Speech by Katalin Novák at the Opening of Gemma Centre - Szeged, 31 August 2022 

A baby girl was born 23 years ago. Her parents had been looking forward to her arrival and were very happy to have her next to her brother in the family. As they cared for her and watched how she was developing, they noticed that she wasn't lifting her head as she should, she wasn't turning, she wasn't developing as it was described in books about babies.

Zsófi received her diagnosis 23 years ago, with the conclusion that she would never speak and walk. Her parents were told this is what they could expect. Many asked the question of her mother and father at the time: why don't you put her in an institution? How are you going to cope with this? Your family will break down with such a burden. It will ruin the life of the elder brother, who is perfectly healthy. Don't allow this to happen! 
Zsófi is now 23 years old - her parents said yes to her. They said yes to her not only at her conception, not only when she was born, but also when they received this difficult diagnosis. Their lives are full of daily struggles, as are the lives of those who are here with us today. They have also coined the phrase 'we are Zsófi-ing', reflecting the many struggles and many pains but also the many beauties and many smiles. 

Who have joined us today? His Excellency, our beloved Ágnes, the kind parents and their dear children. Here with us today are the parents who, like Zsófi's parents, said yes. Not once and not twice. They have said yes a thousand times already today, maybe a hundred thousand times, because we have to say yes more than once when we make important decisions. To our spouse, we do not say yes just once, but again and again every day. Neither do we say yes to our children only once. We must reaffirm this yes daily. 
So here are the parents who dared to say yes, who were strong enough to say yes. And they have continued to say yes day by day. 

We have with us also foster parents, raising the children whose parents could not say this yes. They might have said yes first, but lost heart and gave up the struggle later on. The foster parents are now saying the yeses and raising the children instead of the birth parents. 
We also have the teachers, the helpers, everyone working here at Gemma, along with the volunteers, who all help to make it easier to those yeses day by day. 

Here with us is his Excellency, who has personally embraced Gemma and fought hard for it from the very first moment. At first he only hoped to raise a few tens of millions of forints, and now we are talking about half a billion. His Excellency’s personal intercession was often necessary for this. I remember well myself. We can be very grateful that His Excellency has stood by Gemma since the very first moment. 

Here we also have the entrepreneurs who understood that their money would be put to good use, that their donation would create value, so they reached into their pockets and selflessly helped - and have continued to help to this day. And whenever something was missing, it is obvious that there were always people to turn to, because this is how this new building must have been built. Here we are joined by the leaders who stood by the cause and helped, but we do not have here those who did not. 

And here is also a leader, Mrs. Imre née Ágnes Péntek, who supported Gemma by not only dreaming it, but also by turning her dream into reality. Because there are many who dream, we have many dreamers, many dream builders, but few are able to build what they have dreamed. When the dreaming and the building unites in a single person, we have someone able to create centres like Gemma, able to work wonders. Thank you very much Ágnes, for having been here for us and for remaining here for us also in the future.

And here are the children, the stars of the show today. The children and young people for whom this centre was created, for whom the playground was built, and who will now be able to formally take possession of this renewed, improved building following the schoolyear opening ceremony. Because all of us are here as we want to create even safer, even better conditions for them. 

Here, we all know that illness is a burden, but a child is a gift. Every child is a gift. Every child is a gift, but illness is a burden that you must carry every day. 

Our constitution states that human life is protected from conception. Let's take that seriously, let's really protect human life from the moment of conception, let's protect it after birth, and let's always be there for each and every human life. Whether our imperfection is less visible, or when it is more so. None of us are perfect. Sometimes it is not so obvious, at other times a little more obvious than is the case with the rest of us. 

Even later on, we must be there for the lives conceived and born, and I would highlight three points here. First, that today, those who care for seriously ill children receive at least the minimum wage - thanks to the children's home care allowance. We trust it is perhaps some help compared with the case before. The intention is certainly to ease the financial burden somewhat. 

I trust that those who have been to Camp Erzsébet in Zánka at least once have had a great experience. Camp Erzsébet was launched because we know that the summer is very long, and it is not that easy to find an affordable place for your entire family. Zánka is such a place, and together with His Excellency, we have taken it into our hands that we will continue to give you the opportunity also in the future to spend at least a few days in Zánka, in a safe and relaxing environment, to help you at least a little in saying yes - at least on these days. 

Let us remember the projects we also celebrate today, because the half a billion forints had to be raised somehow, and I am grateful that in Hungary today, half a billion forints can be dedicated to opening the Gemma Centre. It is important that these half a billion forints are available in the future, too. 
As Ágnes mentioned, this is my fourth time with the Gemma community. Actually, it's the third time here, and I also had the privilege to attend the charity evening at the Szeged Theatre. And after having visited you as state secretary or minister, I am now here with you as President of Hungary, too, because I am grateful that you have invited me, and because I would like to be here. Because I would like to celebrate with you, because I would like to thank you for the community that has been formed, and I would like to thank you for your hard work – in spite of the difficult circumstances - to move on, to take one, two or three steps forward and to bring up your children under even better conditions. So I am a returning guest and I will be happy to come back in the years to come, if I have the opportunity. 

There are builders here. Builders who perhaps know that they are not building for themselves. Sometimes the difficult thing about building is that we are building not just for ourselves, but for the future. Many of you may have been carrying, packing, must have been physically involved in the construction works, even suffering health damage from carrying such heavy loads. And now, you may not necessarily be able to enjoy the possibilities of this building, even through your children.

However, you should know that there will be other children here in Gemma, and you have also built for them. What I would like is for Zsófi and children like Zsófi who are 23 years old and above to always have a place where they can be safe, because children like Zsófi have to be looked after for a very long time, until the age of 23 and 30 and 50 years. And I hope that we will be able to help even with that in the future. 

Illness is a burden, a child is a gift, a burden we cannot carry for you, but we can be here, and maybe that can help. 

Thank you very much for your attention.