Marya Mana - the Iraqi school that we Hungarians can be proud of

In Erbil, Iraq, there is a special school that has many Hungarian features. It operates with the support of the Hungary Helps Program, and is decorated with a replica of the statue of the Virgin Mary of Csíksomlyó; furthermore, its singing lessons are based on the Kodály method. Following the 2014 Islamic State offensive, the majority of Christians in the Nineveh Highlands fled to Erbil, where new education and health services were needed. At the time, the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil asked Hungary for help in building a new school for internal refugees, for which it eventually received substantial aid. At the end of 2016, the Hungarian government contributed HUF 120 million to the HUF 80 million fundraising effort of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference. The inauguration ceremony took place in 2018, and at the start of the 2023/2024 academic year, there are around 550 students in grade 9, a third of whom are Muslim, although some Christian families who have returned from abroad are also enrolling their children here.