In the spring, from October 7^th to 11^th, the Clergy-Laity Assembly of the Greek Communities of South America was held in Montevideo. The Assembly had a huge enrollment from the communities of the South American countries. The “Maria Tsakos” Foundation was not only a major sponsor, but also participated in the necessary preparatory works, that took over a year. During the course of the assembly, Mrs. Margarita Larriera, in the company of the choir and the musicians, V. Abitante, C. Calafatis and S. de Souza, gave her historical music presentation entitled “The catastrophe of 1922 and the Rebetiko song”. Our colleagues from the Foundation, Mrs.  Kat. Kalligiannaki, Dion. Kyriakopoulou and Laura Silva diligently attended to the translations of the texts and interpretations of the speeches during the Assembly.

In the framework of the Clergy-Laity Assembly, the Foundation had the honour of welcoming the Greek governmental delegation: we were visited by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Andreas Katsaniotis, the General Secretary for Greeks Abroad, Mr. Ioannis Chrysoulakis, and other members of Parliament, to whom we presented the Foundation’s trajectory from 1978 to present. H.E. the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Brazil, responsible for our region, Mr. Evagoras Vryonides, as well as enthusiastic expatriates from other Greek communities, honoured us with their presence.

The 20^th anniversary of the renaming of the “Tsakos Foundation” to “Maria Tsakos” Foundation, in memory of the late mother of our Founder, was commemorated with a recap of its history on October 19^th, presented by our director, Mrs. Soraya Ochoviet. The main hall was filled with students and friends of the Foundation, who then danced to the rhythms of the band “I Parea mas”.

In the same month, Mr Gabriel Galli, Psychologist and Professor at the Department of Informatics and Communication of the local University (UdelaR), gave a speech entitled,  “Homeric Echoes: history in history”. 

On October 24^th, children’s voices and laughter echoed in our classrooms, as we had the great joy of hosting the  students of the 2^nd grade of “Grecia” Primary School, who came on an educational trip to the Foundation. They were thrilled to hear about the gods of the ancient Greeks, they listened to Greek myths and learnt how to dance the “hasaposerviko”.

On occasion of the “Literary Year 2022 Iakovos Campanellis”, teachers and students throughout the year delved into the works of the great writer. On November 18^th, the Foundation’s Honorary President, Mrs. Margarita Larriera, accompanied by the Foundation’s choir and the musician Cristobal Calafatis, presented a musical tribute to his life and work.

On December 1^st, Director and Professor of Ancient Greek Theatre, Mrs. Chrysa Georganta, visited Uruguay and gave our students a lecture on “Rhetoric and political discourse in Euripides’ Medea”, which was well attended. Ms. Georganta was also invited by Mrs. M. Larriera to the Foundation’s Saturday radio show, “Journey to Ithaca“.

On December 12^th, an informative presentation by Prof. Diomedes Gariazzo, entitled “3,500 years: an overview of the history of the Greek language”, took place at the Foundation. The following day, our Director, Mrs. Soraya Ochoviet, gave a successful virtual lecture entitled “The venture of translating a Greek grammar: a means to learn or an end in itself?”, for the attendees of the International Translation Seminar of the University of Chile.

During the celebration of the end of the school year on December 14^th, we honored our long-time Foundation teacher, Mrs. Yocelyn Fernández, who retired. Additionally, the award ceremony for the competition of essays on the Asia Minor Catastrophe, presentations of our students’ theatrical sketch and traditional dance classes, as well as the performance of the choir, filled the evening with joy. 

We concluded this year’s activities on December 15^th, with a very successful and entertaining teleconference in collaboration with the Hellenic Open University. A total of 26 students from the Spanish language department of HOU and our students, took part in the first virtual “language exchange”, a task with benefits for both sides. This virtual “exchange” inaugurates the start of our cooperation with the Hellenic Open University.