The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) proudly announces a new and exciting program – BIRTHRIGHT MACEDONIA (BRM). This program was created through a partnership arrangement with a proposed global project known as “The Macedonian Heritage Village.” Its inaugural session, taking place this summer, July 10-31, 2015, will be administered by UMD with the help of its partner in Macedonia – the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC).
BIRTHRIGHT MACEDONIA’s mission is to offer all youth who are of Macedonian heritage and live abroad the opportunity to come to Macedonia for three weeks during the summer. While there, they will be assigned an internship program that complements their academic goals, career goals or general interests.
They will meet and connect with other young people from around the world and will work side by side with native youth and adults for the benefit of the Macedonian people. During their stay in Macedonia, they will live with a host family and become immersed in the fabric of the Macedonian everyday life and culture.
BIRTHRIGHT MACEDONIA’s primary objective is to have Macedonian youth across the globe assert their Macedonian heritage and develop contacts and friendships with one another that will last a lifetime.
The Macedonian Heritage Village project was conceived and developed by the newly appointed UMD Advisory Council member Peter Dallas, a first-generation American of Macedonian heritage. He was concerned about the decline of the connections of Macedonians to their ancestral roots, particularly among the youth of first, second, and third generation Macedonians living abroad. Concerned with the growing assimilation of overseas Macedonians into other cultures and marriage with non-Macedonians, Dallas was determined to do something to help Macedonians abroad maintain their connection to the homeland.
Dallas introduced the program at UMD’s 4th Global Conference and the annual conference of the Agency for Emigration of the Republic of Macedonia, both held simultaneously in Skopje during the summer of 2013. Later that summer, he presented the program to the Clergy Laity Congress of the American Canadian Macedonian Orthodox Diocese in Crown Point, Indiana.
With the encouragement and assistance of Macedonians in the Diaspora and in Macedonia, the Macedonian Heritage Village quickly gained acceptance worldwide.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of many segments of the Diaspora, grassroots interest in BIRTHRIGHT MACEDONIA has spread to Macedonian organizations, churches and communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.
Please click HERE for more details about BIRTHRIGHT MACEDONIA and how to apply online. Enrollment is limited and applications will be processed on a first-come basis. If you have any questions, please call (202) 350-9798, or e-mail birthright@umdiaspora.org.
Rediscover your Macedonian heritage…or discover it for the first time! Come with a friend or come alone and leave with new friends.
Come home to Macedonia – the land of your ancestors.