Evelin Ilves

‘Eternal longing’ - Kodukiri magazine, April 2013

There was once an Estonian girl who was drawn to the lights of the big city; to the palpable energy of a million people breathing as one. She wanted to assuage her longing for new smells, new flavours and new customs; to lose herself in the crowd and steal glances at what everyone else was doing; to throw herself into her new situation and put herself to the test.

Actually, you couldn't call her a girl any more. She was married, to a huntsman, and had two sons, making her every bit the wife and mother. But she was more than that – she ran her own business, too, which was growing at a rate of knots and for which she was constantly searching out new markets. She often worked without days off, getting up early and still firing off e-mails to her staff and partners at the stroke of midnight. She was one of those typical Nordic women who "follows a feverish path and whose song belongs to no man"*. She lived for speed, and burnt with passion. She didn't know any other way of being.

And although things were going well for her – better than well: fantastically – the restlessness crept in. Maybe things would be even better somewhere else? Maybe she could make even more of her talents and her drive somewhere else? She wanted to change the world. The only thing was, she didn't know how to.

But one day she simply packed up her bags and left. She set her sights on the other side of the world – a place described as one of the most rapidly developing on the planet, with an excellent standard of living, affluent and influential. Its ancient culture imbued it with a dignified history, while the high-tech realities of everyday life represented the Estonian dream: a dream of a place where there was no more poverty, and no more problems; where it was as if every child was the highest authority, their emotional and educational needs dictating the flow and tempo of life throughout the country. In this dream place all disease and dependency had been long since eradicated through the use of personal gene cards, and all of the services that people needed – whether they be in the city, at sea or deep in the ancient forest – were but the click of a mouse away. Everything worked. Everything flourished. Everything prospered. It was a dream of a place that was wild and frenzied and yet distinguished and educated and, above all else, beautiful...

The luring lights of the metropolis in that endless seaside sky through which the girl flew promised to make that dream – or one very much like it – come true.

10.04.2013

For an eight time, Evelin Ilves handed over the Young Athlete’s Prizes

The Young Athlete's Prizes of the Cultural Foundation of the President of the Republic were awarded to cyclist Erik Kangilaski, underwater swimmer Ksenia Belomestnova, table tennis player Viktoria Lohk and disabled swimmers Matz Topkin, Leon Bauer, Brenda Tilk and Robin Liksor.

31.05.2013

Evelin Ilves visited Palanga Rehabilitation Hospital

Evelin Ilves, who is currently on a state visit to Lithuania with the President of the Republic, visited Palanga Rehabilitation Hospital where doctors from Hiiumaa also attend in-service training.

29.05.2013

Evelin Ilves: co-operation between the children’s hospitals of Vilnius and Tallinn serves as an example for the Baltic states in general

Evelin Ilves, patron of the Tallinn Children's Hospital Foundation, today visited the Department of Oncology and Haematology of Vilnius Children's Hospital during the presidential couple's state visit to Lithuania.

28.05.2013