From April 22 to 25, 2024, 21 students of the Athens College High School Human Rights, Social Solidarity, and Orthodoxy Club visited Switzerland. The educational visit, with accompanying teachers Mr. F. Takopoulos, Ms. G. Sakka and Mr. D. Lappas, included visits and guided tours in Switzerland and France, in accordance with the educational and pedagogical objectives of the Club.   

The four-day educational program included, among other things, a visit to the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Institute for Postgraduate Studies in Orthodox Theology in Chambésy, a tour of the picturesque streets of Annecy, a tour of the cosmopolitan canton of Geneva, the Cathedral of St. Peter, the house of the first governor of Greece, John Kapodistrias, the Red Cross Museum and the Olympic Games Museum in Lausanne. All the students also had the opportunity to visit the United Nations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Red Cross, as well as the Greek Embassy, seat of the Permanent Delegation of Greece to the UN, where we were warmly welcomed by Mr. Iakovidis, Presentante Permanent Adjoint, Ms. Panourgia and Mr. Gennimatas, Consul General of Greece in Geneva. Undoubtedly, the meetings with them were very constructive for all of us!

Finally, the program included a tour of the city of Lausanne, the Notre-Dame de Lausanne Cathedral and the historic Château d'Ouchy, where the Treaty of Lausanne was signed.  The mission concluded with a visit to the magnificent Montreux and the seaside and imposing medieval Château de Chillon. When this unique trip came to an end, all members of the expedition bid farewell to Switzerland with valuable and certainly unique experiences. It was the culmination of a series of activities through which we were able to deepen our understanding of the relationship between Orthodoxy and Human Rights (individual, political and social) and the essence of the spirit of voluntary service to our fellow human beings.