Greek Australians Raise More than 2,000 Dollars for Christos from Arkioi Island

More than 2,000 dollars were raised by an online fundraising appeal organized by two Greek Australian women for the benefit of young Christos and his school at the tiny Greek island of Arkioi.

The two women were captivated by the Greek Reporter’s coverage of the parade on ‘OXI Day’ on the island of the Dodecanese, when Christos marched alone, holding a broomstick instead of a pole for the Greek flag.

Vasiliki Ousta from Moorebank, NSW and Poppi Papapostolou from Melbourne, members of a Facebook group called ONE GREECE, joined forces to launch the appeal on gofundme.com platform.

By Thursday, 2,060 Australian dollars were raised.

“I feel overwhelmed by the support from our Hellenes in the diaspora,” Ousta said in an interview with the Greek Reporter.

“We intend to purchase a laptop for Christos’s school work, ink for the photocopiers, few books that his teacher Maria has asked for, markers for the whiteboards and other school equipment’,” she said.

Ousta says that she spoke to Christos’s teacher who revealed that the 9-year old wants to become a teacher himself.

But “the lack of books and communications on his island makes it very difficult…The Greek government was asked to provide books and school equipment but nothing has arrived yet,” Ousta says.

“I took it upon myself to help this little boy make his dream come true by helping him with school stuff. The funds we raised will make a huge difference to his learning.”

Greek Australians responded in the most amazing way in offering their help for Christos and his school.

“We love Greece, the Greek people and we want to show the filotimo us Greeks have,” Ousta said.