President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova addressed the Gala Academy on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten”, held under her patronage at the Cultural Center “Iljo Anteski – Smok” in Tetovo.
The event was also addressed by the President of the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten”, Jovan Bozinoski, and the President of the Mountaineering Federation, Zoran Citkusev.
Congratulating this significant anniversary, she expressed special gratitude to the many generations of members of “Ljuboten” for their proven love, respect and care for the beautiful Sar Planina and nature, as well as for their personal and collective contribution to the promotion and popularization of a healthy life.
For her, it is undeniable that mountaineering as a sports and recreational activity improves physical and mental health and strengthens the character and personality of a person. Hence, it is time to follow the inspiring examples of countries in which recreational mountaineering is not only integrated into the Physical Education program in all educational institutions and degrees, but is also widely practiced as an element of the philosophy of healthy living.
The attendees had a rare opportunity to follow the rich history of the oldest Macedonian mountaineering club “Ljuboten” through the presentation of a documentary and the multimedia exhibition in the gallery of the Cultural Center.
President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, several of the most deserving members of the club, as well as several domestic and foreign institutions and programs were awarded plaques for lasting values.
Below is the integral text of President Siljanovska-Davkova’s address.
Respected members of the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten”,
Dear mountain lovers,
Respected representatives of the diplomatic corps,
Dear guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, congratulations on the great anniversary, 100 years of the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten”, a century of love for Sar Planina and the Macedonian mountains and respect for the monuments of nature.
Gratitude to all generations of mountaineers, members of the Ljuboten family, of the club. The reason? Thanks to the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten” and to the other four mountaineering clubs from Tetovo, the popularity of mountaineering is growing as a particularly healthy and intriguing sports and recreational activity. Through the mountaineering clubs as prestigious schools for mountaineering knowledge and skills, a series of generations of mountaineer students have passed. They learnt the greatest secrets of the mountains, felt the irresistible mountain attraction, which they could not resist, established a sincere and lasting connection with the mountain world, reached out to care for the forests, meadows, plants, animals, birds, streams and ponds and became one with nature.
Among you and with you were all the climbers, whose limit is the height, whose conquest is a human competition with oneself, or self-liberation, transcendence into a metaphysical world, into another dimension, that of the impossible as possible!
You awakened the childlike curiosity about the colorfulness of Shar Planina among admirers of the mountains through the paintings that depict beauty with a magical and magnetic attraction.
You caused unprecedented joy among winter whiteness addicts, wherever they are, you have disturbed the wanderers after excitement with strange peaks and dangerous terrains, directing their thoughts to the miracle above Tetovo, as if Vivaldi’s symphony of the four seasons of Sar Planina. The privileged who had the chance to see and feel it, after love at first sight, promise themselves that they will return, because they have experienced an incurable blessed infection sometimes of absolute peace, sometimes of absolute excitement. So, no one whose eyes have seen the colorful beauty of the mountain, has remained indifferent to it.
I believe that the mountain brings people together in both good and bad, in mountaineering and in winter sports, encouraging solidarity, competition and humanity, as well as rewarding the competitive spirit and the desire to win. The perfection of nature gives rise to peaceful vibrations in people, not warlike and destructive ones. Perhaps that is why mountaineers do not give up on the mountain and have a desperate need for it, as a universal balm and medicine for the happy or unhappy soul.
I am no exception. I will never forget the magic of Leshnica.
Dear friends,
I wish you new, unstoppable and countless successes in the time ahead.
I expect growth and development of the Mountaineering Club “Ljuboten”, better days for mountaineers and mountaineering, recreation and sports, with a firm belief that they are irreplaceable and the most effective defenders of our, attacked from all sides, physical and mental health.
This great anniversary allows us to summarize the results not only through the personal, individual, but also through the social dimension.
We are blessed to live in a mountainous country. As such, we have a special obligation to protect and safeguard our mountain wealth. We are obliged to preserve rare and endangered species of trees, animals, plants, birds, insects. Nature will return to us with clean and fresh air, will protect us from torrents and floods, will heal us, will feed us.
Dear lovers,
Continue your friendship with Sar Planina. Attract new friends, convince them that mountaineering is not only a sport, but also health, tourism, ecology, economy, security, and even music, poetry, romance.
Let us help the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education in promoting recreational mountaineering and in popularizing it.
Let us pay more attention to the subject of Physical Education in all levels of education and include mountain climbing, because above almost every settlement there is one hill at least, not by chance.
Let us build, in cooperation with the local government, appropriate infrastructure, mountain homes, cottages, lookouts, but also larger accommodation capacities, resorts, hostels, hotels.
I know that we have modest capacities and opportunities, but we can start by renovating mountain homes, and then by building new ones.
I am aware that these are large investments, but with expected secure profits and benefits for all citizens.
We do not need world examples from afar, it is enough to see and follow the examples from the neighborhood regarding the attitude towards the mountains and nature, towards mountaineering and sports.
Let us affirm the philosophy of healthy living.
With recreational mountaineering, a healthy life is led, with reduced stress and anxiety.
Let us make mountaineering a cult among young people. Instead of cars and alcohol, let us motivate and direct them towards physical and sports activity in the mountains. Let us popularize recreational mountaineering.
Finally, I congratulate you once again on your anniversary and wish you many more recreational adventures and sporting achievements in our magical Macedonian mountains.
Thank you.
