Up to 200 teenagers from Estonia, Italy, Northern Ireland and Athlone will gather in the midlands this month as part of a series of "international youth meetings" organised by a local nun.
Sister Gabrielle McManus of St Joseph's School, Summerhill, near Athlone, who has organised funding from a number of EU and State sources, will run a week of activities to lessen cultural divisions and introduce young people from different walks of life to "common themes".
The common theme Sister Gabrielle has chosen for this "meeting" as she calls it, is "Trusting The Food We Eat" and the young people will "use the subject of food and food safety to get to know one another and get an insight into each other's cultures and points of view".
Over the past five years she has run seminars and conferences for young people, the largest of which were a combined "East Meets West" project and a Special Millennium Youth Forum in Athlone last year. They brought together some 250 young people from schools in Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Newcastle upon Tyne, Wales, Armagh, Banbridge, Newry, Carraroe and Athlone.
This year, Sister Gabrielle is planning to host a group of 10 from Estonia including three native Russians, 10 Czechs, and 10 Italians under the EU Copernicus Programme, along with 14 from the Marist School, Athlone; 14 from St Joseph's School, Summerhill; a similar number from St Catherine's, Armagh, and 31 from the Royal School, Armagh.
Other schools sending pupils include Banbridge Academy (16), Our Lady's, Newry (16), Marist Transition Year (23), and St Catherine's Transition Year (47).
The programme includes a welcome meeting in Athlone on Wednesday, October 24th, a visit to Athlone Castle on Thursday morning, and introductory activities at Summerhill College. Over the next few days there will be workshops and discussion groups but the emphasis will be on having fun and sharing cultural information, said Sister Gabrielle.
"We will have a serious side on the subject of the food we eat, with a talk by environmental health officers, and a visit to Athlone Institute of Technology but there will also be cultural events such as an Irish evening and a visit to Strokestown House.
One of the cultural links which the Estonians may want to explore is the story of the emigrant from Bruff, Co Limerick, who travelled to Estonia and founded the city of Boru. "It seems the man George Browne was born in Bruff in 1698 and left Ireland in 1725 and became the governor of Riga. Under the direction of Katherine II of Russia he paid 57,000 rubles for a large estate and set about creating Boru."
So successful have Sister Gabrielle's meetings become that last year a number of young Italians decided to hold a meeting in Bari, southern Italy.
Hopes are high that some of the Belgians who attended will host their own meeting. Full information of venues and dates may be had from Sister Gabrielle through her e-mail address: cop@esatclear.ie