President Barack Obama will host a White House reception on Wednesday, March 21st, in honor of the forthcoming Greek Independence Day.
Greece’s national holiday is celebrated annually on March 25th and commemorates the start of the War of Greek Independence in 1821. It coincides with the Greek Orthodox Church’s celebration of the Annunciation to the Theotokos.
Archbishop of America Demetrios will hold a talk during the event, while prominent Greek-Americans and a delegation with Greek government officials are expected to attend the reception.
The American President will refer to the “friendship and co-operation bonds” between the U.S.A. and Greece. Also, Obama will underline the common values and common ideals that the United States and Greece share.
Finally, Barack Obama will express his appreciation concerning Greece’s friendship and will invite all Greek-Americans to celebrate Greek Independence Day.
The 30th Greek Festival of Sydney proudly presents a Greek outdoor cinema day with the screening of acclaimed film production “A Touch of Spice” at the Ithaka Kafeneion on Thursday, March 8, at 7pm.
Tickets are already sold out.
In a Greek-style outdoor cinema experience with the screening of A Touch of Spice (Politiki Kouzina), eastern Greek cuisine becomes a protagonist.
To enhance the sensory experience, Ithaka Kafeneion will serve mezedes and sweets from Constantinople, Asia Minor and Pontus.
Dr. Nicholas Doumanis will provide a history of the Greeks from Constantinople and other ‘Lost Homelands’.
venue: Ithaka Kafeneion, Shop 13, 24-30 Springfield Avenue
(above Harris Farm), Potts Point
Chicago Sun Times daily featured a long report on Greek-American attorney and current Commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Mariyana Spyropoulos.
Her immediate priorities include the establishment of rules on the protection of water resources of the state as well as the development of an information system operated by the District to better inform the communities on issues concerning its work and policies.
Regarding a question as to how she plans to promote transparency in the District so that tax payers know how their contributions are being spent and how the selected policies will affect the environment, Mrs. Spyropoulos highlighted among others that “all contracts must follow the required legal procedures, while the meeting agenda on complementary material will be at the public’s disposal before the sessions of the District”.
Mrs. Spyropoulos also added that she will introduce the TV coverage of the meetings of the District, in order for the public to watch their elected Commissioners in action.
Mariyana Spyropoulos received her law degree from The John Marshall Law School and her MBA from Loyola University Chicago. She also completed graduate work in American government at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Mariyana Spyropoulos is an attorney with the Law Offices of Mariyana Spyropoulos & Associates, which is a general practice. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Bar Association, American Bar Association, Hellenic Bar Association, and Women’s Bar Association.
Prior to opening her own law office, Mariyana worked as an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney and then as a Hearing Officer for the State of Illinois.
Before law school, Mariyana lived in London, England where she worked at Nomura Research Institute. Her work focused on privatization efforts in Eastern European countries.
Leaving Kampala’s chaotic streets and the usual bustle of cars and moto taxis, brick houses give way to thatched huts and then brambles. Dwarf trees and giant grasses flank the road, stretching to a horizon broken by small hills. On both sides of the tarmac, mud huts are clustered together while wisps of smoke drift through thatched roofs from cooking fires. Women walk along the verges of the road with baskets and water jars on their heads followed by bare foot children that carry their younger siblings on their backs. Drive in the tarmac until it turns to dirt and after 75Km, you arrive in Luweero district, one of the most impoverished areas in Uganda.
Life is tough in Luweero. Unemployment in the district is as high as 80% and most people cannot ensure a daily meal. Children are forced to drop out of school because their parents fail to pay school fees. Many babies and toddlers die before the age of five from preventable diseases as there is no clean water and no adequate health services.
Yet, in this forgotten place of Africa, a man has dedicated his life to create a better future for hundreds of poor children. Father Antonios Mutyaba, together with his wife Charitini, and with the support of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Kampala, is working hard to provide a chance in life for the children in Luweero. Although Father Antonios was born in Uganda, he was adopted in 1980 by a Greek family and moved to a small village in Crete. He first studied Agronomy at the University of Athens but his dream in life was to become a priest. He joined the Seminary of St. Matthew in Chania, where he was ordained a priest with the blessing of His Eminence Amphilochius. In Greece he met his wife Charitini, also Ugandan but born and raised in Greece, and in 2004, together with their 4 children, they decided to return to Uganda. The family settled in Wakiso, a small town of 50.000 people in the outskirts of Kampala.
For the last five years Father Antonios gets up at 5 o clock in the morning to visit the destitute villages in Luweero. Thanks to private donations from Greece, he is managing 3 boarding schools that provide education, medical care, food and shelter to more than 1200 poor and orphaned children, instilling hope and dignity to their lives. In this difficult task, he has the help of Charitini, who on her turn, is trying to support the families of the children by teaching their mothers and sisters sewing and weaving in order to generate a small income for their communities.
In the schools of Aghios Antonios, Aghios Demetrios and Aghia Triada, children dressed in bright pink and blue uniforms welcome you with a big smile. They are either orphans or come from extremely poor families where even daily food was a luxury. For those children, the work of Father Antonios is their only chance for a better life. Yet, their future is still far from being reassured. The financial crisis has hit Uganda, driving the already vulnerable population to the extreme. At the same time it has also hit Greece very hard, bringing the private donations to the schools to a halt. The food crisis, the skyrocketing prices in all basic commodities and the cost of fuel and transportation have impacted the functioning of the schools.
Father Antonios struggles hard to provide food for the children and ensure their education. He had to restrict the daily food to beans and corn porridge, as this was the only way to offer at least 2 meals per day for the children. He is trying to organize a small farm hoping to purchase some chickens and a few cows so he can provide eggs and milk at the schools. He also hopes that he will soon find the necessary money to drill a bore hole so that the community and the schools can have access to clean water.
It takes less than 20 dollars a month to send a child to school and ensure access to health care, books, clothes and a daily meal. All those things that in our western world we take for granted, in Uganda is a luxury that very few people can afford. In a country where extreme poverty affects more than half of the population and where children die from preventable diseases and lack of clean water, the work of Father Antonios is just a drop in the ocean. Even if Uganda seems to be too far from our western life style, we have a chance to make compassion and solidarity prevail. At the end of the day what actually matters is not what we have, but what we give…
The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU) remains at the centre of discovery, promotion and projection of the very best independent filmmaking talents from around the world with this year’s festival taking place in Paris, on March 30-31 and April 1, 2012.
With thirteen categories for European films and another five foreign categories open to filmmakers from the USA, Africa and Asia, the film festival aims at showcasing those filmmakers and their work demonstrating quality, innovation and independence in both form and content.
Among the several hundreds of filmmakers expected to join this year’s festival, there are two Greek submissions in two separate categories representing the country in this highly esteemed competitive event.
“Little King” (Mikros Vasilias) is submitted in the European Dramatic Short category, and is directed by: Socrates Alafouzos. Socrates Alafouzos is a critically acclaimed Greek actor. His career includes leading roles in theater, film and TV series. His short feature film, “Little King”, is a presentation of his work, not only as an actor, but as a screen-writer and director. His current ambition is to pursue film direction and make it the primary focus of his career.
Awards:
• 2003 Honorary award from AWOG (American Women’s Organization of Greece)
• 2002 Korfiatika Awards for his performance in the TV series Air Silences.
• 1991 Fulbright Fellowship for Graduate studies in acting-directing.
• 1987 Honorary acting award at Thessaloniki Film Festival for his
performance in the film Noose.
The film is about Aris, a Greek man in his early forties, trapped behind a pleasant facade cultivated in response to childhood abuse. In truth, Aris fixates violently on any slight or insult. The discovery of his wife’s infidelity brings his repressed anger to the surface and she loses her life for betraying him. While serving his sentence for this crime of passion, prison therapists attempt to subdue his ferocity but their efforts are in vain. In an ironic twist, Aris is offered a chance to channel his fury rather than suppress it. His raw brutality becomes a useful tool and he begins life again with a completely new identity.
The other Greek film taking part at this year’s ÉCU is “Sequence Error”, which is submitted in the Experimental Film category. The film is directed by acclaimed Greek director George Drivas, whose work has so far received numerous awards and distinctions both in Greece and abroad.
Drivas’ film focuses on “an error that arises when the arrangement of items in a set, does not follow some specified order”.
“Sequence Order” is inspired by the well known Karl Marx quote, ‘history repeats itself first as tragedy and than as farce’, and re-uses parts of two famous speeches of the 20th century delivered by Che Guevara (1963) and George Marshal (1947). In a contemporary corporate environment and on the occasion of a sudden system crisis, two leaders of two different groups (workers vs. executives) deliver some parts of the original speeches.
The European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU) has established itself as a fantastic arena for independent filmmakers from around the world to screen their films to large audiences made up of a cinema-loving public, who are seeking alternatives to the offerings of major studios, as well as to agents, talent scouts, production company representatives, distributors and established producers looking for new projects and raw talent.
Attending directors will also have the opportunity to speak about their films at the “Speak to the Directors” panel sessions, which take place throughout the festival.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, during his meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and religious leaders on Saturday, that the discussions about problems in the region aim at providing the assurance that religious tolerance exists in Turkey”.
During the press conference Ahmet Davutoğlu commented on the meeting with the religious leaders, stating: ” Our top priority is the democratic rights of religious communities in the region”.
Davutoğlu repeated that the Turkish government desired to move towards the harmonious coexistence of all religious communities in Turkey.
Davutoğlu’s statements provoke thought about the international issues that Davutoğlu wants to discuss with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the religious leaders. The main issue that rankles Ankara is the Syria issue.
The Turkish Minister, after the meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, will also meet with religious leaders of Armenians and Arab christians.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew praised Metropolitan of Messinia, Chrysostomos for his contribution concerning the interreligious dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Church.
Ecumenical Patriarch stated: ” Metropolitan of Messinia, Chrysostomos is a praiseworthy representative not only of the Greek Church but also of the Orthodoxy in general. Thus, we need him”.
A series of attacks have been launched lately against the Metropolitan of Messinia, Chrysostomos by Metropolitans, concerning the dialogue with the Catholic Church, and the Metropolitan of Messinia has submitted a letter of resignation, that will be discussed during the next assembly.
Metropolitan of Messinia is now at Phanar, being the head of pilgrims of Messinia who came to Phanar.
During the Assembly of the Episcopes of the Orthodox Church at the Greek Metropolis of Austria, the Austrian Undersecretary For Integration, Sebastian Kurz, stated that the Orthodox Church promotes progress in Austria as well as multiculturalism and cultural diversity.
During the Assembly of the Episcopes, Sebastian Kurz emphasized that the Orthodox Church can bring about the solution of the integration problem in Austria.
Moreover, Kurz stated that migrants to Austria can maintain their identity and be integrated into the Austrian community, something that is being accomplished by the Orthodox Churches of Austria.
On his part, Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Mid-Europe, Arsenios, praised the humanitarian work done by the Catholic and Evangelical Church.
Today, Orthodox Christians in Austria amount to 500,000, while a religion lesson concerning Orthodoxy has been established at the Austrian schools and an orthodox religious service in the Austrian armed forces.
A CALLIGRAPH – Handcraft Exhibition by Rana Ghazy and May Essam is being presented at the Greek Cultural Centre of Alexandria in Egypt.
The exhibition is a result of a 10-day workshop with 6 participants from Alexandria, aiming to increase their skills and use arts and crafts to earn a living. The theme of the exhibition is Arabic Calligraphy.
This project is funded by the British Council, under AGORA’s network of young artisans and in context of its program “Arts for Economic Development”.
The Exhibition will last until March 16, 2012.
Opening Reception: Monday, March 5, 7:00 pm
Where: Greek Cultural Center.
18 Sidi El Metwally St. ( Fouad St. ) El Attarin., Alexandria, Egypt
A music concert will be held on the 10th of March at the Opera House of Alexandria, organized by the Greek Embassy in Alexandria, the Greek Community of Alexandria and the Greek Cultural Centre of Alexandria.
This concert signals the strong friendship that exists between Egypt and Greece, mostly due to the presence of numerous Greeks in Alexandria.
Greek soloists such as Jannis Georgiadis (violin), Vassilis Varvaresos (piano), Kassandra Dimopoulou (mezzosoprano) and Philip Modinos (tenor) will appear during the concert.
The concert will be held under the auspices and sponsorship of businesses of the Greek community in Alexandria.
President Barack Obama will host a White House reception on Wednesday, March 21st, in honor of the forthcoming Greek Independence Day.
The 30th Greek Festival of Sydney proudly presents a Greek outdoor cinema day with the screening of acclaimed film production “A Touch of Spice” at the Ithaka Kafeneion on Thursday, March 8, at 7pm.
Chicago Sun Times daily featured a long report on Greek-American attorney and current Commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, Mariyana Spyropoulos.
The other Greek film taking part at this year’s ÉCU is “Sequence Error”, which is submitted in the Experimental Film category. The film is directed by acclaimed Greek director George Drivas, whose work has so far received numerous awards and distinctions both in Greece and abroad.
