Péter Heltai — From intern to ambassador at age 26

Péter Heltai, the 26 year old Ambassador-at-Large of the government aid agency called Hungary Helps, posed for a photo with residents of a Nigerian village,  tweeting: “Just went back a ‘few’ hundreds of years in time.” Perhaps it was his lack of experience in the field of international aid that is behind a tweet that comes across as tone-deaf and patronizing. After all, Mr. Heltai’s appointment as Ambassador-at-Large is a curious one, considering that his only prior experience involved a handful of short internships, volunteering with the boy scouts and Model Parliament–a program where students are acquainted with how parliament works.

Péter Heltai in Nigeria. His tweet posted with this photo read: Just went back a “few” hundreds of years in time #Kajuru #Kaduna #Nigeria #Nomads #HungaryHelps

It was HVG that raised concerns about the condescending and “arrogant” tone of Mr. Heltai’s tweets, as well as about the fact that almost all of Hungary Help’s foreign aid seems to be geared to Christian groups and churches. “Imagine André Goodfriend as American chargé d’affaires on a Hungarian farmstead posing with a rural family and commenting that he went back in time several decades,” writes HVG, to illustrate the inappropriateness of such a statement. HVG also noted that in another tweet, Mr. Heltai is posing next to someone who appears to be a Nigerian police officer, who he referred to as his “buddy.”

Mr Heltai poses next to a Nigerian police officer, tweeting: “#buddies #refugeecamp #nigeria #abuja #HungaryHelps”

Based on Mr. Heltai’s postings, Hungary Helps recently committed to rebuilding three Catholic schools in Nigeria, with the ambassador-at-large appearing alongside Bishop Dashe in Abuja at the signing of this agreement. Prior to that, he met with a Catholic priest called Father Augustine to hear about persecution suffered by Christians. According to Mr. Heltai, Hungary Helps “shows solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world” and “calls on everyone to stand up for faith and freedom.” Earlier this fall, Mr. Heltai also visited Iraq where he provided aid to displaced Christians in the town of Tesqopa. The ambassador-at-large quoted Waldemar Cislo, leader of Polish Aid to the Church in Need, noting: “Without Christians, the Middle East will not be the same Middle East that we know.”

In November, Mr. Heltai visited a Christian school in the town of Erbil, Iraq, that had been rebuilt using Hungarian government aid and now bears a large “Hungary Helps” sign.

A Christian school built in Iraq through Hungarian foreign aid.

“Spent an incredible day in Telsqof. Thank you for being real, living testimonies of Jesus Christ and his Church by not losing your hope and joy despite all the suffering and persecution. Hungary will never forget you,” wrote Mr. Heltai. “Children are the future of every community. After the terror and brutality of ISIS life starts to return to this little Christian village,” he added.

HVG asked Mr. Heltai whether or not it was discriminatory that Hungarian government aid appears exclusively geared towards Christian, while there are people in need of other religious backgrounds too. Mr. Heltai asked the publication to formulate its questions in writing, but no answer has been forthcoming.

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