Fraternity-Testvériség, 1995 (73. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1995-10-01 / 4. szám
FRATERNITY Page 19 The Student Aid & Loan Fund of the HRFA provides a one-time financial assistance in the amount of $500.00 to each member who is in pursuit of a college education. It is intended that this scholarship be applied towards the cost of tuition, fees, books, or room and board. Last year, 27 young members of our society received $11,900.00 in scholarships. Perhaps you can be one of them. To be eligible, you must fulfill the following requirements: 1. You have to be a member of good standing of the Federation for at least five years immediately preceding date of application for scholarship. 2. You must be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate day student in an accredited four-year college or university. Scholarship is not available to first- year college students; it is only granted to those who are in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years and have earned high grades for the courses completed. 3. You should contact your branch manager or the Flome Office to receive an application form. Once you complete the form, you are required to send it to the branch manager together with a grade report. Upon approval by the branch manager, the application and the transcript are mailed to the Home Office for final review, approval and processing. We would like to share with our readers some of the letters we received from our student aid recipients. They care about people. Volunteering is an important part of their lives. They care about the environment. They dream of discovering new solutions. Can they? We think so. Joseph Eibner, Member Br. 50: “I am grateful to my parents for making an insurance investment over 40 years ago through the HRFA. Following the receipt of my BA (History) from Barrington College, I completed studies for an MA (History) at the University of London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. There, I learned to read Hungarian and took a special interest in Hungarian history and politics. These studies led to my appointment as the Hungarian Researcher at Keston College, a research institute specializing in the study of religion in communist countries. At Keston College, I was privileged to share in the struggle of many bold Christians, both in Hungary and in Romania, against the efforts of the atheistic communist state to weaken the influence of religion in society and to manipulate church institutions to serve its political purposes. My research culminated in three major publications: In the Eve of the Romanian Storm: The Heroic Story of Pastor László Tőkés. ‘A szovjet valláspolitika hatalma és bukása’, published in Sztálinizmus és désztalinizacio Magyarországon, and ‘Hungary’ published in World Christianity: Eastern Europe. After leaving Keston College, I accepted my present post of Assistant to the President of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), an interdenominational human rights organization working on behalf of persecuted Christians and other victims of repression. With the demise of communism in Hungary, the focus of my human rights work has shifted, mainly to the plight of religious minorities in the Islamic world. However, I continue to be involved in Hungary as the editor-in-chief of CSI’s Hungarian language newsletter, Krisztusi Szolidáritás. Parallel with my employment, I have been writing a dissertation for a higher degree at the University of London. It is now nearing completion. The subject is British foreign policy and public opinion regarding the Hapsburg Empire, 1846-1868, with special reference to the Hungarian Question. This work can be submitted for a Ph.D., as opposed to an M.Phil., provided that I give part of my earnings as an employee of non-profit charities. I have done so at some cost to my family, which now includes six-year-old Rachel and two-year-old Elisabeth. John Eibner (left) with Dr. Caspar Biro, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan. March 1995. UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva.
