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NOVEMBER 2011 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected]

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

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PPRRIIVVAACCYY PAGE 7/25

Cretans remember the holocaust of ArcadiOn 9th November 1866 one of the most dra-matic events in Crete’s modern history tookplace at the Holy Monastery of Arcadi. It wasthe defining moment in Crete’s struggle forindependence against the Turks.

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TzoumerkaThis sparsely populated district of Epirus innorthwestern Greece allows visitors to getclose to rare natural beauty.

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Theo and MargaretGoumas receivenational honourPassionate Newcastle cinema identities Theoand Margaret Goumas will receive a nationalhonour this month for their contribution to theindustry.

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NEW GREEKGOVERNMENTin race against time

STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

The formation of a new, temporary unity governmentunder former European Central Bank Vice President Lu-cas Papademos is a step in the right direction despite thepoor track record of coalition governments in Greece.

Mr Papademos must begin implementing measuresneeded to secure the next instalment of an internationalloan as he takes charge of the debt-wracked nation thisweek.

The German and French leaders have said Athens hasto ratify a bailout deal agreed at an EU summit last monthbefore Greece can receive the eight-billion-euro ($A10.77

billion) loan tranche needed by December 15 to avert de-fault.

Papademos will be buoyed by poll numbers as hestrives to restore stability to Greece’s turbulent politicalscene.

Fifty-five per cent of those polled said they had a pos-itive opinion of the new prime minister, compared with18 per cent who had a negative one and 27 per cent whodid not have an opinion.

PAGE 2/20

New prime minister Lucas Papademos will seek to takeadvantage of a rare political truce to push through

austerity and radical reform aimed at restoringthe country’s tattered credibility and staving off bankruptcy

The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA2/20 NOVEMBER 2011

New Greek Government in race against timeCont. from page 1/19

The new prime minister, who heads amajority socialist coalition that includespartners from both the right and far-right,spoke in parliament on Monday 14 Nove-mebr ahead of a vote to confirm his newgovernment.

Officials from Greece’s creditors - theEU, International Monetary Fund and Euro-pean Central Bank - are due in Athens toevaluate progress to date in stabilising itsfinances.

In talks with Papademos, French Presi-dent Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel underlined the needfor Greece to act quickly on the terms the130-billion-euro bailout deal agreed at aBrussels summit on October 26-27.

“The payment of the next tranche (of the2010 bailout) can only take place when adecisive step has been taken in this mat-ter,” a statement from Sarkozy’s officesaid.

Under the terms of an international bail-out deal agreed in October, private banksare to accept writedowns of 50 per cent,which will allow Greece to wipe out near-ly a third of its 350 billion euro debt.

But Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine, ina report due out on Monday, said Berlinhas worked out contingency plans in theevent that Greece has to quit the eurozoneif it fails to meet its obligations.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Veni-zelos, who kept his job in the new govern-

ment, said the need to implement themeasures agreed to in Brussels summitwas “urgent”.

Papademos’s government must thenforce through the painful austerity meas-ures exacted as the price for the secondEU rescue package.

However, the strikes that started underPapandreou were set to continue as themain public service union, Adedy, called forthree-hour stoppages, in protest at risingtaxes and 30,000 job cuts across the pub-lic service.

The government also faces continuingopposition from the KKE communist partyand radical left party Syriza.

Both refused to join the new coalition,opposing what they termed Greek com-plicity with the IMF and the EU-led policythat obliges Greece to impose austeritymeasures.

The European Commission forecasts a2.8 per cent contraction for the Greek eco-nomy in 2012 and a further increase in un-employment, measured at 18 per cent inAugust.

Papademos has already indicated thathis government’s chief aim is to implementthe decisions of the October 26 EuropeanUnion summit where the latest debt dealfor Greece was hammered out. This in-volves pushing through austerity measuresthat Greece has committed to, such aspublic sector layoffs. Another goal is tocomplete talks with the troika on a revisedprogram of “economic adjustment.” In addi-tion, the government will have to pass the2012 budget by the end of the year.

In an interview with Kathimerini, Gree-ce’s representative to the IMF, PanayiotisRoumeliotis, said he believed it was likelyauthorities would receive the 8 billion eu-ros but that further aid would be tougher tosecure.

Roumeliotis, who confirmed he was oneof several candidates to whom the pre-miership was proposed, said that the troi-ka still wants written guarantees from au-thorities confirming their acceptance of theterms of the new EU debt deal. He said thetroika wants four letters: one signed by V-enizelos and Giorgos Provopoulos,Greece’s central bank governor, one byPapademos and one each signed by theheads of the two main parties, PASOKleader George Papandreou and NewDemocracy leader Antonis Samaras.

Meanwhile, more than half of Greeks

have a positive view of the new primeminister, former European Central BankVice President Lucas Papademos, with on-ly two in 10 expressing a negative opinionabout him, according to a new poll pub-lished in Kathimerini.

A total of 55 percent of respondentswelcomed Papademos’s appointment whi-le 18 percent had a negative view, accord-ing to the poll carried out by Public Issue.

The survey also found that more than 70percent of those questioned applauded thedecision of the two main parties - socialistPASOK and conservative New Democracy -to move toward the formation of a unitygovernment.

As regards Papademos’s potential formanaging the country’s dire finances, 45percent of respondents said they trustedhim to do so, although 35 percent said theydid not.

If snap polls were to be held now, nei-ther of the two main parties would emergewith enough votes to form a majority gov-ernment, according to the poll which foundthat 28.5 percent would vote for ND, 19.5percent for PASOK and a surprisingly high12 percent for the Coalition of the RadicalLeft (SYRIZA), with the Communist Party(KKE) garnering 11 percent, right-wingLAOS 8.5 percent, the Democratic Left 7.5percent and the Ecologist Greens 3.5 per-cent.

The Public Issue poll found that the Dem-ocratic Alliance - led by former conserva-tive Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis -would not enter Parliament, garnering just2.5 percent of the vote, half a percentagepoint below the 3 percent minimumthreshold required. Nearly three in 10 vot-ers (or 27 percent) said they would notcast ballots.

The survey also asked respondents whatthey believed the country’s biggest prob-lems were. Six in 10 (58 percent) said theeconomy, 34 percent cited rising unem-ployment, while 29 percent saw Greekpoliticians and the political system as thecountry’s biggest burden.

Christmas Carols 2010Sunday 19th December, 7 p.m.

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

In the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of Australia

Greek Orthodox

Archdiocese242 Cleveland St, Redfern

(Please note there will be no

parking on the grounds)

Free Entry

All Welcome(Seating is provided, plus an area

using blankets)

Light refreshments and snacks

will be sold on the night

The Christmas Carols will be held in the courtyard of our Cathedral

Christmas Carols 2011Sunday 18th December, 7 p.m.

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/21

Editorial

NOVEMBER 2011

The selection of Lucas Papademos as prime ministerof the transitional government represents the lastchance for Greece to secure its future in the eurozone.It may also represent one of the last stops in the 12-year eurozone journey, at least as far as the broad co-nomic union envisaged since the earliest days of Euro-pean integration is concerned.

With Italian 10-year bond yields topping the sevenpercent threshold reckoned to require IMF intervention,a wedge has been rammed into the fissure created bythe Greek debt crisis and the Irish and Portuguesebailouts, widening the crack even further.

But a degree of domestic political sanity has, at last,been established.

Such was the need for stability that, before he hadeven made a single public utterance, Papademos quick-ly became accepted both at home and abroad as themost suitable leader of a coalition government born outof bickering and disagreement.

A former governor of the Bank of Greece and ECBvice-president, Papademos is both a technocrat (re-quested by New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras)and well-versed in the language of EU bailouts andeconomic convergence (sought by George Papandreou

and other party leaders). Efforts to forge European unity have always revolved

around economic integration. The European Coal andSteel Cooperation was established as a six-memberunion in 1951, ostensibly to prevent future war be-tween France and Germany. Then came the fully-fledged European Economy Community, outlined in the1957 Treaty of Rome. The single currency union wasfleshed out in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992.

Unfortunately, as regards the eurozone, Maastrichtwas all flesh and no bones. The experience of eco-

nomic integration has been characterised by politiciansfailing to understand the fundamentals of economics,and economists failing to understand the fundamentalsof politics.

It is clearly not for Papademos alone to cure theseills, but, as a technocrat-cum-primeminister who hasthe ink of Greece’s very first euro bills under his nails,he has sound credentials to judge the country’s bailoutneeds. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office wasforced to deny a report that, for some time now, Ger-man and French EU officials have been discussing - atan “intellectual” level - the possibility of a breakawaygroup of the financially responsible few within Europe.

Indeed, rather than turning its back on the euro, Ger-many is considering even tighter European integrationthrough fiscal unity. And if that’s the case, Greece canscarcely hope to make the cut. Long before such con-siderations, however, Papademos will need to find away to balance the needs of ratifying the October 26-27 bailout with the further austerity which that bailoutwill demand.

It is an unenviable task.

ATHENSNEWS

Political sanity at last

Athens facing a daunting task By D. Kontogiannis - Kathimerini

The formation of a new, temporary unitygovernment under former European Cen-tral Bank Vice President Lucas Papademosis a step in the right direction despite thepoor track record of coalition governmentsin Greece.

However, the outlook for the Greekeconomy remains cloudy at best, putting atrisk the country’s membership in the euro-zone.

We have long held that the mismanage-ment of the Greek crisis by the Socialistgovernment under George Papandreouhas augmented existing imbalances andeconomic problems dating back to the1970s, bringing the country to its knees.The referendum on the euro was the latestmistake, aggravating an already difficultsituation for the country at home andabroad. Leaving aside the weakening ofGreece’s negotiating position abroadcaused by the ill-thought referendum, onecan easily identify two other conflictingconsequences at home. On the positiveside, a large portion of the Greek publicnow realizes that there is a real danger thecountry may exit the eurozone and thatvarious scenarios which have appeared inthe foreign press were not theoretical butactually have some credence.

On the negative side, this realization hasprompted some to withdraw their depositsfrom local credit institutions, putting morepressure on the liquidity of the local bank-ing system. Although banks are currentlyable to fill the hole opened by the drop indeposits via the Bank of Greece’s emer-gency liquidity mechanism, it does notbode well for the economy since they can-not afford to satisfy at reasonable interestrates even the weak demand from credit-worthy companies and individuals.

Analysts agree that foreign direct invest-ments, a pickup in exports, a vast im-provement in the absorption of EU struc-tural funds and ample funding to the pri-vate sector by the banking sector areneeded to counterbalance the adverse ef-

fects of continuous fiscal tightening, wagecuts and rising unemployment on the na-tional economy.

But it is hard to see any positive devel-opments which could change market senti-ment and the economic equation on allthese fronts. Even if we ignore the partisanfights which are likely to resurface as wedraw closer to general elections at somepoint in the first quarter of 2012 and thetemporary government delivers on themain points to secure the disbursement ofthe sixth tranche of 8 billion euros from theEU and the IMF under the first economicadjustment program, we doubt whetherthis is enough.

By all accounts, the newly set budgetdeficit target for 2011 will be missed andthe only question is by how much. Thedeficit was set initially at some 17 billioneuros but is likely to exceed 19 billion oreven more as revenues from extra taxesmiss goals.

At the same time, the public debt-to-GDPratio is likely to exceed 160 percent andend at closer to 163 percent with its dy-namics becoming even worse for 2012without the positive contribution from theso-called PSI Plus, the new bond exchangeprogram which includes a 50 percent hair-cut on Greek marketable debt.

Just to remind everybody, the country’scentral government debt-to-GDP stood at32.8 percent in 1981 with the budgetdeficit at 9.8 percent of GDP. The samedebt ratio went up to 71.4 percent of GDPin 1990 with the deficit at 13.6 percent. Thecentral government is the biggest compo-nent of the general government.

Back to the present: Greek politiciansseem to be betting a lot on expected inter-est savings of some 4-5 billion euros, re-sulting from the prompt implementation ofPSI Plus early next year but tend to forgetthey will need the approval of the so-called troika, the representatives of the EU,IMF and the ECB, to get some fiscal relief.

But it is not certain whether Greece’s of-ficial creditors will consent to somethinglike this when the 2012 budget will have to

make up for the 2011 fiscal slippage andthere will be likely indications of furtherbudget deficit misses in 2012.

Moreover, private investors seem to bedemanding coupon rates of more than 6percent on the new bonds to voluntarilyparticipate in PSI Plus. If they succeed, thismay affect projected interest savings sincethey will apply to Greek bonds with a nom-inal value of 100 billion euros or more iffull participation is secured via collectiveaction clauses.

In addition, it is hard to see how thecountry can collect the billions of proceedsearmarked from privatizations next yearwith asset prices depressed after the rela-tively easy part of extending or selling li-censes to OPAP and others this year.

Undoubtedly, the sale of public property

could bring in billions of euros, but this re-quires a better economic and political envi-ronment as well as “clean” real estate as-sets in a country where preparatory workhas not been done and all kinds of legalhurdles can be found.

All in all, the new unity government un-der respected former central banker Pa-pademos is a major step forward for thecountry, but it may have come too late.

We are sure Papademos and many ofhis ministers will do their best to improveGreece’s tarnished image abroad but weare not so sure they will be equally suc-cessful in rallying the people domesticallyto stick to the austerity plan and meet thebudget deficit targets.

The country’s economic outlook does notlook promising.

Christian Dior, Gucci, Ted Baker Ro

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Nina Ricci, Oakley, La font

874 Anzac Parade, Maroubra Junction874 Anzac Parade, Maroubra Junction(at bus stop, on RTA block)(at bus stop, on RTA block)

TTeell :: ((0022)) [email protected]@maroubraoptoms.com.au

Katerina + Kyriacos Mavrolefteros

The Greek Australian VEMA NOVENBER 20114/22 TO BHMA

Chief Executive Officer Location: Cairns, North Qld

The St John’s Community Care Ltd, an activity of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, is inviting applications for the role of CEO. This is an exciting opportunity for a knowledgeable, qualified executive to join an expanding not-for-profit organisation. The position requires proficient strategic planning and leadership skills. An attractive salary package in excess of $120K+ will be offered in addition to a fully maintained company car. The Organisation: St John’s Community Care Ltd is a highly regarded community-based organisation supporting frail aged, people with disabilities and people from diverse ethnic backgrounds from Cardwell to Thursday Island. St John’s Daycare Centre is based in Redlynch and provides high quality child care services from infants to pre-school aged children. The successful applicant will be responsible for: Performing as the primary advisor to the Board of Directors, act as the Chief Executive Officer of St John’s Community Care Limited and provide overall management of:

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3. Associated Assets and Facilities. Specialised job knowledge/demonstrated ability:

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An information kit may be obtained by phoning Tricia Williams on 4039 9700, by email: [email protected] or from the office, corner of Kamerunga and Fairweather Roads, Redlynch. Expressions of interest should be addressed to: Private & Confidential Chairperson St John's Community Care Ltd PO Box 44 R Redlynch 4870

St John’s Community Care Ltd is an Equal Employment Agency

An Activity of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

St John's Community Care Ltd

100 YEARS SINCE THE DEATH

OF PAPADIAMANDISA NEW TRANSLATION OF ONE

OF GREECE’S GREATEST WRITERS

The Murderess: A Social Taleby Alexandros PapadiamandisTranslated by Liadain Sherrard with an Introduction by Lambros Kamperidis

ISBN 978-960-7120-28-1, 142 pages, paper boundDenise Harvey (Publisher), Limni, Evia, Greece

From its first appearance in 1903, TheMurderess has been regarded as Alexan-dros Papadiamandis’s finest work. Set onhis native island of Skiathos it tells the sto-ry of Hadoula, a widow with grown-upchildren, who has convinced herself that itis better little girlsshould leave this lifewhen young so that they and their parentsshould notsuffer the trials that inevitablywould be inflicted on them by an in-equitable society. In the throes of this mis-guided compassion she first murders herown granddaughter and afterwards findsherself set on a course she is unabletostop despite the promptings of her con-science and her awareness of the conse-quences.

Papadiamandis charts this course andthe events in her life that preceded it, andagainst a background of the island’s ver-

dant and untrodden places and the livingpresence of the Church he explores theparticular quality evil has of disguising it-self as good, but without ever passingjudgement on the murderess herself.

Alexandros Papadiamandis, 1851-1911,was born on the small Aegean island ofSkiathos, the fourth child of the priestAdamandios Emmanuel. After a diverseand sporadic education, with long spellson his island when he assisted his fatherin his pastoral duties, he attended thePhilosophical School of Athens Universityfor two years but never completed his de-gree. While in Athens he began to earn hisliving as a writer, translator and journalist.Initially he wrote novels which appearedin serial form in newspapers, then latermainly short stories which became hismost favoured medium.

He lived in the midst of an uncertainage of transition for modern Greece. Itwas a period of post-Enlightenment tur-moil when the traditional old ways werebeing undermined and were fast disap-pearing. His attachment to these waysmarked him out for some as conservative,even reactionary, but it was an attachmenttempered with an innate and deep under-standing of how the past breathes life in-to the present and which is particularly re-vealed in the remarkable modernity of theway he treats his subject in The Murder-ess. Long considered one of Greece’smost important writers, and compared bymany to Dostoyevsky and Hardy, his re-flections tions on and observations ofmodern Greek life define the Greek expe-rience in a way unmatched by any of hiscontemporaries.

This new translation of The Murderesswas undertaken and published to markthe centenary of Papadiamandis’s death.


Our Primate’s View

NOVEMBER 2011

THE FIRST - CALLEDIn the conscience of the Church through the centuries, this

sacred adjective has almost become synonymous with theperson and the task of the Apostle Andrew, since it was himthat the God-man called, when He decided to constitute theprimordial regulating structure of the Church on earth, withthe group of the Twelve. Knowing the deep symbolism of thenumber “Twelve”, as it refers directly to the twelve tribes ofIsrael - which in their turn express the fullness and whole-ness of God’s people, and by extension the entire humanity- one can priori guess the abysmal moral and religious valueof the epithet “First-called” in the Judaeochristian traditiongenerally.

But since Andrew the First - called also became, asknown, the founder of the church of Constantinople, namelythe First-throne Church of the East, it is only natural that thecontent of this apostolic primacy of calling should alsoreflect directly on each of the successors of the ApostleAndrew, or rather - to speak more correctly - to prejudgeand decisively mark the whole spiritual responsibility andmission of each Archbishop of Constantinople andEcumenical Patriarch.

At this time, therefore, when we are a few days beforethe annual celebration of the Feast of St Andrew the Apostle,we suddenly experienced - both as Church and as Nation,but also as a universal Christian Community - the dormitionin the Lord of the late Patriarch Dimitrios I, as well as theunanimously blessed election of our new PatriarchBartholomew I as his direct successor. It is, then, right andimperative that we should dedicate our article in this issueto the fact of the primacy of calling, which so character-istically links the First-called Apostle with the First -called Bishop in the Church.

At first it should be reminded that the fact of the “calling”in itself and in general - namely independently of distinc-tion and order - in the whole history of divine Economywas the first sign of divine presence, meaning the first proofof God’s goodwill toward the world.

Already the creation of the world ex nihilo was a callingfrom nonexistence into existence. Similarly every form of“Testament” contracted by God from time to time with hisreasonable creature was a calling, honouring in them Hisown image. For the notion of responsibility implied inevery testament is an ingredient element of the person,namely of God’s image in the reasonable creation. TheIncarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascen-sion, were also a calling, just as the Second Coming willalso be a decisive calling. In all these we see continuallyGod’s “relishing hand”, namely His hand extended towardthe world and this always in order to grant His grace inboundless ways.

Already the term ”grace” which means “gift” (namely unre-payable offering of love) proves very eloquently that whenGod calls, he does so always in order to give a blessing.Now this blessing renders man a boundless debtor, just asboundless also is God who condescends. Therefore, a call-ing primarily is an honour and a favour on the part of God,which man cannot allegedly win as if he deserves it. For itis God who always takes the initiative of all movements forthe good, while man’s initiative is only in sin.

The fact, then, of the calling gives the measure of the va-lue (namely of the sacredness) of the world generally, andat the same time also the measure of man’s responsibil-ity more particulary. For this reason man can never

boast, since he becomes a “chosen vessel” in God’shands. On the contrary, he shudders and fears, especiallywhen he is “called” by God after the fall ( cf. Gen. 33: 8-10 ).In any case, this was the reason for which, when thePhrophets were ”called” by God, they left frightened, con-fessing their insufficiency and unworthiness (“I am theyoungest one...” was their stereotyped reply, when theyrefused their election), until God Himself, with a “burnt” coal,symbolically burnt their lips, so that they may be able tospeak “God’s word”, not vain human words.

The fact that in the visible constitution of the Church of theNew Testament Christ called first the Apostle Andrew, cer-tainly means primarily a primacy of honour, moreover, itmeans a primacy of responsibility; the more deeply itis experienced as such, the more it becomes a primacy ofpain. The fact that God takes you first out of the multitudedoes not at all mean that He recognises you as being inadvance any better or superior. On the contrary, He asksthat you offer with your obedience to the calling the exam-ple of humility, the rule of confession. The word of the call-ing does not admit any improvised response as it seems, butan analogous word, an agreeable word. Consequently,this does not mean secular “leadership”, as one couldwrongly believe. It is only humility and the fullest possibleadjustment to the word of the calling - which is at the sametime illumination and commandment, namely gift, aswell as demand - that justifies the primacy of the calling.

In any case, the power to respond to the calling fromabove has been placed by God in the goodwill, whichexpresses the very fact of the calling. It is for this reasonthat Paul says “whom he called, he also justified, and whomhe justified, he also glorified” (Rom: 8:30).

From all the above it becomes clear that the “First-called”in God’s plan is also the greater debtor; precisely becausehe first received, he is a debtor to all.

With such spiritual presuppositions, the epithet “First-cal-led” cannot be considered to establish a regular (of timepriority) or meritorious, primacy but only a sacramentalone (of purely salvific context).

This “primacy of calling” in Orthodox Ecclesiology isexpressed in the person of the “First” in each AutocephalousChurche (cf. 34 Apostolic canon), and in the whole system ofthe Orthodox Churches throughout the world, in the personof the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Now if one compares the primacy of the universalOrthodoxy as “First-called” with the “First” of the WesternChurch as “Pontifex Maximus”, then one understands evenbetter the spiritual nature of the “primacy of calling” in juxta-position with the “primacy of world jurisdiction”. In otherwords, while the former is based entirely on the sacramen-tal event of the calling, thus denoting its dutifully “kenotic”character, the latter, not even hinting at any point of refer-ence or dependence, only indicates the “greatest” possibledemand of administrative authority, thus proving to be pre-cisely the opposite of kenosis in God.

For this reason it is not an exaggeration to say that, pre-cisely on account of his kenotic function, the ”First-called” ofthe Bishops becomes for all the “advocate”, as he guaran-tees the comfort, the consolation and the ministry for thosenear and those far.

By ARCHBISHOPSTYLIANOSOF AUSTRALIA


LETTER FROM MAROUBRA

I still have a lot to learn!

It’s funny how the older you get, the more you realisethat the people around you are so valuable.

For instance, J and I share the same Christian name -both named after our grandfather. I, on my father’s side,and he, on his mother’s side. We used to play togetherwhen we were young children in Perth but then ourfamilies both moved interstate. We grew up independ-ently and I think the last time we met was probablyaround 1978.

The fragile link that held us together was almost ex-tinguished by the death of his mother. Despite the tyran-ny of interstate distance and vastly different upbringingswe had somehow made contact in recent years. We ex-changed cards at Christmas and to his credit there wasa touching letter.

So it was with some curiosity that I looked forward tovisiting interstate and maybe even catching up. Ofcourse, I was a little apprehensive - after all, we hadnot met for some 33 years. On the other hand, I thought:“What have you got to lose? What sort of examplewould I be setting for my kids?” Relatives, friends andacquaintances contribute to who we are. To overlookthem is to neglect our very self.

On the second day I rang from our hotel. His wife an-swered. I introduced myself, saying, “I am J’s cousinfrom Maroubra...”. The remaining words are vague inmy memory but were something about wanting to meetand catch up and if they were free to meet for somecoffee with my family. You know - the usual sort ofstuff.

Her voice was warm and welcoming. She put him on.J was quite emotional and happy to hear my voice. I feltencouraged by this warm reception but quickly becamesaddened by the news that followed. He was ill, seri-ously ill. It was inoperable. I was devastated.

He outlined its history. Like many instances, it was dis-covered incidentally. A routine medical for heartburn pri-or to overseas travel was the tiny occurrence that un-ravelled his hopes, dreams and plans. Life now took ona new course.

This illness seemed to follow me around everywhereI went. It has haunted my relatives for generations andstruck the nicest people in the prime of their life.

In recent months it has been like a plague around me- neighbours, friends, acquaintances. My prayers nowinclude a long list of names.

I have learnt how this is not an illness with just somerestrictions or with some aches and pains. It is notsomething that will pass quickly. Even the cure has itsown problems. If I am devastated then how must theyfeel?

But in viewing this process I have learnt a lot aboutcourage and determination. I have seen the value offaith at first hand. On a practical level, I have learnt howimportant it is to support one another at all times.

By the time we met, J was back in hospital. He washaving a rough time. All the years of separation van-ished in an instant. It was as though we were again twokids playing on a street. On the second occasion I took

my family along and I am sure it will be unforgettablefor them.

I returned home from my travels a little sadder and alittle wiser. Of course I now keep in regular touch withJ. Life is too short and each moment is so valuable.

It was now his name-day. For the first time I sent himan email. I received a reply from his wife thanking meand saying that he has not been well. He is unable tocome to the phone but sends his greetings. Hopefully,he will be on the mend. I made a mental note to call ina few days. God willing, I plan to visit him shortly whenthe semester is over.

In the meantime, my own telephone rang. It was an-other friend from his hospital bed. Here was a man offaith and conviction. Even after two operations and allhis problems, he was ringing to wish me all the best formy name-day.

I still have a lot to learn!

[email protected]

The views expressed are those of the author and not neces-sarily those of the VEMA or St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theo-logical College

Letter from

Maroubra

Wine and its history go on display in Kapandriti By Christina Sanoudou

Dedicated entirely to wine history andscience, the newly established CostaLazaridi Wine Museum in Kapandriti (pho-to), northern Attica, also holds a messageof hope. The project proves that an ap-petite for creativity doesn’t always have tobe sacrificed on the altar of success andthat some people are able to keep theirdreams alive, even in the current climate.

The museum showcases objects collect-ed in the last 25 years by Costas Lazaridis,owner of one the largest vineyards inGreece. The permanent collection includeswine presses, pumps, bottles, distilling e-quipment, barrels and winemaking andharvest tools dating from the 16th centuryto the present, while the exhibits highlightall the different stages of the winemakingprocess, from the cultivation of grapes tobottling.

The items on display are complemented

by information regarding wine and its pro-duction. For example, did you know thatSantorini’s Assyrtiko is one of Europe’svery few grape varieties boasting a natu-ral resistance to the phylloxera pest, whichin the 19th century wiped out most of thecontinent’s vineyards?

The museum’s permanent collection iscomplemented by copies of archaeologicalfinds, primarily pots and vases depicting

wine production and the cult of Dionysus inancient Greece, as well as a 350 BC mar-ble wine press.

Also on show is a reproduction of an an-cient trireme - scaled down to one third ofits original size -which sank in the 6th cen-tury BC, taking an entire load of amphoraefilled with wine to the bottom of the sea.Another exhibit is a copy of an ancient in-scription originally located on the northern

Aegean island of Thassos. The inscriptionshows legislation regarding the commer-cialization and transportation of winethroughout the country in around the 4thcentury BC, essentially an early form ofprovenance certification. Meanwhile, in themuseum’s basement, visitors can take acloser look at barrels as well as vintageDomaine Lazaridi bottles.

The new museum is part of the OenotriaGi estate, which covers some 11 acres inthe area of Kapandriti. Oenotria Gi alsohosts wedding receptions and otherevents. The museum, which was recentlyinaugurated in the presence of influentialFrench oenologist Michel Rolland, is open11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.on weekends. Coming up soon are guidedtours for schools based in the Attica regionas well as foreign visitors.

Oenotria Gi, 2nd km of Kapandriti-KalamosRoad, Attica, tel 22950.52213 /52214. For more in-formation, visit www.domaine-lazaridi.gr.

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 7/25NOVEMBER 2011

Growing up fast and furious

Media’s impact on our children:

Privacy

Imagine this: The mother of a friend of your teenagedaughter calls you to discuss a concern. She has a print-out of a Facebook page in which your daughter haswritten a long piece of diatribe attacking her friends,especially a male friend whom she accuses of betray-ing after a brief but intense relationship. The language,the themes and the intensity of anger and rage are dis-turbing. When you try to bring it up with your daughter,she initially denies doing it, but then breaks out in tears.She tells you how regretful she is, and how she is nowthe laughing stock of the school. Over the next weekshe is receiving taunts on-line from people she does notknow. However, but refuses to close her Facebook ac-count, pleading that it would take away her life. Eventu-ally she agrees to shut her account after you threaten totake away her computer.

If this appears far-fetched, it is not; similar situationsare happening amongst adolescents all the time. Whatteenage troubles used to be contained amongst a groupand soon forgotten can now be broadcast all over theworld, and kept for a long time. One careless mistakecan cost relationships, peace of mind and even futureemployment.

While children and adolescents may be very savvywith using technology and the media, they may not beso knowledgeable or mature to deal with the privacy is-sues related to the technology. Here are some other ex-amples where children’s privacy may be compromised1.

Sexting

Sexting is when people take explicit photos of them-selves and send them electronically to others. In one

study, 3 in 10 young people reported sending or receiv-ing some type of sexting2. More than 60% of those sur-veyed were pressured to sext at least once.1 in 10 hasshared a naked image of themselves. 29% of these im-ages were sent to people they never met in person.

Sexting usually starts off as ‘harmless fun’ or toplease an intimate or potential friend or partner. It is notuncommon, however, for the receiver to forward thephoto to his or her contacts. Within minutes the photocan reach hundreds, even thousands of people. People(including teenagers) found with these images on theirphones have been charged by police as possessingchild pornography.

‘Friends’ on Facebook

Social networking sites such as Facebook are seen asa convenient and fun way to socialise. However, un-wanted people can very easily join a member’s friends’list. In one recent study, 35% of 8 to 11-year-olds re-ceived friend requests from people they did not know.23% were likely to accept this request. 61% of 12 to 17-year-olds were likely to accept friend requests fromstrangers. Such strangers can range from people seek-ing new friends to adults looking to groom vulnerablechildren. With newer software it is even possible to betracked by a ‘friend’ from a social networking site; forthem to know exactly where you are.

Personal information

Children sometimes provide their personal informa-tion like their email address and phone number to web-sites, in return for competition entry or access togames. Some websites use this information legitimately.However some websites may sell this information ormake it visible to other people visiting the website. Thiscan lead to the child and potentially the family being tar-geted with unwanted advertising. Personal informationcan also be used by other people, including criminals, tosteal identities. Identity theft occurs when personal in-formation is misused by criminals. Information could beused to steal money, take out loans or set up credit card

accounts in your name. This can happen to both adultsand children.

Digital reputation

Our digital reputation is made up of everything wepost, say and do, online. People judge us based on whatwe load up on websites and how we communicate. Be-cause content that’s posted online can be there forever,we could well be judged on how we behaved as a childwell into our adult years. There are cases where em-ployment opportunities have been spoiled by compro-mising photos and thoughtless comments on social net-working sites and elsewhere.

Comment

It is important that parents are aware of these priva-cy matters, and feel empowered to help their children toprotect themselves when they are on-line. The Aus-tralian Government’s Cybersmart website (see below)is a good place to start.

These concerns are yet another reminder that today’sworld can be a hostile one for children. Advertisers andcriminals are ready to take advantage. Too many free-doms are dangerous, especially for youth. Children andteenagers would not by themselves be expected toforesee and appreciate the pitfalls of putting their pri-vate affairs on-line.

This issue underlines again that more than ever, ouryouth need to build their relationships with Christ. Youngpeople truly seeking Christ will not be so dependentemotionally on social media. This does not mean thatthey will become closed in or unsocial. A love for Christand for each other makes young people more alert,more mature, more considerate, more creative andmore contented. It makes them more wholesome peo-ple.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Matthew 10:16

By Fr George LiangasChild and Adolescent PsychiatristSchool Chaplain, All Saints Grammar, Sydney

1 www.cybersmart.gov.au2 A thin line: 2009 AP-TVT digital abuse study. Available at:

http://www.athinline.org/MTV-AP Digital Abuse Study Executive Summa-ry.pdf. Accessed 28th October 2011.

Rundown area of Athens given an aesthetic boost by artistic action By Constantine Callaghan

Standing tall on a junction on busy Pireos Street a colos-sal mural painted on the side of a building catches the eye(photo). A pair of delicately painted black-and-white handspoint to the street level. The intricate detail of the veins,knuckles and nails diverts the onlookers’ attention awayfrom the hustle and bustle of downtown Athens.

As part of the varied “Athens-Attica 2014” urban regen-eration program, the 600-square-meter mural composedby Pavlos Tsakonas has been painted on the south-facingflank of the Hotel Vienna. It is the first of three works tobe applied on different buildings within Athens in whathas been dubbed “artistic interventions in public spaces -- painting on the blind sides of buildings.”

In cooperation with the Athens School of Fine Arts (AFSA)and the Ministry of Environment, the project of threeworks (one is already completed) aims to revitalize andimprove the quality of public space. The Environment Min-istry’s general secretary for regional planning and urbandevelopment, Maria Kaltsa, meanwhile, added that “theproject hopes to provoke discussion and generate interestin parts of the city that do not have an identity.”

A fine arts graduate, Tsakonas drew his inspiration for

the landmark mural from “Praying Hands,” the iconic 1508piece by the northern Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer.

Tsakonas described his work as “a contemporary com-ment on the current reality... For my own purposes thehands were enlarged and rotated to point toward theground, unlike the original that addresses the Heavens”.

Proud of the piece, Kaltsa jested: “Ours is better than the15th century original.” The striking black-and-white muralis located in the neighborhood of Gerani and is painted onthe side of a hotel on a busy street. “The intention was toinitiate a dialogue with the users of the city and relate it tothe public daily life in central Athens, redefining our rela-tionship with the city,” said Kaltsa

At a cost of 18,000 euros, Kaltsa argued that the muralis a cheaper way of improving certain corners of Athensas the economic crisis has made it increasingly difficult togain access to public funds. However, some might askwhy in the grips of the worst economic crisis in recentmemory, funds are being set aside for creative projectsrather than practical ones. As Kaltsa explained, the proj-ects have been financed through the relatively new andrecently downgraded so-called “green fund,” which ob-tains its funding through fines collected from illegally con-structed buildings.


Caring for an older personThe Greek Welfare Centre of the Greek Orthodox Arch-

diocese of Australia is presenting the fourth part of thefour series on care for an older person. To allow theGreek elderly and their carers to be aware of differentoptions in aged care and to increase access to aged careservices. The fourth part series is on residential care.

What is Residential Aged Care?

Residential aged care is for older people who can nolonger live at home. Reasons can include illness, disabilityor the needs of the carer or the older person is no longerpossible to manage at home without help.

What types of Aged Care are available?

There are two types of aged care available Low-Level Care homes (previously known as Hostel

care) generally provide accommodation and personal caresuch as help with dressing and showering and occasionalnursing care and High Level Care (previously known asNursing home care) for people with greater degree offrailty, who often need continual nursing care.

An assessment needs to be undertaken by the AgedCare Assessment Team (ACAT) to inform the client whatlevel of care they will need.

What services do Aged Care Homes pro-vide?

All aged care homes must provide a range of care andservices to the residents according to each resident’s careneeds.

Services should include:Staff to provide help assistance with daily living activi-

ties such as bathing, showering dressing and mobility, as-sistance with medications and the provision of meals andrefreshments and social activities.

The residential homes should have basic furnishingssuch as carpets chairs beds linen towels soap and toiletpaper and provide a laundry service cleaning service andthe maintenance of buildings and grounds.

For high level care needs the homes will also providethings like continence aids, basic medical supplies andpharmaceutical supplies nursing services and therapyservices.

What is an Agreement?Each nursing home or aged care facility should offer an

agreement. This agreement is a contract between the res-ident and the facility itself. The agreement should pro-scribe the rights and obligations of the facility and the res-ident, for example the fees and when they should be paid;the kind of care provided; and the situations under whicha resident may be asked to leave the facility or aged carecentre.

Different aged care facilities and hostels have differentagreements and contracts and the resident and/or his/herrepresentative should understand all the rights and obliga-tions that pertain to his/her own situation.

If you are unsure of anything written in the agreementor contract, you should speak to a lawyer before you sign.

Will I need to move into another AgedCare Home if my care needs change?

Some aged care homes provide both low and high lev-el care which allows a person to stay in one location even

if a person’s care needs increase. This is called ‘Ageing Inplace”. Ask the aged care home whether you can remainin the same home, as your care needs change.

What Is Extra Care?Some aged care homes provide “extra service”. The

home may be able to provide you with higher standard ofaccommodation and care, which will cost you more. Theamount one has to pay for this extra service will varyfrom to home to home, it is best to check directly with theaged care home.

Do I have to pay for Residential AgedCare?

The Australian Government provides a substantialamount of funding towards the cost of residential agedcare.

Most residents will need to pay daily care fees and ac-commodation payments to their residential aged carehome as prescribed by the Government.

What if I cannot afford to pay?There are hardship provisions to help people who can-

not afford to pay, so you can receive the same standardof care regardless of your capacity to pay. Please contactthe Aged Care Information Line on 1800 500 853 to re-ceive assistance and to obtain an application form or youcan also send an email to [email protected]

Must a person stay in an Aged CareFacility even though they don’t like it?

You are not obliged to stay in an aged care facility if youdon’t like it. The agreement you have signed should lay outclearly your obligations and rights and under which situa-tions you are able to leave the facility.

When is an Enduring Power of Attorney or Guardianship necessary?

The aged care facility must follow privacy laws. If thecarers or family members do not have legal power eitherthrough an Enduring Power of Attorney or Guardianship,then they may not be allowed to have a say in the careplan without the resident’s consent.

Bringing your complaint to the attentionof the Aged Care Facility

It is usually best to discuss any problems or concernswith the aged care facility directly.

If you do not wish to discuss your concern with the agedcare facility, or if you cannot find a solution to your prob-lem, you can call the National Aged Care Advocacy Line on1800 700 600.

If you wish to make a complaint but you are finding thatthe aged care facility is not helpful in this regard, you cancall 1800 550 552 free of charge, or you can write to

Complaints Department c/- Department of Health andAgeing, GPO Box 9848, in your local city.

Do Aged Care Homes provide care for the Greek older person?

The Australian Government provides funding to a num-ber aged care homes run by Greek specific communityorganisations.

The Partners in Culturally Appropriate care program (PI-CAC) and the Community Partners Program (CPP) enablesaged care homes and ethnic communities to work togeth-er to establish and maintain links between residents ofaged care homes and their social, cultural and linguisticnetworks.

There are also clustering programs that bring togetherresidents who share similar cultural, language and reli-gious backgrounds within one aged care home.

To find out what is available in your area you can callthe Commonwealth Carelink Centre on 1800 052 222

If you cannot speak English you can ring the Translatingand Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450 and request tospeak to someone from the Commonwealth Carelinkservice or the Commonwealth Aged Care Information line.

For further information please call the Greek WelfareCentre’s CPP Workers:Newton office on (02) 9516 21 88Illawarra office on (02) 4428 1609Western Sydney office on (02) 9687 8955

This information is provided by the by the Greek Welfare Centreaged care section, Greek Community Partners Program (CPP).

Acknowledgement: resourced via the information sheet “fivesteps to residential care” and the website of the Department ofHealth and Ageing http://www.agedaustralia.gov.au

The CPP project is funded under the Department of Health andageing.


Visit our website

www.greekorthodox.org.au


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The Greek Australian VEMA NOVEMBER 201110/28 TO BHMA

Australians to suffer summer of rain painWith La Nina back for another summer and above av-

erage rainfall predicted for much of Australia, theweather is about to become more of a pain than peo-ple realise.

The notion of rain pain is often dismissed as a myth,but experts say there is now enough evidence to sug-gest it exists.

What's more, they say sufferers of conditions likearthritis and chronic pain can actually use their level ofdiscomfort to tell when the weather is about to change.

La Nina was responsible for the Brisbane floods andCyclone Yasi, and the Bureau of Meteorology saysQueensland, New South Wales and Victoria in particularshould brace for another wet summer.

Dr Graeme Jones, professor of rheumatology andepidemiology at the Menzies Research Institute, saysthe days of mythical rain pain are long gone.

He says arthritis sufferers' pain levels are without adoubt affected by the weather. "There are three thingsin the weather that have an effect," he said.

"The higher the ambient temperature the better thesymptoms are; the higher the humidity or dew point theworse the symptoms are; and changes in the baromet-ric pressure, so when a cold front is coming throughand when the pressure drops, people tend to ache intheir joints before that."

He says their ability to predict the weather is not asfarfetched as it sounds.

"My patients have been telling me they can predictthe weather for 20 years, and most people were fairlydisbelieving, when in fact the studies on the relationshipbetween weather changes and pain are pretty consis-tent," he said.

"On an anecdotal level, last summer in Tasmania peo-

ple's joints were much worse because we had a fairlywet winter and wet summer with lots of changes in theweather, whereas generally our summer is very dry."

Psychological factors

Conjoint Professor Nikolai Bogduk from the Universi-ty of Newcastle, who specialises in spinal pain, is a lit-tle less convinced.

He says psychological factors may play a part."There is a theory, unproven, that when the baromet-

ric pressure drops the ambient pressure is lower andso joints expand, so if you have a painful knee it swells,and that's what makes it more painful," he said.

"That may or may not be true, but it is important forpeople to be alert to possible intermediate affects.

"Among them is the general affect of weather onpeople's mood. A patient without pain is going to feelmore miserable when the weather is miserable, so apatient that is going to be affected psychologically maywell be giving you an amplified measure of their painon that particular day," he said.

"There may actually be no difference to the pain, butbecause they feel worse, they will report their pain asbeing worse."

In terms of pain sufferers' ability to predict theweather, Conjoint Professor Bogduk says a change inblood flow may be the explanation.

"The ability to predict the weather may be related toa number of things, maybe not exactly the jointsswelling, but if the ambient pressure is dropping maybethings like veins and the venous drainage out of thejoint or out of the bone changes, so there might bechanges in blood flow that are occurring," he said. According to the experts, more rain means more pain.

Tribute to Poet Odysseus Elytis 100th anniversary since Elytis’ birth

On November 2 Greece commemorated the 100th an-niversary since the birth of poet laureate Odysseus Elytis.To mark the centenary of his birth, 2011 has been desig-nated as Elytis Year by the Ministry of Culture andTourism.

Odysseus Elytis was born in Heraklion, Crete on No-vember 2, 1911 and died in Athens on March 18, 1996.

A major poet in Greek language, Elytis is also one of theoutstanding international figures of 20th-century poetry.Elytis’ poetry has marked, through an active presence ofover forty years, a broad spectrum of subjects with a rar-efied and passionate stylistic touch.

The first collections of poetry (Orientations, 1939, andSun the First, 1943) are joyous and radiant, celebrating theGreek landscape as an ideal world of sensual enjoymentand moral purity.

His experience of the war in 1940s marks a departurefrom the sunny atmosphere of his early youth and poetry,colouring his long poem Heroic and Elegiac Song for theLost Second Lieutenant of Albania (1943).

The attempt of Elytis to identify himself with the nationand speak for himself and also for his country reaches itspeak with Axion Esti (‘Worthy It Is,’ 1959), his central andmost ambitious work for which he was awarded the 1979Nobel Prize for Literature.

His later work consists of ten collections of poems anda substantial number of essays.

Outstanding among them are: The Monogram (1972), anachievement in the European love poem tradition, and TheOxopetra Elegies (1991), which include some of the mostdifficult but profound poems written in our times.

Centenary Celebrations

The Athens Concert Hall paid tribute to Odysseus Elytisby holding a two-day (October 31 to November 1) interna-

tional conference titled Odysseus Elytis: The 20th centuryin the poetry of Elytis. The poetry of Elytis in the 21st cen-tury, exploring new approaches in the interpretation of hiswork.

On November 2 and 3, an event was organised of orig-inal music by George Kouroupos under the title OdysseusElytis’ This Small, this Great World!, with poetry and proseset to music, representing the main facets of the work ofOdysseus Elytis: lyricism, a restless spirit of inquiry,courage, spirituality, sensation and true emotions.

The B&M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts andMusic held an exhibition titled The world of Odysseas

Elytis: Poetry and Painting from September 22 to Novem-ber 27. The exhibition presented for the first time all oflytis paintings together with manuscripts and editions be-longing to the poet’s private collection, as well as pub-lished and unpublished photographs.

The Hellenic Foundation for Culture organised a seriesof events in honour of the poet in its several branches andCenters.

The tribute, which opened at Odessa and Belgrade inOctober, continues this month in Berlin, Sofia, Bucharest,Tirana and Alexandria, and will be concluded in Trieste inDecember.

Elytis was awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize

for Literature


ENROLLING NOW FOR KINDERGARTEN 2011

9796 8240.

ST EUPHEMIA COLLEGE K-12

School Mission StatementThat within a dynamic Orthodox Christian framework,

a student may strive to achieve academic excellence, a love for learning, social responsibility, spiritual growth

and respect for a healthy mind and body.

202 Stacey St., Bankstown 2200 NSW PO Box 747 Bankstown 1885 NSW

ENROLLING NOW FOR KINDERGARTEN 2012

(02) 9796 8240



The Presentation of our Lord goes to campHoly Traditions of the Orthodox Church

By Roneea Patsouris 16years of age.

Search into Google ‘Christian YouthCamps in Victoria’ and you get thousandsupon thousands of results. It seems everyChristian denomination in the history ofmankind has a camp. Catholics, Anglicans,Evangelicals, Baptists. What about theGreek Orthodox, a very prominent commu-nity in Victoria, I hear you ask? Well now,we have one too.

Now running for its third (and very suc-cessful) year, the Presentation of Our Lordhas developed its very own Greek Ortho-dox Youth Camp. The camp is for childrenof primary to high school ages, with thisyear a youngest of 6 and oldest of 18. It isa chance to form friendship with kids of allages who have one big thing in common:their faith.

The camp is held at the Christian LogCamp, in Creswick, central Victoria. Thecamp is built on acres and acres of land.Everywhere you look on the campsite allthe eye can see is Gods nature. It is trulyan opportunity for technology focusedGeneration Y’s to appreciate the beauty ofGod’s most magnificent creation, planetearth.

Every camp is built around a topic, thisyear’s being Tradition in the Orthodox

Church. Tradition is the passing on fromgeneration to generation. Some view it asa good thing, others as a bad (I myselfconsidered tradition to be one of society’sevils until a very convincing deaconshowed me otherwise). Through discus-sion we uncovered what is actually a tradi-tion of the Orthodox Church and what is

really a custom, masquerading as churchtradition.

The two traditions of Greek Orthodoxywe examined in detail were chanting andiconography. Iconography lessons wereconducted by Deacon Leonidas Ioannou, aniconographer who has been studying theblessed art form for 16 years. Every child,from the oldest to the youngest, was giventhe opportunity to paint their own icon,with depictions ranging from the Theo-tokos to St Maximus.

A chanting lesson was held by St Har-alambos head chanter, Vaios Anasta-sopoulos with some assistance from Dea-con Stergios Patsouris. We learnt byzantinescales (klimaka) and how to read very ba-sic Byzantine notation. For the first time inmany of the campers lives, we finally hadan understanding of the divine music wehear every Sunday.

Not only was the camp an opportunityto connect with our inner Christian, but itwas a chance to have pure and care-freefun. There were giant trampolines whichbecame a hub of over-energised childrentrying to out-jump each other. Nearby, animpressive field, which a group of authen-tic Greek teens turned into a soccer pitch.Inside a fireplace to take away the bush-land chill. All around there were children ofall ages, mingling with children they wouldnever usually interact with and having fun!

Group activities including the flying fox, theGiant Swing and Archery had everyonescreaming with enjoyment and possibly alittle fear.

The word ‘spiritual’ often springs to mindideas of new age hippies who meditate inthe sunrise and worship the earth, windand water. So categorizing the camp as‘spiritual’ would be a mistake. But it was infact a ‘spiritual’ camp.

It was a spiritual camp because at thecore of the camp was our spirituality, ourrelationship with both God and ourselves.The camp was a time away from the me-dia, from social networking, from ourphones, our parents, from Western influ-ence and from television. It was us andGod. The distractions of our hectic worldwere not present on camp, which allowedtime for reflection, thought and questions.

The camp was run by the Sunday schoolteachers of the Presentation of our Lordand some parent helpers. However, thecamp quickly became a buzzing hub forOrthodox clergy. For the whole duration ofthe camp we were blessed with the pres-ence of Deacon Leonidas Ioannou. For 2days we were given a surprise visit by Fa-ther Efstathios Papadopoulos and DeaconStergios Patsouris. Then, as if we weren’tsurrounded by enough clergymen, wewere extraordinarily blessed to be visitedby His Grace Bishop Ezekiel of Derbis! HisGrace was the guest speaker, surprisingall campers, firstly, when he arrived andthen when he gave a very interesting talkon the 7 sacraments. It was the first timewe had a chance to properly interact withHis Grace and ask him some question.

Even though, in my mind I think I may bea little too cool or mature or lazy for sleep-ing bags and all-nighters, I don’t think I willever feel too cool/mature/lazy for thiscamp (until of course I turn eighteen, thenI’ll just have to wallow in self pity).

I typed up a description of the camp, notwanting to call it an Orthodox camp. I de-cided it was a-get-to know-your-innerself-and-understand-the-way-you-feel-and-spend-some-time-away-from-corrupt-society-and-live-a-couple-of-days-like-a-proper-Christian camp. And then I realised,that that description is Orthodox. That is theperfect summary of Orthodoxy! This is anOrthodox camp.

This camp is truly a gift from God.


ST GEORGE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH, ROSE BAY

TEACHER OF MODERN GREEK

The parish-community seeks a leader for its afternoon language school pro-gramme, qualified and experienced in teaching K-6 classes for Greek as a sec-ond language. The successful candidate will demonstrate excellence in develop-ing and teaching a dynamic programme that engages children of various levelsof proficiency - currently about 30 children, with a view to grow the enrolment. Ahigh level of Greek speaking skills is desirable. Hours of employment/salary areto be discussed upon application. Commencement in Term 1, 2012.

Send CV, with the name and telephone numbers of two referees by e-mail [email protected]

Applications close 24/11/2011


Health

NOVEMBER 2011

SKIN CANCERSo summer has almost arrived and you have decided

to go to the beach and seek a “healthy tan”. The sug-gestion that a tan is healthy is a myth!

Sun tans are not healthy! In fact tanning is dangerous! Unsafe exposure to the sun can lead to a deadly

melanoma. Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in

the world and in this article I will try to explain thecause of skin cancer, the types of skin cancer alongwith treatment options and measures that can be takento prevent skin cancer.

Skin cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormalskin cells. It usually occurs in people who have beenexposed to too much ultraviolet light from the sun. Skincancer can advance locally in the area in which it oc-curs or spread to other parts of the body if undetectedor left untreated.

The function of the skin

The skin provides protection to the body. It helps reg-ulate temperature and prevents dehydration. It is madeup of a number of layers and different types of cells.

The outer layer, the epidermis, contains mainly squa-mous cells. Deeper in the epidermis are the basal cells.Scattered among these are the melanocyte cells whichgive the skin its colour. The dermis lies underneath theepidermis and contains the roots of hairs, glands, bloodand lymph vessels and nerves.

What are the causes of skin cancer?

The most common cause of skin cancer is the over-exposure to the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun overa prolonged period of time. Exposure to sunlight inchildhood and adolescence is a major factor in the de-velopment of skin cancer. However, it is not the onlyfactor and indeed skin cancer can occur in areas of thebody that have had little or no exposure to the sun.

Other, but much less common causes of skin cancerinclude some medications, such as immunosuppressantdrugs and use of sun lamps and solariums. Even ultra-violet therapy for treatment of skin conditions such aspsoriasis can cause skin cancer. Over exposure tochemicals such as coal tar, soot, paraffin waxes, ar-senic and polycyclic hydrocarbons can cause skin can-cer.

The signs of skin cancer

People who have fair skin are most at risk, but peo-ple with dark complexions are not necessarily immune.People who live in sunny climates are in the high riskgroup and people with freckles are also at risk of skincancer.

People with crusty, non-healing sores or sunspots, orpeople who have a persistent small lump that is red,pale or pearly in colour, or people who have a newspot, mole or freckle that has increased in size,changed colour or bled, should consult their doctor.

In general, the areas to watch are the exposed areas

of the body: face, ears, neck, shoulders, arms andbacks of the hands and feet. But skin cancer can occuranywhere, especially melanomas.

In general, it is worth having a skin cancer check oncea year with your general practitioner.

Types of skin cancer

The three main types of skin cancer are named afterthe three main types of cell they start from:

1. Basal cell carcinoma (BCC)This is the most common and least dangerous type of

skin cancer. It usually appears on the face or neck. Ittypically grows slowly over a period of months or yearsand only rarely spreads to other parts of the body. Itusually starts in a small round or flattened lump or ulcerthat is red, pale, or pearly in colour.

BCC is most common in people over forty years ofage, but can occur in young adults.

2. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)This is a very dangerous form of skin cancer. Squa-

mous cell carcinoma grows faster than a basal cell car-cinoma, usually over a period of weeks to months. It

usually appears in the hands, forearms, face and neck.SCC looks like a red scaly spot or lump and is usuallythickened. It can bleed easily and ulcerate and may betender to touch. Most patients with SCC are over forty,but it can occur in younger adults.

3. MelanomaThis is the rarest, but most dangerous form of skin

cancer. It is highly malignant but can usually be treatedsuccessfully, if diagnosed early. It usually starts in amole, but can start in previously normal skin as a newlesion. A melanoma can occur anywhere in the body.

Diagnosis & Treatment of skin cancer

If your doctor suspects a skin cancer, a biopsy maybe taken to confirm the diagnosis. If the diagnosis isreasonably certain by the appearance of the lesion, forexample, for a known BCC or SCC, the doctor usuallycuts the lesion out sends it to a pathologist for exami-nation under a microscope for confirmation of the diag-nosis and to be certain all the cancerous cells havebeen removed.

After excision of a melanoma, depending on patholo-gy reports, the doctor may be required to do a widerexcision. That is, to take a deeper section of skin.

If skin cancers are large, or depending on the positionof the lesion, a plastic surgeon may be required to do askin graft or skin flap.

Sometimes skin cancer can be treated non-surgically.Non-surgical treatments of skin cancers include:

Curettage and Diathermy: Small BCC can betreated this way where the doctor uses an instrumentcalled a curette to scrape away the lesion and then us-

es the electronic diathermy to stop bleeding and de-stroy the remaining cancer cells.

Laser: Small and superficial skin cancers are some-times treated with laser.

Radiotherapy: This can be used when surgery maybe disfiguring or if a person is unfit for surgery.

Chemotherapy: This is in the form of a cream con-taining 5- Fluorouracil. This is sometimes used for skincancers in the early stage of development.

Medications: There are a variety of other drugsavailable to treat some superficial BCC’s.

Cryotherapy: is where the skin conditions are treat-ed with liquid nitrogen which freezes the lesions andkills the abnormal cells. It is not used to treat skin can-cers or moles. It is used for the treatment of solar ker-atoses(commonly called sun spots).

They are red scaling areas of skin most frequentlyexposed to sunlight.

Although a solar keratosis is benign, treatment is re-quired because it may become a SCC.

The disadvantage of cryotherapy is that a biopsy isnot taken.

How can skin cancer be prevented?

Protection from the sunlight is important. It is impor-tant to avoid direct sunlight when the sun is at itsstrongest from 10am to 3pm standard time, and from11am to 4pm during daylight saving time.

Always wear a broad brimmed hat, be wary of re-flected sun on cloudy days and wind that dries the skin.Cover your forearms with a shirt or dress with sleeves.

It is important to use a sunscreen with a minimum15+ factor on exposed areas of the skin and renew itregularly.

Children must be protected from the sun with sun-screen, swimming vests and hats. The skin of childrenis more sensitive than the skin of adults.

Early detection of skin cancer

Early detection is important. The earlier the skin can-cer is detected, the more easily and better it can betreated. Talk to your doctor today about a skin cancercheck. If you develop a skin lump or change in theshape or colour of a mole or area of the skin, or havea sore which will not heal or bleeds, see your doctorwithout delay!

* The information given in this article is of a general nature andreaders should seek advice from their own medical practitionerbefore embarking on any treatment.

HEALTHNEWSNEWS

WITH DR. THEO PENKLIS *


CRETANS REMEMBER THE HOLOCAUST OF ARCADI

On 9th November 1866 one of the most dramaticevents in Crete’s modern history took place at the HolyMonastery of Arcadi. It was the defining moment inCrete’s struggle for independence against the Turks.The monastery is situated 23 kilometres from the city ofRethymno on the edge of a plateau overlooking a wildgorge and resembles a fortress more than amonastery. Due to its strategic location and religioussignificance it became a natural centre for the Cretanrevolutionaries.

The background to the events of 1866 originates withthe Turkish occupation of Crete which was finallyachieved in 1669 after many previous attempts to doso. The Turks stayed on the island for around 250years. However, their stay was not welcomed and thelocals staged no less than eight uprisings to throw offthe Turkish yoke. One of these uprisings took place in1866. Like all previous uprisings it was put down bru-tally by the Turks.

During the uprising of 1866 the Holy Monastery of Ar-cadi had become the headquarters of the RevolutionaryCommittee. By November 1866 approximately 950 Cre-

tans, mostly unarmed women and children, had takenrefuge in the monastery under the leadership of AbbotGabriel Marinakis. Only about 250 of the Cretans werearmed. The monastery was surrounded by 15,000 Turk-ish soldiers armed with 30 cannons.

The Cretans refused the call to surrender and hero-ically fought off repeated Turkish attacks for two days.In the meantime, the Turks received reinforcements in-cluding two huge cannons which were used to blowapart the main entrance to the monastery as well as alarge part of the outer wall.

The Cretans fought to the last man as the Turksstormed the monastery.

With the end in sight the women and children, whohad barricaded themselves inside the gunpowder store,made the fatal decision to blow up the gunpowderstore rather than surrender and face the inevitableTurkish atrocities. The massive explosion killed nearlyall of the surviving Cretans as well as hundreds ofTurks that were inside the monastery. Total Turkishlosses in this battle have been estimated at around3,000.

The Arcadi Monastery is a powerful symbol of free-dom for all Cretans and a defiant warning to those whomay seek to subdue them. The sacrifice of the heroesof Arcadi was not in vain as it created a wave of sym-pathy and support for their cause throughout the Chris-tian world as well as increasing the determination ofthose Cretans that continued the struggle for freedom.

The Holy Monastery of Arcadi has now been restoredand continues to function.

A small museum on the site contains artefacts fromthe famous battle as well as other material depictinglife in Crete at the time of the 1866 uprising. One strik-ing reminder of what took place there is a lock of hairfrom a young girl who was killed during the final stagesof the battle.

In November each year, Australians of Cretan back-ground remember the holocaust of Arcadi with com-memorative church services and dinner dances. In Syd-ney, a memorial service was held at the Greek Ortho-dox Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady on Sun-day 13th November 2011 followed by a commemora-tive dinner dance on Saturday 19th November 2011.

The church situated inside the Monastery The last moments of the heroes of Arcadi The fortress like exterior of Arcadi Monastery

Theo and Margaret Goumas receive national honourBy AMY EDWARDS

Passionate Newcastle cinema identitiesTheo and Margaret Goumas will receive anational honour this month for their contri-bution to the industry.

“Theatre meant a lot in our lives. Wewere gratefully adopted by the local New-castle community and they expressed theirappreciation by supporting all our cine-mas,” Mr Goumas said.

Originally from Sydney, the Goumasesbegan in the industry more than 45 yearsago when they opened the Newcastle Ro-ma in April, 1966.

They were responsible for a number ofcinema “firsts” in Newcastle, including thefirst airconditioned theatre, introducingsubtitled films to a Hunter audience.

During the 1970s, they operated threesuccessful cinemas in Newcastle - the Ro-ma, Kensington cinema and The Lyric.

They then spent 11 years operating theShowcase City Cinemas in Newcastle be-fore GPT, which owned the premises, sud-denly asked them to cease trading in May2008.

“They said a dividing wall between usand next door was not fire-compliant andwe were told to shut the doors immediate-ly,” Mrs Goumas said.

During the past three years, MrsGoumas has become an Australian Red

Cross volunteer and the couple have re-tired.

However they still maintain contact withfilm distributors, American studio bossesand friends they made during their time inthe cinema industry.

“We are movie people,” Mrs Goumassaid .

Cinema pioneers

One way or another, longtime Newcastlecinema operators Margaret and TheoGoumas gave the city plenty of entertain-ment during their years in business.

Mrs Goumas, a former member of New-castle City Council, was never afraid ofcontroversy, as her famous stand againstbreastfeeding in her cinema demonstrated.

The couple arrived in Newcastle in the1960s to operate the Roma Theatre, chart-ing a string of cinema firsts in the yearsthat followed.

In more recent times they championedquality films at the Showcase cinema - anenterprise brought to an untimely end by acontroversial decree from would-be cityredeveloper GPT, which alleged the build-ing failed fire standards.

These pioneers of Novocastrian cinemadeserve their latest accolade.

www.theherald.com.au

Theo and Margaret Goumas


Mediterranean diet linked to better fertility Women who eat a Mediterranean-style diet - high in

fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains - are less likely tohave trouble getting pregnant, hints a new study fromSpain.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence linkingthe Mediterranean diet to all kinds of health effects, includ-ing lower risks of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

But Dr Jorge Chavarro, who was not part of the study,cautioned that the new results are based on observations,not an experiment.

“There’s always the possibility that this association isnot causal,” said Chavarro, who studies nutrition at theHarvard School of Public Health in Boston. Researcherslooked at nearly 500 women with fertility problems andmore than 1,600 women of the same age who had atleast one child. Based on questionnaires, they measuredhow closely women followed either a Western-style or aMediterranean diet.

The Western diet consisted of red meat, fast food,whole-fat dairy products, potatoes, refined grains andsugar-sweetened soda, and was not linked to fertility.

In other words, there was no difference in fertility prob-lems between women who followed this type of diet reli-giously and those who followed it less strictly.

But the picture changed for women with a Mediter-ranean diet. About 17 percent of those who stuck to itmeticulously said they’d had trouble getting pregnant,while 26 percent of the women who followed that dietleast closely had fertility problems.

“The Mediterranean-type diet may have a protective ef-fect on insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes,” said study

researcher Dr Estefania Toledo, who studies nutrition atthe University of Navarra in Spain.

Insulin resistance means that the body’s cells have ahard time absorbing sugar from the blood stream. But re-

searchers have also found a link between insulin resist-ance and ovulation - when the egg is released from theovary and can be fertilised.

“Insulin has other functions in the body,” Chavarro toldReuters Health. “It also regulates a number of hormones,in particular the amount of hormones needed for ovulationwhich is essential for reproduction.”

Chavarro thinks the Mediterranean diet indirectly influ-ences ovulation.

“The Mediterranean diet contains nutrients that helpyour body clear sugar from the bloodstream while usingless insulin to do this job,” he said. “This makes it easierfor the body to keep the balance of reproductive hor-mones.” For women who are thinking about getting preg-nant, Chavarro sees no harm in adopting the Mediter-ranean diet.

But for women who are having fertility problems, hesaid, “we don’t have enough data to show that this dietpattern can help you get pregnant as a result of fertilitytreatment.”

More than six million US women of childbearing agehave difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant, ac-cording to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

But men might also want to watch their diet andlifestyle if they are interested in maximising their chancesof becoming fathers. A recent study by Chavarro and col-leagues found that overweight men have lower spermcounts than their leaner peers.

“Other than that, there’s very little we know about bodycomposition and male fertility,” he said. “That’s an areathat we’re working on right now.”

Renowned surgeon never forgot his roots

Mitchell Notaras, 1933-2011

In his life, Mitchell Notaras travelled a long way fromhis birthplace in rural Australia and made his mark inmedicine but he never forgot his home in Grafton or hisgratitude for his education at the University of Sydney.

He was proud to be Australian and never lost hisAustralian accent.

As a form of appreciation, he funded in perpetuity ascholarship in colorectal surgery through the Universityof Sydney.

These scholarships are to help aspiring Australiansurgeons through three years of colorectal clinicalwork, as well as sponsoring them for a year of workoverseas.

Mitchell James Notaras and his twin brother Angelowere born in Grafton on March 26, 1933, two of five

children to Kytherian-Greek immigrant parents, Anthonyand Ianthe (nee Megalokonomos).

Mitchell was captain of Grafton Primary School, thenwent on to Grafton High School, where, along with hisstudies, he created a school newsletter by learning totype, then did the reporting, drew the comic strip andeven managed to bring in a modest advertising revenuefor the school. He was dux of the school when he didhis Intermediate Certificate.

He finished secondary school as a boarder at New-ington College and at 16 entered the University of Syd-ney to study medicine with a Commonwealth Govern-ment Scholarship.

He did his clinical undergraduate studies at RoyalPrince Alfred Hospital, then returned to the hospital as ajunior, then senior, medical officer.

To gain experience abroad, he travelled to England asa ship’s surgeon on a cargo vessel and took work inLondon.

Notaras continued his studies while working at Ham-mersmith Hospital.

He obtained fellowships of the Royal College of Sur-geons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Surgeonsof England.

He was also a senior registrar and Medical ResearchCouncil fellow at St Mark’s Hospital for Colorectal Dis-eases in London, and a senior registrar in surgery atUniversity College Hospital in London.

In 1962, he married Dr Lorna McPhail, with whom hehad three daughters. They separated in 1970.

He was also a fellow of the American College of Sur-geons and he held a number of consultant posts, includ-ing senior lecturer and honorary consultant surgeon atUniversity College Hospital in London and was a con-sultant surgeon to the Italian Hospital London, St Luke’sHospital for the Clergy, and Barnet and Edgware gener-al hospitals.

He was a recognised teacher in surgery at the Uni-versity of London, and visited and lectured in 28 coun-tries.

Notaras’s special interest was in colorectal surgery,

mesh repair of hernias, and rectal prolapse. He intro-duced lateral subcutaneous internal anal sphincteroto-my for anal fissure, now an established procedure.

Notaras published in various surgical journals, andwrote chapters for a number of surgical textbooks, in-cluding Maingot’s Textbook of Abdominal Surgery, Roband Smith’s Textbook of Operative Surgery, Nyhus’sTextbook of Operative Surgery, Nyhus’s Textbook ofAbdominal Surgery (Spanish) and Surgical Clinics ofNorth America.

He was a member of the editorial board of two jour-nals, ColoProctology and Hernia.

In Britain, Notaras was instrumental in establishing acompany, Abgene, which became a leader in Europe inthe manufacture of molecular biological reagents, plas-tic consumables and instrumentation for life sciences.

It also became involved in research, both in-houseand through collaborations with universities and indus-trial partners, particularly in gene and DNA technology.Abgene was later bought by Apogent Corporation, USA.

In 1981, following a divorce, Notaras married BenteFasmer.

When Notaras retired he restored his grandfather’shouse in the village of Frilinianika, on the island ofKythera, Greece.

He also became involved with the Kytherian commu-nity there, helping to fund the purchase of equipmentneeded by the local hospital and aged care facility.

He regularly travelled to Australia, including Grafton,where he, along with his brothers Angelo and John, andcousin Spiro, restored the heritage-listed Saraton the-atre, originally built by his father and uncle in 1926.

Notaras was a prodigious reader throughout his life,particularly in his retirement, and a great story teller.

Lorna McPhail predeceased him. Mitchell Notaras issurvived by his daughters Fiona, Nicola and Lorna, fromhis first marriage, and wife, Bente, and their sons An-thony and James, six grandchildren, and siblings Ange-lo, Irene, John and Betty.

Angelo and John Notaras


Industrial innovations from Thessaloniki and Crete

By Thanasis Tsinganas

Researchers in Thessaloniki andCrete recently presented two revolu-tionary products that may just conquerthe world.

One, developed at the Aristotle Uni-versity of Thessaloniki’s School of Engi-neering under the supervision of Pro-fessor Manassis Mitrakas, is known asAquAsZero and it is designed to cleararsenic from drinking water, providinga solution for many parts of Greeceand the rest of the world. The other, apioneering photocatalytic material ofnanotechnology developed by theFoundation for Technology and Re-search on Crete under ProfessorGeorge Kyriakidis, can be mixed withemulsion paint and helps clean the en-vironment of pollutants in homes andoffices.

These new materials, presented onthe last day of the Thessaloniki Interna-tional Fair as part of a research and in-novation project sponsored by the Hel-lenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV)and Eurobank EFG, are already beingmass-produced by a company in Sin-dos, a suburb of Thessaloniki, andcompanies from three European Unioncountries have expressed an interest inacquiring them.

Domestic producer Loufakis Chemi-cals has been a participant in theAquAsZero project since its inception,while the proposal received funding in2009 from the 7th Community SupportFramework. After testing more than100 compositions, the members of theresearch team finally produced thenew grainy substance that filters waterof toxic and other carcinogenic ele-ments to a much greater degree than

two other similar products, made inGermany, that are available on themarket.

“It is more effective because it hasbetter absorption (50 percent) than theother competitive products. It immedi-ately removes all arsenic III and V. It al-so lasts longer and costs less than 10euros a kilo, which is the price of theexisting product,” Kyriakos Loufakis, thefirm’s president and CEO, told Kathi-merini.

The pilot production unit in Sindos willsoon be able to produce 1 ton ofAquAsZero a day. It is currently beingused by an oil distillery, while the com-pany is looking at the possibility of ex-porting filters to India and Bangladesh.

In Greece, areas such as around theAxios River delta, parts of Halkidiki, Kosand Serres, as well as parts of Kavala,Larissa and Imathia, where there is aproblem with high levels of arsenic indrinking water, can benefit greatly fromthis new product. According to Loufakis,Greece needs around 300 tons of

AquAsZero a year, while there is also amarket for the product in countriessuch as Hungary, Spain and especiallythe United States.

Equally impressive results have beenreported by researchers on Crete con-cerning a material which can decon-struct pollutants and clean the air insideconstructions whose occupants sufferfrom sick building syndrome.

According to research, urban resi-dents spend an average of 90 percentof their time indoors, and the atmos-phere around them is polluted by allsorts of factors, including simplebreathing, cooking, using cleaningagents etc.

The product developed by ProfessorKyriakidis and his team is a powderthat can mixed into paint or whitewash.It is activated by both sunlight and arti-ficial light and it helps dissolve pollu-tants. For the time being, it is still in thetesting phase, though on a broad scale.

KATHIMERINI

Researchers on Crete have developed a material thatcan deconstruct pollutants and clean the air inside

constructions whose occupants suffer from sick building syndrome.

One republicAustralia only recognizes the Republic of

Cyprus as the legal government of Cyprus andsupports UN efforts for solution to the Cyprusproblem, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Ruddstated.

According to Athens News Agency, Rudd out-lined this position speaking during a forum or-ganised by Labour Member of the ParliamentSteve Georganas in Adelaide.

Replying to a question on Cyprus, Rudd statedthat Australia only recognises the Republic ofCyprus as the legal government of Cyprus. Headded that his country supports UN efforts andencourages the two sides in Cyprus to work fora just and viable solution.

Australia maintains a contingent in Cyprussince 1964 (serving with the UN peace-keepingforce) and will continue to provide it as long asnecessary, he concluded.

Consumers spenddespite global

uncertaintyActing prime minister Wayne Swan has laud-

ed new data showing a third consecutive monthof growth in retail sales as a further sign of theresilience in the Australian economy at a timeof heightened global instability.

Retailers also saw the $20.9 billion spend-upin September as lifting hopes for a bumperChristmas season, buoyed by this week’s cut inmortgage rates.

Westpac boss Gail Kelly believes the 25 ba-sis point cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia(RBA) is unlikely to be a one-off, predicting afurther drop in December or early next year,and doubts that one reduction will be enough tolift the economy out of its current soft patch.

Westpac was first out of the blocks to matchthe RBA’s rate cut, a decision Ms Kelly saidwasn’t difficult to make.

“Our economy really had been soft in recenttimes and there has been so much caution anduncertainty out there that it really struck me thatit was time for a positive signal for the econo-my,” she said.

Ms Kelly said Australians were more likely touse the latest cut to save and reduce their debt.

“I think people will be cautious simply be-cause of what is going on in Europe,” she toldABC Radio.

Ms Kelly’s comments coincided with crisistalks involving French President NicolasSarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, In-ternational Monetary Fund (IMF) managing di-rector Christine Lagarde and top EU officialsover Greece’s debt on the eve of the Group of20 (G20) leaders’ summit in Cannes.

Lung cancer cases soar among women Lung cancer cases have soared among women but fall-

en for men, a new government report shows.Rates of the disease surged 72 per cent for women

while they fell by nearly a third for men between 1982and 2007, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare re-port said.

Survival rates for both sexes have also shown onlysmall improvements with 11 per cent of men still alive fiveyears after being diagnosed compared to 15 per cent ofwomen.

Experts attribute the rise in the number of cases amongwomen to an effective catch up of the long-term health ef-fects of smoking, which is the leading cause of lung can-cer.

“The different pattern of lung cancer incidence rates inmales and females would have been affected by differenthistories of tobacco smoking,” the report said.

“The rate of male smoking began to decline in the mid-dle of the 20th century, which resulted in a sharp declinein the lung cancer incidence rate for males from the 1980sonwards. The prevalence of smoking in females peakedmuch later than in males (around the mid-1970s), whichmay explain the continued increase in the lung cancer in-cidence rate for females.”

Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor IanOlver said the sharp rise in lung cancer among women

meant more needed to be done to “de-glamourise” smok-ing.

“If you look at the number of cigarette brands targetingwomen today, you can see how much effort the tobaccocompanies put into making the pack a sleek, stylish fash-ion accessory,” he said.

“The rate of smoking among Australian teenagers aged14 to 17 is higher for girls than boys, so it’s important weremove the glamour that some young women associatewith smoking.

“Federal parliament has an ideal opportunity to do thatnow by passing the plain packaging for tobacco bills.”

The report said tobacco smoking was the largest singlecause of lung cancer in Australia, responsible for about 90per cent of lung cancers in men and 65 per cent inwomen.

Compared with non-smokers, smokers have more thana 10-fold increased risk of developing lung cancer.

A total of 4,715 men and 2,911 women died from lungcancer in 2007, making the disease the leading cause ofcancer deaths for both sexes.

On a state-by-state basis, the highest number of lungcancer cases among men was recorded in the NorthernTerritory while for women it was Tasmania.

The lowest number of cases for both sexes wasrecorded in the ACT.


Boys urged to fightgender inequality

A girl in Sudan is more likely to die in childbirththan she is to finish school, a new report says.

The fifth in a series of annual reports focusing onthe rights of girls and young women in impoverishedcountries highlights the role men play in gender in-equality.

Published by community development organisationPlan International, the Because I am a Girl report in-cludes results of a survey measuring attitudes to-wards gender roles.

More than 4000 12 to 18-year-olds worldwidetook part.

“While men still hold the levers of power in almostall societies, we have found that they are also setback by gender stereotypes and inequalities that aretaught to them at a young age and perpetuated intotheir adulthood,” Plan Australia chief Ian Wishart saidat the report launch in Canberra recently.

Such stereotypes were keeping 75 million girlsworldwide out of primary and lower secondaryschool, he said.

An estimated 3500 girls in impoverished regionswere marrying before they turned 15, and girls whogave birth before the age of 15 were five timesmore likely to die in childbirth than women in their20s.

Speaking alongside Mr Wishart at the launch, For-eign Minister Kevin Rudd urged boys and young mento help turn the tables on the worrying statistics.

“Because young men and boys can help ensurethat girls go to school,” he said.

“They can ensure that women and girls are safefrom violence, that they are not married at a youngage against their will.

“That they do not bear the whole burden of workin the household.

“That they can earn a living and play their part insociety and that they are not the victims of violenceand sexual violence.”

Mr Rudd said Australia would help by focusing ongender equality and girls’ education through the Aus-tralian aid program, AusAid.

Unearthing ancient Macedonian treasures

An intricate 4th century BC wreath of gold oak leavesdiscovered in 2008 at a site identified as ancient Macedo-nia’s first capital is, perhaps, the crown jewel of a newly-launched exhibition at Paris’ Louvre Museum.

In the Kingdom of Alexander the Great - Ancient Mace-donia brings together more than 500 works tracing thehistory of ancient Macedonia from the 15th century BC tothe Roman Empire.

Curated by a team of Greek and French experts, the ex-hibition - which is being hosted in the museum’s NapoleonHall - opened to the public on October 13 and runsthrough to January 16.

Excavations in 2008 at a burial site in Vergina (known inancient times as Aegae), believed to be ancient Macedo-nia’s first capital, uncovered the gold crown, which datesto the second half of the 4th century BC. The Archaeologi-cal Museum of Thessaloniki has lent the artefact, and anumber of others, to the Louvre.

Exhibition visitors can explore the rich artistic heritage ofnorthern Greece, many of whose treasures still remainrelatively unknown to the general public, due to the rela-tively recent nature of archaeological discoveries in theregion.

It was not until 1977, when Greek archaeologist Mano-lis Andronikos unearthed three royal sepulchral monu-ments at Vergina, that the full archaeological potential ofthis region was realised. Among the treasured finds wasthe unopened tomb of Macedonian king Philip II, father ofrevered ancient Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great.

Up until then, the visible ruins of Attica and the Pelopon-nese, along with those of Turkey, Sicily and southern Italy,had virtually monopolised the attention of archaeologists.

Further excavations at Vergina resulted in Andronikos’1982 discovery of the theatre where Philip was assassi-nated in 336BC, as well as the tomb of Alexander’s grand-mother Eurydice in 1987.

This tomb could possibly be the burial place of Hera-cles, Alexander the Great’s illegitimate son.

The only known written sources at the time, such as thespeeches of Demosthenes, described Philip as a drunkenbarbarian.

With shrewd political skill, ancient Macedonia’s rulers, ofwhom Alexander the Great remains the best known, or-chestrated the rise of Macedon from a small kingdom toone which came to dominate the entire Hellenic world. Helater defeated the Persian Empire and conquered lands asfar away as India.

Superb technical skill The exhibition focuses on the glorious past of this king-

dom, impressive in its reach at the height of its promi-nence. It also provides an opportunity to explore the na-ture of royal burial sites in northern Greece at the time ofthese rulers.

The wondrous artefacts unearthed, which had been pro-tected by tumuli, provide unique insights into the skills of

this period’s artists and the phenomenal achievements ofthis civilisation.

Silver and gold objects exemplify remarkable technicalvirtuosity. Wall paintings provide compelling early evi-dence of the ease and mastery with which the period’sartists made use of techniques such as the optical fusionof colours, chiaroscuro and perspective.

Two superb chalices, one depicting a roaring lion andthe other a confrontation between two sphinxes, featurein the exhibition.

Three works discovered in Philip’s tomb have been spe-cially loaned by Vergina’s Great Tumulus Museum to theLouvre: an oinochoe (wine jug), a silver platter, and a60.5cm-tall inscribed tripod - a prize awarded at the Argosgames to one of Philip’s ancestors.

The exhibition also explores the daily life of Macedonianwomen through ornaments, jewellery and everyday ob-jects, including a stunning jewel box decorated with a goldnecklace.

Organised by the Louvre and Greece’s culture andtourism ministry, the show will feature a number of paral-lel events such as presentations, a December 3 sympo-sium, a December 8 concert of music from antiquity andthe presentation of a documentary titled Alexandre leGrand le Macedonien.

ATHENSNEWS

A 3rd century BC marble portrait of Alexander the Great, found in the area of Pella

Death toll from Thailand floods above 500The death toll from Thailand’s worst floods in half a

century has climbed above 500, as advancing pools ofpolluted black water threaten Bangkok’s subway systemand new evacuations are ordered in the sprawling capi-tal.

The latest district added to the government’s evacua-tion list was Chatuchak, home to a large public park andan outdoor shopping zone that is a major tourist attrac-tion.

So far, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra hasordered evacuations in 11 of Bangkok’s 50 districts, andpartial evacuations apply in seven more. The evacuationsare not mandatory, and most people are staying to pro-tect homes and businesses. But the orders illustrate how

far flooding has progressed into the city and how pow-erless the government has been to stop it.

Chatuchak, just a few kilometres north of Bangkok’sstill-unaffected central business zone, is home to thegovernment’s national emergency flood relief headquar-ters. It is housed in the Energy Ministry - a building nowsurrounded by water.

The relief headquarters moved several days ago out ofBangkok’s Don Muang airport after it, too, was flooded.

Relentless rainfall has pummeled vast swaths of Thai-land since late July, swamping the country and killing 506people, according to the latest government statistics.Most victims have drowned, while a handful died fromflood-related electrocutions.

No deaths have been reported in Bangkok. The nearbyprovince of Ayutthaya, which has been submerged formore than one month, has the highest toll with 90 re-ported dead.

Floodwaters have begun receding in some provincesnorth of the capital, and a major cleanup is planned inAyutthaya this week. But the runoff has massed aroundBangkok and completely submerged some of the city’souter neighbourhoods.

In Chatuchak, water has begun approaching a mainroad near the Mo Chit bus terminal, a major gateway tonorthern Thailand. The bus station and roads in the arearemained open, traffic police chief Uthaiwan Kaewsa-ard said.


Arts, Food & WineJames C. Sourris AM:

Benefactor honoured by Queensland Art Gallery

Editor: Imogen Coward

Organic Gardening: The Whole Storyby Alan and Jackie Gear

(published by Watkins, 2009)

With popular interest in organic gardening and food production at an all-time high in Australia and in manyother regions around the world, Alan and Jackie Gear’s insights into the heart of the organic movement inthe United Kingdom, and the founding of the Henry Doubleday Research Association (HDRA) in this book areboth timely and fascinating. As former mainstream scientists who turned to organic gardening in the mid1980s and would go on to become directors of the HDRA, the authors of this book bring detailed and per-sonal knowledge as well as an inspiring enthusiasm to the discussion on organic gardening. Whether yourpassion is gardening, good food or the environment, this easy to read and information packed book is sureto fascinate everyone.

FFoooodd && WWiinnee

By Dr Ann Coward

From 12 November, 2011 to 19 February, 2012, theQueensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art (QAGGoMA) will be hosting an exhibition of artworks represen-tative of contemporary art practice of the first decade ofthe 21st Century, honouring one of its most significantbenefactors, Mr James (“Jim”) Christopher Sourris.

The QAG’s GoMA in its media release for the exhibition,“Ten years of contemporary art: The James C. Sourris AMCollection,” stresses the relevance of the exhibition to theState due to the number of Queensland artists represent-ed in this landmark exhibition. However, Jim Sourris him-self has noted that it has always been his intention to forma collection that was both worthy of a state collection aswell as one which was not to be Queensland parochial,but representative of international as well as Australiancontemporary art. A look through the catalogue of anotherexhibition, this time hosted by the Brisbane Club in 2010,of a selection of works from the James C. SourrisCollection, reveals that his collection is also a personalone, with a number of threads running through it relating

to Jim’s life - including his earlier years on the land - andhis interests and sense of humour.

On Australia Day, 2011, Jim was made a Member of theOrder of Australia in recognition of his service to the artsand to the community, specifically in his life’s involvementin the motion picture industry, and through his philan-thropic contributions. While significant, the QAG GoMA’sexhibition cannot indicate the full extent of the contributionmade by Jim over the years, which also includes a signif-icant donation of funds and commitment of time and effortto the State Library of Queensland, and contributions to theNational Film and Sound Archive. For its part, the MotionPicture Exhibitor’s Association of Queensland had earlierhonoured Jim by making him a Life Member. His expertisein the industry has long been given recognition by theQueensland government, appointing him Board Director ofScreen Queensland, and earlier on, a member of the FilmAssessment Panel, Script Assessors and Film AdvisoryCommittee of the Queensland Government’s QueenslandFilm Development Office.

James C. Sourris has made his own mark in a family thathas contributed much to Australia’s history. His pedigreein the motion picture industry dates back to the earliestdays of touring picture show men, with his Kytherian-bornfather, Christopher Sourris being one of, if not the veryfirst, Greek picture show man in Australia, touring with hisfilms around northern New South Wales and south-eastQueensland, before opening his own cinemas. On hismother’s side, Jim’s grandfather, Peter Sourry, anotherKytherian, and business partner Alec Coroneo were thefirst Greeks in Australia to open a hard-top cinema, thisparticular one being in the northern NSW town ofArmidale. 2010 marked the end of Jim’s own full-timeinvolvement as a ’picture show man’, with Hoyts purchas-ing his cinema chain, Australian Multiplex Cinemas, whichhe had built up over the years to a point where it had atotal of 44 screens in five cinema complexes spreadacross three states, Queensland, New South Wales, andVictoria, and employed over 300 people.

With such a background, it is not surprising perhaps thatinitial funds donated by Jim to the QAG before the mid-1990s focussed on enabling the Gallery to purchase sig-nificant international and Australian video works. As dis-cussions progressed with the then director of the QAG,Doug Hall, over a possible direction for Jim’s contributionto the Gallery, it was decided that a collection to be named‘The James C. Sourris Collection’ should be broader inscope, to include painting, photography, sculpture andinstallations. To this title now, has been added the initials‘AM’ - with Jim being the second person in his family tobe recognised with an Australia Day honour. His mother’sbrother, Andrew Sourry, who had served in Greece from1945 as a member of the Australian Red Cross and had

been awarded the Greek Red Cross Medallion forMeritorious and Distinguished Service, in 2001 had beenawarded a Medal of the Order of Australia, an OAM, forservices to the environment.

It is fascinating to read the citations of people, such asJames C. Sourris and his beloved uncle, the late AndrewSourry, given recognition, and thanks, by our country bybeing included in Australia Day Honours lists. A short sum-mary, though, can’t possibly do justice to a person’s life-time of contributions to society. However, what anAustralia Day award expresses is the belief that a man’sgreatness is not to be measured by success in business,or the degree of material wealth - although he mayachieve both - but is determined by his commitmentthroughout life to “do good” or as the Latin’s would havesaid “bene facere” - that is, to be a benefactor.

For anyone interested in learning more about the JamesC. Sourris AM Collection, there are several publicationsavailable, especially if you are not fortunate enough to beable to see the exhibition in person. These publicationsinclude the catalogue produced by the Brisbane Club forthe 2010 exhibition, the 156-page catalogue for the pres-ent QAG GoMA exhibition, and a feature article in theQAG’s excellent publication ‘Artlines’, the Sept/Oct/Nov2011 issue. All of these are available through theQAG/GoMA’s Gallery Store, with discounts available foronline orders.

http://www.qag.qld.gov.au

Écoutez!Arts Review

Melodies d’Orient:Songs of SmyrnaThe Hellenic Music Archives Ensemble

FM Records FM 800

This CD is an absolute gem for anyone interest-ed in the music or history of Greece and Asia Mi-nor. As part of a series of recordings by the Hel-lenic Music Archives Ensemble (a group ofartists/researchers supported by numerous collab-orators), Melodies d’Orient presents songs notatedin Smyrna by the 19th century French musicologist,composer and teacher, Louis Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray. The performances by the ensembleand their collaborators are vibrant, heartfelt andengaging. A particularly memorable performance isSavinna Yiannatou’s rendition of the lullaby ΑΕΙ‑ΝΤΕ ΚΟΙΜΗΣΟΥ ΚΟΡΗ ΜΟΥ (sleep mydaughter). The CD also comes with a book contain-ing lyrics and information about the performancesand origins of the songs. The CD is available fromsome specialist record stores (Sydney), or onlinethrough websites such as Amazon.


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The Greek Australian VemaThe oldest circulating

Greek newspaper outside Greece

Tel: (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 Email: [email protected]

Out of this world Russian cosmonaut and photographer Fyodor Yurchikhin revealed details about

his space exploration missions in a talk at the Athens’ Eugenides Foundation on No-vember 8. His address was delivered in Russian with simultaneous interpretation inGreek, and forms part of the two-day seminar “Art - Science - Universe”, which washeld on November 8 and 9 in collaboration with the Chamber of Fine Art of Greece.

Yurchikhin’s appearance was organised to coincide with the foundation’s host-ing of an art exhibition entitled The Universe of Russian Innovation: Art and SpaceExploration, 1900-1930, including 58 works from the Costakis Collection, which runsfrom November 8 through December 31.

Yurchikhin was born in Batumi in the Georgia in 1959 to Pontic Greek parentsNikolai Fyodorovich Yurchikhin and Mikrula Sofoklevna Yurchikhina.

For the first time Athenian audiences had an opportunity to view works createdby 19 prominent Russian visual artists mesmerised by the universe and its myster-ies.

Australia skills fair More than 500 people attended a two-day skills fair organised by Australia’s im-

migration and citizenship ministry in Athens on October 8-9 to learn about immi-gration opportunities. The event, which was called a Skills Australia Needs Informa-tion Session, proved a unique opportunity for Greeks to learn about the occupationsin demand in Australia and to hear directly from officials about visa options and po-tential employment and sponsorship opportunities.

Some 12,000 Greeks applied to attend the event, which was by invitation only. Australia is seeking to attract skilled workers to “enhance the country’s develop-

ment both economically and socially”.In a statement, the Austra lian embassy stressed that attendance at the skills fair

is neither a formal application for migration nor a guarantee for visa approval. “Mi-gration chances are equal for those having attended and all future applicants fromboth Greece and other countries,” read the statement.

FyodorYurchikhin

www.standrewsorthodoxpress.com.au [email protected]


Travel

BY H. ARGYROPOULOS

Tzoumerka is the largely inac-cessible and isolated mountain-ous district in southeasternEpirus, between the Arachthosand Acheloos rivers in westernGreece, where the ancient my-thical hero Athamas establishedhis kingdom.

Many summits here rise toover 2,000 meters, and alongwith the region’s forests, water-falls and rivers, compose an in-spiring setting. Athamas’ sub-jects acquired a reputation asfierce fighters, an opinion whichhas been inherited down the lineby their descendants.

Many of the present villagesin the area were established inthe 14th and 15th centuries andplayed an active role in subse-quent Greek history, notably inthe rise against the OttomanTurks and the resistance againstthe Germans in World War II.Several villages, such as Melis-sourgi, Theodoriana and Voul-gareli, suffered severe reprisalsby the occupiers.

Starting from the town of Arta,the broader area’s administra-tive center, follow the road as-cending along the left bank ofthe Arachthos toward Agnanta.The villages of Elatos, Pistiana,Rodavgi, Skoupa, Platanousa and

Monolithi offer a beautiful intro-duction to the area, despite be-ing enclosed by mountains.

Past Monolithi, cross the riverover an iron bridge and after ashort distance you’ll reach thestone bridge of Plaka - an archi-tectural masterpiece built in1866, with a single arch span-ning 40 meters. Follow the signssouth to the village of Katarrak-tis (Waterfall) and over the next12 km take some time to lookabove. The roar of the waterfall,more than 100 m high, can beheard throughout the surround-ing valleys even before the vil-lage of Milea, 4 km away.

In Katarraktis, the sound has asoothing effect - though this isnot the case in the summer,when the water slows to a trick-le. The setting is breathtaking.

The Agnanta area, northeastof Plaka on the western ap-proaches to the snow-cappedsummits of Tzoumerka, includesseveral beautiful villages worthtouring. Near Ktistades, 5.5 km

north, is the Anemotrypa Cave,while 4 km away is the village ofPramanta, nestled at the foot ofStrogoula summit (2,100 m),which casts its shadow over thegorge of the MelissourgiotikosRiver and the Kakarditsa range.

Pramanta is one of the liveli-est villages in mountainous cen-tral Greece, with schools, shops,a health center and a library. Itshighlight is the Church of AghiaParaskevi, which shares thecentral square with an old planetree and the Arapis spring.

About 2 km east is the settle-ment of Tsopelas, with somebeautiful villas and guesthouses.

An equal distance down theroad is the crossroad leading onthe right to the Monastery ofAghia Paraskevi and the moun-tain refuge at Isioma. Just be-fore the village of Melissourgi,the road brings you to wonder-ful alpine meadows. North ofPramanta, the road leads down-hill to Prosilio and Syrrako.

About 20 km on, the view ofSyrrako and Kalarrytes furthereast is even more rugged andbreathtaking. These are two ofGreece’s most amazing tradi-tional settlements - with few in-habitants in winter. You have toleave the car outside Syrrakoand walk the cobblestone pathinto the village.

From the square, follow thepath down into the gorge of theKalarrytikos River and over thesmall iron bridge.

This was the border betweenGreece and Turkey until 1913.The path ascends and, less thantwo hours after leaving Syrrako,flanked by another stunning wa-terfall visible from the oppositebank, you’ll reach Kalarrytes, fullof wonderful, old stone man-sions built by local traders andgoldsmiths who made fortunesabroad - the most famous beingSotirios Voulgaris, founder of theBulgari luxury brand.

ATHENSPLUS

TzoumerkaThis sparsely populated district of Epirus in northwesternGreece allows visitors to get close to rare natural beauty

Isolate yourself

Where to stayArchontiko Tzoumerkon, lovely

small hotel with good service (Agnan-ta, tel 26850.31777, 6974.358.393);Napoleontas, two-, three- and four-bed rooms in an attractive guesthou-se (Kalarrytes, tel 26590.61518); Kata-fygi, small, hospitable guesthouse(Katarraktis, tel 26850.51518); Syrrako,attractive guesthouse in the renovatedold school (Syrrako, tel 26510.53410);Theasis, lovely individual houses withglass roofs and a telescope for star-gazing (Ktistades, tel 6948.682.910);Kedros, fully equipped village houses(Katarraktis, tel 26850.31791).

TransportFrom Athens there are two options:

either via the Rio-Antirio bridge andArta (460 km) or via Trikala (slightlylonger but more scenic). From Thes-saloniki, it is a two-and-a-half hourdrive to Ioannina (380 km), fromwhere you either cross the ArachthosRiver at Politsa bridge or Tsibovoubridge over the Kalarrytikos River.There are only two gas stations in thedistrict, one at Plaka, just after thebridge, and another at Pramanta, atthe entrance to the village, so fill up.Caution: Make sure you have cashbefore setting out as there are noATMs around.

Where to eatPanorama (Agnanta): classic Greek

dishes and grills - don’t miss the piewith wild greens; Napoleontas, inKalarrytes: excellent traditional cui-sine, only classic and baked dishes;Taverna Papa, in Melissourgi: big tav-erna with amazing pies and meatdishes, traditional decor; Tzoumerka,on Agnanta’s main road, traditionalappetizers and pies; Boutzas, in Pra-manta: the place to go for meat, alsoexcellent cheeses, carrot and pump-kin preserve; Kaloudia, in Pramanta, isa must for sweets and preserves.

What to seeThe Arachthos River is very popular

for rafting, with four routes of differ-ent degrees of difficulty; the 9-kilome-ter stretch between the bridges ofPolitsa and Plaka includes a waterfallin a gorge. Contact Trekking Hellas (tel6972.887.860) or Via Natura (tel 268-50.31200); see the Plaka Monastery,of unknown age and last renovated in1665, the superb 13th century Mo-nastery of Theotokos Kipina, tuckedinto a recess in a bluff on the way toKalarrytes, and the Pantelis KaralisMuseum of Popular Art and Life (tel26850.71390) in Kypseli.

Napoleon who?Tzoumerka is the one of the few

areas in Greece where baby boysare given the name Napoleon. Manywere christened so by Napoleon Zer-vas, a resistance leader during WorldWar II. But it seems that the line goesback to the times of the French em-peror, when his navy placed an orderfor woolen caps with the famouslyskilled tailors and weavers of Syrrakoand Kalarrytes, which already had ex-tensive trading relations with theWest. The ties may have beenstrengthened by the fact that the lo-cals’ native language was the Latin-based Vlach.

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