Opinions & Interviews

ALEXANDRIA, 8 July (BelTA) – During the Kupala Night Festival (Alexandria Gathers Friends) on 8 July Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko called upon citizens to revive their home towns and other birthplaces, BelTA has learned.

Alexander Lukashenko said: “I would like to address all the people, who can do something for the country today, particularly people of means with certain capabilities. Let’s do what everyone can do, what can be done for our birthplaces in the next few years. I am confident that if a well-to-do person, who was born in a small village and still remembers the place, can do something for that village, then in three or maybe five years our country will be beautiful and flourishing. This is why today from my own birthplace I call on those, who have not forgotten their own birthplace: if you are a well-to-do person, let’s do what we can do for these villages, rivulets, for small towns.”

The president explained that his latest trip to the town of Kopys was an attempt to make Belarus better, to set an example of what the country should look like. “It is time to take care of these small towns and villages of little promise. We just have to save them. We have to make them comfortable for our people, for our children and grandchildren,” noted Alexander Lukashenko.

The head of state pointed out that people will still remember their places of origin regardless of wherever destiny may take them. Those are the places where they feel truly at home, where they can forget the hustle and bustle of big cities and where time flows differently. “Every one of us leaves a piece of their soul in the old country. Our lands are famous for small villages, which, however, have never been parochial. Our villages and towns, our capital city, which was born from a similar town — they have given a lot and they have given it to many,” stated the Belarusian leader. “Minsk Oblast, Vitebsk Oblast, Grodno Oblast, Gomel Oblast, and Brest Oblast. Or Mogilev Oblast. Every one of us hears the voice of his or her birthplace, the one true place on Earth.”

Alexander Lukashenko remarked that some people may feel the urge to visit places, to go somewhere. “But over the years of my presidency I’ve travelled all over the world. I’ve seen beautiful places. And I tell you sincerely from my heart that there is no finer place than the place where your roots and origins are. I’ve never seen one,” he stressed. “I say it for you to understand that sooner or later the call of the old country will find you and bring you where you were born. This is why let’s revive these places, let’s treasure them regardless of what they are. They are our land. They are our motherland that gave us life.”