The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2000, Blaðsíða 11

Vol. 56 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
9
Svavar Gestsson, Gudrun Augustdottir, Dalla Olafsdottir, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson (President of Iceland),
Adriana Benediktson, Stephen Benediktson, Ornolfur Thorsson (from the President’s office), Omar
Ragnarsson a newspaper reporter. Photo taken at Lake Louise.
cate, and so the Icelandic Symphony
Orchestra performed in the Centennial
Concert Hall in Winnipeg on October 5 (sup-
ported by the City of Winnipeg and the
Icelandic government). Other cultural treats
have been taking place all over Canada:
Icelandic choirs, puppet and play perfor-
mances, and so on. Before I dwell any further
on that and tell you about Svavar’s sugges-
tions for our organizations, let me return to a
job description of an ambassador and the
other essential quality he must have, besides a
grasp of the language. That is a wife.
I had very close friends in the Canadian
diplomatic service and in the course of my
artistic travels I have been entertained and
aided in other countries by Canadian
embassies. I have seen close at hand the
invaluable (unpaid) services an ambassador’s
wife renders and not only to her husband. In
latter years, these services can no longer be
taken for granted. I have heard of diplomatic
wives whose husband’s postings didn’t
appeal to them so they sat them out. (“You go
on to Bolivia, dear, I’ll see you in three
years.”) I have seen the effect of a divorce on
an embassy when the ambassador was forced
to act as hostess. I have seen the sincere but
lopsided effort a single woman ambassador
contributes. And I’ve seen the incredibly self-
less, creative support a dear friend of mine
gave to her husband and her country over ten
different postings in the course of his career.
Make no mistake: teamwork is important to
the consul and his wife. Svavar and Gudrun
demonstrate that kind of teamwork. Even at
the few events I have managed to attend, I
have seen the two of them graciously and it
seems effortlessly moving among the people,
remembering names, making conversation,
giving speeches, dispensing charm. Not only
that, they give above and beyond the call of
duty. This past summer they volunteered as
instructors at the Icelandic Language and
Cultural Camp (Camp Arnes) and Gudrun
worked to get donations of materials (maps,
flags, books) from Iceland for the children
attending the camp.