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‘We are the future’: Leila Mangos appointed to the NSW Youth Advisory Council

Andriana Simos
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‘We are the future’: Leila Mangos appointed to the NSW Youth Advisory Council

Greek Australian, Leila Mangos, is one of twelve bright young leaders from New South Wales who have been appointed to the 2021-22 Youth Advisory Council.

The 18-year-old tells The Greek Herald exclusively she feels very excited and lucky to have been selected to advise the NSW Government on issues that affect young people.

“It’s been quite a journey because I’ve actually been going for the council since 2016 when I was about 12 years old and I finally made it on this year,” Leila, who is a Year 12 student at Loreto Normanhurst, says with pride.

Leila Mangos. Photo supplied.

“I was over the moon when Zoe Robertson, who is the Advocate for Children and Young People, gave me a call and I was so excited and it still hasn’t really sunk in that I made it here because it’s something I’ve been aiming for, for such a long time.”

This passion for social issues and making a difference has been instilled in Leila from a young age through her Greek heritage and a personal belief that young people are ‘the future.’

“My Greek heritage has really led me to see the value of community and the importance of working person to person and valuing the individual,” Leila says.

Leila is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness. Photo supplied.

“I also think that young people are the future… and I think the capacity of using the inspiration, enthusiasm and eagerness of young people is something that should be used in a space like government because we’re the ones who can bring forth a whole new generation of ideas and issues.”

In her role on the Council, Leila aims to be a direct line to government on a number of specific issues she’s passionate about, including anti-discrimination and mental health.

“It’s our job to kind of not only represent the community but represent our own stories and our passions and interests, and our role is to kind of impact all young people throughout NSW through policy making and policy advising,” Leila says.

Leila is the newest member of the NSW Youth Advisory Council. Photo supplied.

“I definitely feel very passionate about mental health and the support that’s available for young people going through mental illness… especially during this time of COVID and everything being so uncertain and stressful.

“I’m concerned not enough is being done about it and I want to represent myself and all of my friends and peers who are going through something similar and try, within this council space, to try and do something about it.”

Other members of the 2020-2021 Youth Advisory Committee include: Mae Carroll, Alyssa Horan, Meika Lindsay, Shahim Shabbir, Jayden Delbridge, Lua Pellegrini, Joe Vu, David Ho, Katy Quinn, Oscar Ryan and Stassi Austin.

Victorians line up to get vaccinated at hall of St George Greek Orthodox church in Thornbury

The Greek Herald
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Victorians line up to get vaccinated at hall of St George Greek Orthodox church in Thornbury

The Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) successfully launched a pop-up vaccination hub at the hall of its Greek Orthodox Church of St George in Thornbury over the weekend.

The pop-up hub, which was supported by the Victorian Department of Health, administered both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines to the youth and elderly.

Today is the last day to receive your first jab before the hub closes, only to reopen on September 24 and 25 for second doses of Pfizer and September 26 and 27 for second doses of AstraZeneca.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), hub organisers from the GCM had contacted 200 vulnerable people beforehand which they knew “simply weren’t going to be vaccinated” if it wasn’t made easier for them, including people in their 80s.

  • Photos: Victorian Department of Health.

About one in 70 people in their 60s who have contracted coronavirus in Australia have died from the virus, and many more have fallen gravely ill. But there still remains a notable section of this age group – at least 20 per cent nationwide – who are yet to get their first dose of AstraZeneca despite being eligible since earlier in the year.

GP Magdalena Simonis, who was working at the pop-up vaccination hub in Thornbury on Saturday, told the SMH these low statistics weren’t just because of limited accessibility, but also because much of the reputable government information about vaccines was in English only – a language some don’t fully understand.

READ MORE: Vaccination pop up clinic at St George Hall, Melbourne: What you need to know.

Dr Magdalena Simonis. Photo: Chris Hopkins.

That left them stumbling across misleading information via Google or on social media. Dr Simonis said people who were vaccine hesitant told her their main fear was “dying from a clot.”

“What they are also saying in their circles [is] a few of them are worried about being microchipped,” she told the SMH.

“And some are also worried about the origin of the vaccines and they’ll say it contains embryonic elements derived from aborted fetuses, which of course is not true in either case.”

But for others in line, like teenagers Camille Ibrahim and Kanella Pirpiris, there had only ever been enthusiasm.

  • Panos Menidis, aged 20, and Kanella Pirpiris, aged 16, their vaccine in a church hall on Sunday. Photo: Chris Hopkins.
  • Photo: The Victorian Department of Health.

Ms Ibrahim, 17, told the SMH she had been driving past on her L-plates with her father when they saw the pop-up centre. Five-minutes later she was vaccinated. Then they called her brother and two friends who were nearby to get vaccinated too.

Once they had got the vaccine, they were proudly sharing the news and pictures to their group chats, making sure the GCM’s vaccination drive was a raging success.

Second doses of the vaccines:

• Pfizer: open Friday 24th & Saturday 25th September 2021.
• AstraZeneca: open Friday 26th & Saturday 27th November 2021.

Book here: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/book-your-vaccine-appointment.

St Nicholas Greek Orthodox church to be illuminated ahead of 9/11 anniversary

The Greek Herald
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St Nicholas Greek Orthodox church to be illuminated ahead of 9/11 anniversary

The St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center will not open as hoped on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, according to the New York Post.

Instead, the public will get just a glimpse of the $100 million project – which was designed by Spanish “starchitect” Santiago Calatrava – at 8 pm on September 10, when the building is lit for the first time.

The domed shrine, which is covered in the same type of marble used to build the Parthenon in Athens, is supposed to appear as if it’s glowing from the inside.

“The light that will shine forth that night and every night to come will bear witness to the love of God for all people, as it is so truly said, ‘it is far better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’,” an August 2021 update by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America writes.

READ MORE: Exterior of Saint Nicholas Shrine glows after being clad with same marble as the Parthenon.

Photo: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

The shrine will then go dark for eight more months, until its scheduled opening to the public in April 2022.

A year ago, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said the shrine would be finished by this fall. Archbishop Elpidophoros, who heads the church in the US, said “it will be completed and open to all people, on the 20th anniversary” of 9/11.

READ MORE: Exterior of shrine at Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church to be ready by September 11.

But Michael Psaros, the vice chairman of the Friends of St Nicholas which was formed in 2019 to help complete the project, told the NY Post that with pandemic-related delays, only the exterior was to be “substantially completed” by this September. Work is to continue on the iconography inside the church.

St Nicholas National Shrine is scheduled to open to the public in April 2022. Photo: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

The building, which was originally supposed to be finished in 2016, will be a functioning Greek Orthodox church and house a non-denominational bereavement center.

It is the only house of worship at the World Trade Center site, and this week Elpidophoros named Reverend Andreas Vithoulkas, the chancellor of the Archdiocese, as the pastor of St Nicholas.

It replaces the modest St Nicholas Church on Cedar Street which was destroyed on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center’s South Tower fell.

Source: New York Post.

‘Very successful’: Thousands of Pfizer vaccines given at All Saints Grammar gym in Belmore

Andriana Simos
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‘Very successful’: Thousands of Pfizer vaccines given at All Saints Grammar gym in Belmore

The pop-up vaccination clinic at the gymnasium of All Saints Grammar in Belmore is entering its third and final week before it returns in October and many from the Greek and wider community have hailed it a great success.

Running every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday since August 18, registered nurses, volunteers and expert translators have been working hard to safely administer at least 500 Pfizer vaccinations a day to people aged 16 to 59 from 12 Local Government Areas (LGA) of concern across Greater Sydney.

This includes Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, Strathfield, and some suburbs of Penrith.

Exclusive look inside the clinic. Photo: Andriana Simos.

By the end of the three week clinic, which is this Friday, September 3, a total of 4,500 Pfizer vaccines would have been administered, with people awaiting their second doses when the clinic reopens on October 13.

READ MORE: ‘The only way out’: Hundreds line up at All Saints Grammar gym in Belmore to get vaccinated.

“It’s been very successful. It has allowed people to come out and make their own choices. A lot of people have said they need this to get back to work,” Chris, who is one of the leaders of the church community helping set up the clinic run by NSW Health, tells The Greek Herald.

Volunteers and translators work together at the hub. Photo: Andriana Simos.

“We had many parishioners come, many elderly and not only from Belmore. We’ve had people from across the 12 LGAs.

“We really just want to say thank you to the Greek Welfare Centre for volunteering and to the nursing and administration staff for giving their time. They’ve come from all over Sydney to be a part of this.”

The Greek Herald first visited the clinic when it opened and saw hundreds lining up outside the gymnasium waiting for their vaccination.

People queuing up outside. Photo: Andriana Simos.

47-year-old, Tina Daniels, was one of the people vaccinated on the day and told The Greek Herald her experience at the pop-up clinic was ‘unreal’ as she’s ‘looking forward to some freedom.’

“It was very good. Everyone is just trying to do their best to keep everyone safe and the nurses were beautiful,” Ms Daniels said as she sat in the clinic’s observation area after receiving her vaccine.

“I think it’s really good to have pop-up hubs like this. I wish there was more of them. This is a great organisation and it’s really lovely of them to open their doors up to us and allow us in to be vaccinated.”

  • Prior to vaccination for Ms Szatow. Photo: Andriana Simos.
  • Tina Daniels. Photo: Andriana Simos.
Renee Moreton, who is the General Manager of Population Health for Sydney Local Health District. Photo: Andriana Simos.

Renee Moreton, who is the General Manager of Population Health for Sydney Local Health District, agreed and encouraged more people to come down and get their first dose of Pfizer.

“It’s great to be able to work with our community partners. I think the community trust the organisations that are part of the community and that helps with people that might be a bit vaccine hesitant,” Ms Moreton said.

To book an appointment at All Saints Grammar gym please visit: bit.ly/mycovaxvc16.

Paris Aristotle AO to co-chair Advisory Panel on Australia’s Resettlement of Afghan Nationals

The Greek Herald
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Paris Aristotle AO to co-chair Advisory Panel on Australia’s Resettlement of Afghan Nationals

The Australian Government today announced the formation of the Advisory Panel on Australia’s Resettlement of Afghan Nationals, to be co-chaired by humanitarian settlement expert Paris Aristotle AO and Commonwealth Coordinator-General Migrant Services Alison Larkins.

Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke MP, said the advisory panel will play a critical role in supporting Afghan evacuees as they settle into Australian life.

“The Advisory Panel is a group of highly regarded Australian-Afghan community leaders and refugee and settlement experts, chosen for their commitment and expertise in refugee and integration issues,” Minister Hawke said.

“Australia has a proud history of helping those most in need and we are fortunate to have such a wealth of knowledge from across Australia to be working with us to ensure our world class settlement program is delivering to them the comprehensive support they need to get established and settled in Australia as fast as possible.”

Commonwealth Coordinator-General Migrant Services, Alison Larkins, will co-chair the panel.

“This is an incredibly distressing and challenging time for the evacuees and the Australian-Afghan community,” he said.

“Our first priority is the mental and physical wellbeing of the evacuees. That’s why the Australian Government is working with our service providers and the States and Territories to deliver all of the initial settlement and practical support needs that the evacuees have, both in quarantine and the weeks and months ahead,” he said.

“In consultation with the Advisory Panel, the Government is also looking at what further specialised support might be needed to enhance the settlement process and make sure the evacuees start their lives in Australia on the strongest possible footing,” he said. 

“Many arrivals from Afghanistan, including women and children have endured experiences of torture and trauma and we will be ensuring our support programs have the capacity to respond and aid their recovery from these experiences,” he said.

Alex Hawke MP made the announcement today.

“Alongside our Humanitarian Settlement Program providers, I also want to acknowledge the terrific support being provided by cultural and local community organisations and other key networks including legal service providers and torture and trauma support services. In consultation with the Advisory Panel, I will be considering how best to bolster some of these supports,” he said.

“We will also be working closely with communities across Australia that will become home to the new entrants. I am very pleased to see an outpouring of support across the Australian community for the evacuees and the humanitarian entrants to follow,” Minister Hawke said.

The Advisory Panel includes:

  • Mr Paris Aristotle AO (Chair of the Refugee and Migrant Services Advisory Council and CEO of the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture)
  • Ms Alison Larkins (Commonwealth Coordinator-General Migrant Services).
  • Ms Gula Bezhan (Founder and President of the Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria)
  • Ms Carmel Guerra OAM (Chair of the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network and CEO of the Centre for Multicultural Youth Victoria)
  • Ms Sandra Elhelw Wright (CEO of Settlement Council Australia)
  • Mr Paul Power (CEO of Refugee Council Australia)
  • Mr Hussain Razaiat (President of the Afghan United Association of SA)
  • Mr Nazer Nazir (Co-Founder and President of the Afghan Australian Initiative)
  • Mr Ali Reza Yunespour (Board of Directors, Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia )
  • Ms Shukufa Tahiri (Vice chair of National Refugee Led Advisory and Advocacy Group)
  • Ms Madina Mohmood (Indooroopilly Uniting Church Refugee and Asylum Seeker Hub)
  • Professor Christine Phillips AM (Australian National University).

The Advisory Panel was formed with the purpose of:

  • planning to support the Government’s commitment to provide an initial 3,000 humanitarian places in the offshore Humanitarian Program to Afghan nationals
  • ensuring appropriate settlement and integration supports for Afghan new arrivals and the communities into which they will settle
  • harnessing the high level of community commitment and interest in welcoming newcomers and supporting the successful settlement and integration of this cohort.

The Advisory Panel will operate for an initial 12 months, with the possibility of extension should ongoing advice be required.

Ange Postecoglou cops cruel defeat in Celtic’s greatest rivalry match against Rangers

The Greek Herald
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Ange Postecoglou cops cruel defeat in Celtic’s greatest rivalry match against Rangers

Ange Postecoglou has lost the biggest game of his Celtic coaching stint so far, with the Greek Australian mastermind’s side falling to a 1-0 defeat to fierce Glasgow rivals Rangers.

Scottish champions, Rangers, stretched their unbeaten Old Firm run to seven games after a second-half goal by Swedish defender, Filip Helander.

The result left Rangers, who had won five of their previous six meetings against Celtic, third in the Scottish Premiership on nine points from four games after Helander headed home a Borna Barisic corner at the far post in the 67th minute.

Celtic stayed sixth on six points after suffering their second league defeat of the season, having been beaten by Hearts 2-1 in their opening game.

Postecoglou, who has quickly become a fan favourite at Celtic Park after an impressive start to the season, was left to rue early missed chances from his team

The Australian manager was left aghast when Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard missed a close-range sitter in the 25th minute, somehow scuffing his shot wide with the goal gaping.

Postecogou’s first Old Firm derby as Celtic manager ended in defeat. Photo: ABC News / Bein Sports.

“We had the opportunity to grab hold of the game and we didn’t take it. So it’s still disappointing and something we need to make sure that, especially in these big games, when the moment arrives we take it,” Postecoglou said after the match.

The derby defeat is a blow for Celtic, and Postecoglou said he was looking forward to the transfer window closing on Wednesday morning (AEST).

“We’re keen to get to the end of the window so we can settle the squad down and do some work with the players,” he said.

“On the other side of the window we’ll know what squad we have and what players are in the picture for us moving forward and we can build.”

Source: ABC News.

Kon Vatskalis wins re-election for Darwin Lord Mayor

The Greek Herald
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Kon Vatskalis wins re-election for Darwin Lord Mayor

Proud Greek Australian, Kon Vatskalis, has claimed victory in the Darwin Lord Mayoral race with a convincing lead on first preference votes.

While only 56 per cent of votes are counted so far roughly, Mr Vatskalis leads by more than 10,000 first preferences.

Amye Un is sitting in second place but on just 3,405 votes compared to Mr Vatskalis on 15,850 votes.

“Thank you to the residents of Darwin who gave me their trust and re-elected me for another four years to continue the work we’ve done the last four years,” Mr Vatskalis tells The Greek Herald.

The Darwin Mayor says he will now shift his focus to planning for the years ahead, with “more trees, more public works and more construction of public facilities” on his agenda.

His Council has already implemented a number of successful initiatives for Darwin residents in the form of relief vouchers for businesses, stable council rates and even a ‘Green Army.’

“Our council, the last four years, was the only council which not only had to deal with a cyclone but also the pandemic and the challenges were huge. We lost 10,000 trees. We replanted another 5,000 trees and now we will plant another 8,000 during this period,” Mr Vatskalis says.

Kon Vatskalis is thousands of votes ahead of the second-placed Amye Un. Photo: ABC News / Che Chorley.

“We had a ‘Green Army’ of people who didn’t even get the JobKeeper, 100 people, we gave them jobs cleaning our parks, doing jobs we couldn’t do because they were very big.

“We have changed Darwin and transformed it from a city of concrete to a city which is now full of greenery, with trees and flowers.”

Mr Vatsaklis, who says his “culture is purely Greek,” aims to continue these positive changes now that he’s been re-elected.

Athletes claim bronze and silver medals for Greece at Tokyo Paralympics

Andriana Simos
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Athletes claim bronze and silver medals for Greece at Tokyo Paralympics

Greece claimed another two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics over the weekend, taking their medal tally to five.

Athanasios Konstantinidis:

Konstantinidis won the silver medal in athletics with the F32 keel throw, setting Europe’s new record at 38 metres apart on his second try.

The Greek athlete was beaten by Li Liu from China and Walid Ferhah from Algeria came in third, claiming the bronze medal.

READ MORE: Greek weightlifter Dimitrios Bakochristos wins bronze at Tokyo Paralympics.

Both the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Foreign Minister, Nikos Dendias, congratulated Konstantinidis on his win on Twitter.

“He deserves a lot of congratulations, he made us proud once again!” Mitsotakis wrote.

Antonis Tsapatakis:

Tsapatakis, 33, won a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke SB4 at the Tokyo Paralympics.

The Greek athlete finished in 1 minute 40.20 seconds, behind Russia’s Dmitrii Cherniaev (1:31.96, world record) and Colombia’s Moises Fuentes Garcia (1:35.86).

READ MORE: Greece wins two bronze medals at Tokyo’s Paralympic Games.

Tsapatakis was a water polo player when, in 2006, he was paralysed after a motorcycle accident. He has won a silver and three bronze medals at World Championships and two silver and two bronze medals at European Championships since 2013.

“Congratulations to Paralympian Antonis Tsapatakis, who with perseverance and hard work managed to win the bronze in the 100m breaststroke. We are very proud!” Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.

READ MORE: ‘I found a homeland in Greece’: Syrian refugee on his way to Tokyo Paralympics.

Wife of murdered Greek ambassador jailed over his death in Brazil

The Greek Herald
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Wife of murdered Greek ambassador jailed over his death in Brazil

A Brazilian woman has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for planning the murder of her husband, the former Greek ambassador to Brazil, BBC reports.

In 2016, Kyriakos Amiridis’ charred remains were found in the boot of a burnt-out car in Rio de Janeiro.

His wife Françoise de Souza Oliveira had been having an affair with a military police officer, Sergio Gomes.

Mr Gomes later confessed to killing the ambassador at the behest of his lover, and he has been jailed for 22 years.

Kyriakos Amiridis’ charred remains were found in the boot of a burnt-out car in Rio de Janeiro.

At the end of their three-day trial, a judge described their crime as “bestial.”

Another man, Eduardo Moreira Tedeschi di Melo, who was a relative of Gomes, was acquitted of murder but has already served one year in prison for helping to hide Mr Amiridis’ body.

Mr Amiridis, 59, served as consul in Rio de Janeiro from 2001-04, and returned to Brazil as ambassador the year he was killed.

He married Françoise in 2004 and the couple have a daughter.

Amiridis.

Before his death, Mr Amiridis had travelled from the capital, Brasilia, to the city of Nova Iguacu, north of Rio, to spend the Christmas holidays with his wife and her parents.

Mrs Amiridis first reported him missing, telling police that he’d left their flat without explanation and driven off in a rental car.

The burnt-out car was found the next day under a flyover, with the ambassador’s body inside.

Investigators found blood stains on a sofa in the flat where the couple had been staying, and it’s believed he was killed there before his body was taken away.

Source: BBC News.

Thousands of anti-vaxxers clash with police in Greece

The Greek Herald
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Thousands of anti-vaxxers clash with police in Greece

Clashes erupted in Athens on Sunday evening between the police and some participants in a protest rally against COVID-19 vaccinations.

Police estimated the participants in the rally in central Syntagma Square at between 7,000 to 8,000 people.

As the last of the speeches denouncing government plans to make vaccinations for health workers and students mandatory were finishing, some youths attacked police standing before the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, next to the Greek Parliament, with bottles, firecrackers and some firebombs.

Police used tear gas, stun grenades and a water cannon to disperse protesters, who shouted obscenities at the police and against Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city to the north, more than 10,000 opponents of vaccinations gathered and dispersed peacefully, police said.

While over 5.7 million people in Greece’s population of 10.7 million have been fully vaccinated, there has been a recent resurgence of cases and hospitalisations, almost entirely fueled by the delta variant and mainly affecting the unvaccinated.

While the number of people on ventilators, at 334, is less than half its peak level, hospitals are feeling the pressure, as former COVID-19 intensive care units have been repurposed for other patients, whose treatment, including surgeries, had been postponed.

Two contentious deadlines loom: September 1st, when all health workers must be vaccinated or be suspended from their jobs, and September 13th, when schools reopen. Schoolchildren, but not teachers, must be vaccinated to attend.

Source: AP News.

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