Alexandra Vakitsidou, the recipient of the 2019 South Australian Woman of the Year award, held a meeting with government officials last Thursday at the Office of the Deputy Governor of Western Macedonia in Florina, Greece, her hometown.
There was not a dry eye in sight during last week’s Palm Sunday service, as parishioners of the Greek Orthodox church of The Nativity of Christ in Port Adelaide entered the building for the first time since the popular Greek church was destroyed 18 months earlier due to a catastrophic fire.
When the 60-year-old church – one of the most iconic and aesthetically beautiful Orthodox churches in SA – went up in flames, the whole Greek community in SA devastated.
“The last eighteen months have been extremely difficult for us and our community. We were not able to welcome our parishioners into our church and the COVID-19 pandemic made it even harder for people that needed the support of the community and the church. Nevertheless, we all focused on working hard so that we can have our church ready to welcome our parishioners and their families this Easter,” father Ioannis Choraitis, the church’s parish priest for the last nine years, told Neos Kosmos.
The members of the Port Adelaide Greek Orthodox Community of SA launched a series of events to honour and commemorate the 200-year-anniversary of the commencement of the Greek War of Independence with a moving theatrical performance based on one of the written stories of Dionysios Solomos, the national poet of Greece, as well as through poetry readings, traditional singing and dance performances.
The play, titled the “Women of Mesolongi” was held last Sunday at the Woodville Town Hall in front of a crowd of 300 people and dignitaries including SA Bishop Silouan of Sinope, Consul General of Greece in Adelaide Giorgios Psiahas, Mayor of Port Adelaide Claire Boan.