ALA’s ‘Heritage Latvia’ tour seeks participants

Latvians Online | 

The American Latvian Association (ALA) is organizing a two-week English-language educational tour of Latvia for 13-15 year olds of Latvian descent from July 1-14.

The program parallels the well-established ALA Latvian-language trip “Sveika, Latvija!” that last year marked its 21st and 22nd trips to Latvia. In the “Heritage Latvia” trip all information and group discussions take place in English, thereby ensuring total participation and communication. However, every effort will be made to provide participants the opportunity to learn Latvian words and to experience the language. “Heritage Latvia” is available to all young people with an interest in Latvia and their Latvian heritage. Participation in Latvian heritage schools is not a prerequisite. 

The trip will also serve to provide an alternative for young people who have attended Latvian heritage schools but who would gain more from a trip conducted in English. ALA will provide its customary support for students who have graduated from Latvian school in 2010, regardless of whether they participate in the “Sveika, Latvija!” or “Heritage Latvia” trip.

This year’s “Heritage Latvia” trip will include concerts and activities related to the Latvian Student and Youth Song and Dance Festival to be held July 6-11, when young people from all over Latvia will gather to perform in Rīga. Other trip activities will include hunting for amber on the Baltic Sea shore, trying one’s hand at amber polishing and jewelry making, baking Latvian rye bread, and making pottery in Latgale. Participants will see the cultural, geographic, and historical highlights of Latvia as well as experience an authentic country sauna, swim in the Baltic Sea, meet teens at two schools in Latvia and, we hope, visit the president’s palace and the U.S. Embassy. 

The cost for a “Heritage Latvia” tour is USD 3,000 (USD 2,000 for 8th grade graduates of Latvian heritage schools) and includes air fare from either Chicago or an East Coast gateway airport to Rīga and back, all meals, hotels, transportation, guide services, and full-time adult chaperones from the United States. Participants must be or become members of the ALA to go on the trip. The maximum number of participants is 15, and participants will be registered in the order their USD 500 deposits are received.

For more information, including a sample itinerary, contact Program Coordinator Anita Juberts, American Latvian Association, 400 Hurley Ave., Rockville, MD 20850, tel. +1 (301) 340-8719, projekti@alausa.org.

Minsteres latviešu ģimnāzija topic of history book

Andris Straumanis | 

Minsteres latviešu ģimnāzija (MLĢ), the former Latvian high school in Münster, Germany, is among the legendary exile institutions. Minsteres latviešu ģimnāzija izdzīvoja, by community activist, writer and teacher Alberts Spoģis, is the recently released history of the school.

Spoģis, born in 1924 in Latgale province, has first-hand knowledge of MLĢ, having spent four decades associated with the school, according to his biography in the online encyclopedia Latvijas ļaudis uz 21. gadsimta sliekšņa.

The 527-page book, published by Latviešu Centrs Minsterē, was released in October by Rīga-based bookseller Valters un Rapa. Minsteres latviešu ģimnāzija izdzīvoja tells the story of how the school first served mostly Latvian refugees in Germany, but later developed into a high school program for exile students from around the world. The book is illustrated with many photographs.

The idea for the high school program began in 1946 in a Displaced Persons camp in Detmold. The school was moved to Münster in 1957. The high school closed down in 1998, but the facility remains a cultural center for Latvians in Münster. Among graduates of MLĢ are a number of active members of Latvian society abroad and in the homeland.

For another look back at MLĢ, listen to the “Kultūras Rondo” program aired Oct. 26 on Latvijas Radio 1.

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Minsteres latviešu ģimnāzija izdzīvoja tells the story of the Latvian high school in Germany that served students for more than four decades.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.

Magazine: Despite economy, Latvia still ranks well in living standards

Andris Straumanis | 

While Latvia’s economy is not much to boast about, the country still ranks pretty high in a list of the best places in the world to live, according to International Living magazine.

The Ireland-based publication, which according to its Web site reports on “the best places in the world to live, retire, travel, and invest,” ranked Latvia 40th out of 194 countries surveyed.

Both Lithuania, at 22nd, and Estonia, at 32rd, scored higher than Latvia.

The rankings are based on statistics garnered from a number of official sources and cover cost of living, leisure and culture, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, risk and safety, and climate. The editors of the magazine admitted to a Western bias in terms of what constitutes a high standard of living.

Topping the list was France.

“Its tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care,” the magazine’s editors said.

Australia was second and Switzerland third. The bottom three countries in the list were Sudan, Yemen and Somalia.

Latvia scored highest on the measure of freedom (92 out of a maximum possible score of 100), but lowest on its economy (40).

In last year’s index, Latvia was ranked 31st.

Andris Straumanis is a special correspondent for and a co-founder of Latvians Online. From 2000–2012 he was editor of the website.