacity, can provide humanitarian and development aid, "the Secretary of State explained.

"In these photos, people in Slovakia and Trenčín can see what real poverty is. We often think we are poor, but what real poverty is in these pictures. I am glad that the Slovak Republic is helping really poor people in countries where they have no perspective and are dying of hunger and diseases that we do not even think about, "said Rybníček.

The exhibition presents photographs from Kenya, Lebanon, South Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia, that were taken in realization of concrete projects supported by SlovakAid. Responsible for the pictures is Ján Husár, a military photographer and long-term SAIDC partner. The HELP! exhibition will be available to the public in Trenčín until 8 August 2021 and also online at www.slovakaidpomoc.sk.

Source: MFEA SR a MY Trenčín (SME)