Greek professional tennis player, Despina Papamichail, will be in Australia on New Years Eve to participate in the Australia Open tournament and preparation tournaments. Ahead of her arrival, the 28-year-old athlete sat down with The Greek Herald‘s sport reporter, Bill Roumeliotis, and spoke exclusively about her daily life and her training schedule.
Despina also opened up about her favourite moment in the field of tennis and sent a message to The Greek Herald‘s readers.
1. Tell us about your progress in the sport of tennis. When did you first get involved?
I started playing tennis when I was 8 years old in my hometown of Preveza.
2. You are coming to Australia this year. What day do you arrive and what tournament will you participate in?
Despina Papamichail.
I’m coming to Australia for the third time. The first time was when I played the Australian Open Junior tournament, the second time I played some 25-a-side tournaments and now I’m coming for the Australian Open women’s tournament.
I will arrive in Melbourne on December 28 but it is still not certain which preparation tournament I will play in. I definitely want to play in one of the WTAs but if I do not enter, then I will play one of the two 60arias.
3. Can you share some of your important moments from a few of your memorable tennis matches?
There are many important moments. Playing with the Greek national team was perhaps one of the most important. The first grand slam I played was also an important moment of my career. But in general, I try to give my best always and watch each match separately and fight to the end.
Despina Papamichail is looking forward to the Australian Open.
4. What is the daily life of a tennis player like?
Our daily life is a routine. I wake up in the morning, make breakfast and at 9am I go to the stadiums. Usually I do gymnastics from 9am to 11am, immediately after I do tennis from 11am to 1pm, we eat and at 3pm we train again until 5pm. After all this, we do some stretching, physiotherapy when needed and then head home to rest.
5. What message would you like to send to the Greeks of Australia through The Greek Herald?
I would like to call on all Greek men and women in Australia to watch us and support us, as they always do, to live new experiences together and to honour our country.
As we walk down the laneways in Adelaide’s cosmopolitan East End, property developer and Adelaide Central Market Authority, Theo Maras gives me a tour of the place that his family owns and has transformed over the last three decades.
“I am proud of what we have done. There was nothing here,” says the Chairman of Maras Group, showing me proudly around as he orders his usual coffee and a glass of water with a slice of lemon at the Ebenezer Place French Brasserie.
We talk about his recent fireside chat with Jessica Adamson at one of Business SA’s pre-election luncheons where with yet another of his frank speeches he made a poignant reminder to the attendees that “politicians work for us” and was praised “for the work and leadership he has shown during the COVID pandemic, in helping both his tenants and the business community at large.”
He chats briefly with the brasserie’s French owner about the challenges he faces in finding qualified staff and greets by his name the kitchen hand who enters from the back door with his hand full of baguettes.
Maras is known as a landlord who dines in the cafes, knows the staff and enjoys the shops in the street he virtually owns.
He says when COVID hit he felt anxious for his over one hundred tenants and the young workers who would not be able to make ends meet.
“I felt depressed for young people who had to close their businesses, not because they would not be able to pay rent for the shops. I was more worried about how they would pay their house rent and feed their families, how they would pay for fuel,” Maras, 73, says.
“It brought to me memories from my childhood when we had nothing. I was lucky enough back then to have three jobs to work and help my family. Now it’s even hard to find a job.”
He migrated to Australia from the Greek island of Ikaria in 1952, at the age of four following his grandfather who himself had moved to the country in the late 1920s to escape war-torn Europe and poverty and he has been working non stop ever since.
When the pandemic hit South Australia nearly two years ago, Theo Maras says that together with his son Steve, who is the Managing Director and CEO of the Group, decided -in a nationally first initiative- to freeze the rent for all their tenants.
“The very first thing we did, with no support from the government or anyone, was to let our tenants know that they did not have to pay rent for as long as their doors were closed. How could we ask for rent from people who have been with us for 25 years? We could survive.”
Steve and Theo Maras. Photo: The Advertiser
What sets him apart from other developers is his interest in the city, its long-term economic future as well as the wellbeing of the community.
“After three months, things opened up for businesses. When the restrictions eased and restaurants were able to allow more punters, they started paying their rent according to their capacity.
“When they were allowing 50% of their capacity to come in, we said half rent. When it got to 75%, we said 75% rent and so on,” he explains.
It’s not strange that during one of the most challenging periods for South Australia and the economic upheaval the Marases not only survived but thrived like they have done in the past with the recession of the 1990s, and later the financial crisis and rise of online shopping in the 2000s.
Theo Maras in a construction site in the 1970s
“We are full and where we had a few gaps, people came in because they know what we do and how we do it,” he says.
We talk about the increasing demand in housing in SA and the growing momentum in the state’s population and economy.
“Some years ago, we had people coming to South Australia from interstate. Now we’ve got people coming in from overseas wanting to live here and we have become the third best city in the world to live in.”
Recently, the prominent developer called on the state government to ‘put the politics aside’ and set out a new vision for future development across Adelaide with a holistic planning review.
“Whether you’re a family, a single person, a small family business or a corporation you can’t do anything without having an idea of what the government is going to do.”
“We have five big industries in South Australia. Education, tourism, agriculture, defence and mining. We have the education facilities so let’s organize them so we can train people up,” he says.
In the seventh decade of his life there are no signs that Theo Maras will slow down any time soon. To the contrary.
Adelaide Central Market Authority chairman Theo Maras with Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor. Picture: The Advertiser/ Tait Schmaal
After the East End development and Rundle Mall rejuvenation he’s now on a mission to make the Adelaide Central Market one of the biggest and best in the world.
“When you consider what the icons are for the people in South Australia, Rundle Mall is first. The market is the second major icon.
“I am happy that I’ve been able to do three major projects that have left on the city. Let’s not be stupid. I’m proud for what I’ve done but I am most proud because I will leave something for my grandchildren and hopefully the next generation to be able to work with.”
Theo Maras feels strongly about the legacy he will leave for the next generation and his Greek heritage.
“I was always one of the people who wanted to do something for their family, their friends and ultimately their own good. Then I saw that I had the capacity and the will to do something about the wider community and for this country, this second home, that gave me opportunities to become who I am today.
“And who you are is measured by what you will leave behind. This is what matters.”
During our conversation Theo Maras had to pick up his phone two or three times. Every time he would change his voice in a humorous way.
Theo Maras with his St Theofanis portrait. Artwork by Anezoula Julia Karpathakis. Photo: KPN Photgraphy via The Foundation for Hellenic Studies
“You need to have fun in life,” he says and reveals his next project.
“I want to create a National Centre of Languages in Adelaide as a collaboration project between the three South Australian universities to ensure that the language, history and culture of the migrants who helped build Australia will be remembered.”
At this point in our conversation, I realise that Theo Maras might indeed be a saint as depicted in a portrait of the recent Foundation for Hellenic Studies ‘By George!’ exhibition, although he does not consider himself one.
He carves out the future on passion, solid work ethic, knowledge, hands on experience and last but not least some gentleman core values that tend to be scarce these days.
The operators of the St Basil’s nursing home in Fawkner must testify at an inquest into the deaths of the home’s residents last year.
Kon Kontis and Vicki Kos first requested to be excused from giving evidence last week on the grounds they might incriminate themselves.
They fronted the Victorian Coroners Court on Wednesday only for state Coroner John Cain to reject their requests.
Cain required both of them to give evidence but provided them with a certificate that means nothing they say at the inquest can be used against them unless it is false information.
Mr. Kontis and Ms. Kos were running the home in July last year when a COVID-19 outbreak led to the deaths of 45 residents.
Last week, a woman whose mother died from COVID-19 after living at St Basil’s told the inquest excusing the pair would be a “slap in the face”.
“What transpired should never have happened,” Helen Karikas, whose mother Vicky Patsakos died in August 2020 after she got COVID-19, said.
“The evidence has demonstrated how many opportunities were missed to prevent this tragedy.”
“I’m calling on you now – please do not allow Vicki Kos and Kon Kontis to be excused from giving evidence.”
Congratulations to eleven-year-old Nicolette Grigorakis from Sydney, NSW who is the winner of The Greek Herald’s Christmas print cover competition.
We received a big number of entries from across Australia and at the end of this year, the overload of festive feelgood spirit is just what we needed!
Nicolette’s image represents the time spent with immediate family to decorate her home and prepare for giving thanks and acknowledging, accepting each other after a difficult year in line with her Christian faith – listening to Christmas carols (Greek and English).
“The bows on the Christmas tree represent the family ties, the heart is the love we nurture for each other and the round ornaments are the family that gathers to celebrate,” said Nicolette, explaining the meaning behind the elements of her artwork.
The young artist whose family hails from Arcadia and Corfu is a student of St Spyridon’s Greek Afternoon School and told The Greek Herald she is really excited to spend Christmas with her family and friends after a tough year.
“We try to follow both Greek and Australian Christmas customs and combine the two cultures,” said Angela, Nicoletta’s mother.
Artworks of finalists
*All finalist entries will be published on Friday’s Christmas edition
Prolific tower builder Jim Raptis has confirmed his purchase of a $16 million property in Mermaid Beach amid an arm wrestle with the Australian Tax Office.
The over 6500-sqm property at 2506 Gold Coast Highway includes a cinema center, KFC outlet, medical center, and a snooker hall.
“We plan on putting in plans for the first quarter of next year,” he said.
“We have concepts in our mind but nothing on paper of what it will be like.”
He signed up for the property in August, weeks before the ATO froze he and his family’s, including wife Helen and son Evan, assets.
Raptis and his family allegedly owe $110 million in taxes and penalties to the ATO, the tax body said in October.
The freeze will last until a case management hearing in February.
A Raptis spokesman last month said the developer was co-operating with the ATO and that there were ‘productive discussions’ with the tax body to clarify and resolve matters.
A Melbourne council voted on Monday to rename itself after a public outcry over its name, which pays homage to a Jamaican slave estate.
The area in the city’s inner north was named Moreland by Farquhar McCrae after he acquired it in 1839, according to the council.
The meeting heard the name was in tribute to his family’s Jamaican plantation, which enslaved 500-700 people over the course of a century.
Wurundjeri Wow Wurrung elder Uncle Andrew Gardiner led the charge, saying the name represents global slavery and dispossession.
Moreland City Council mayors and councillors were at odds over the motion to change the name, voting six-to-three on Monday.
Greens councillor Angelica Panopoulos and mayor Lambros Tapinos voted in support of the motion, which also includes plans for a community education program.
Councillor Helen Pavlidis-Mihalakos was one of three to vote against the proposal, citing concerns about cost, the speed of the decision, “political” motivations, and a preference for letting the community decide.
The council motion has set aside $500,000 over the next two years to update the council’s digital platforms, significant buildings, and facilities.
An unvaccinated Greek commentator and publisher died of respiratory failure and resulting complications from COVID-19 COVID-19 on Tuesday.
It focuses public attention on the large number of older people in Greece who still haven’t received their shots as the country struggles with a spike in infections and deaths.
Giorgos Trangas, 71, who had diabetes, died at a state hospital in Athens after being admitted on Dec. 4 with severe breathing difficulties.
He was unvaccinated and had recently formed a small political party, “Free People,” that was critical of vaccine mandates and lockdown measures.
With a quarter of the adult population unvaccinated, Greece is suffering a third major surge of infections this winter with the COVID-19 death rate just below peak levels recorded a year ago.
The government has imposed a vaccination mandate on residents over age 60 to be enforced in January with a 100-euro ($110) monthly fine, while vaccination certificates will also expire after seven months for seniors who fail to get a booster shot.
Trangas’ doctor, Christos Zoupas, said he had pleaded with him to get vaccinated.
“I think he thought that he would just tough it out, the way he had with so many other things in his life, as if it’s like getting the flu,” Zoupas told state-run ERT television.
“I tried to persuade him to get vaccinated up until the last moment.”
Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry on Tuesday rebuffed a Turkish push for a two-state peace deal in Cyprus.
He said any talks should adhere to an UN-backed road map reunifying the island as a federation.
He said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart that regional challenges need to be countered based on international law instead of “aggressive activities or expansionist tendencies”.
Turkey is accusing Cyprus of supporting a peace deal that would serve its policy goal of exerting control over the east Mediterranean.
Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said that he conveyed to Shoukry his government’s “deep concern regarding Turkey’s increasingly revisionist and destabilising foreign policy” in the region.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup aiming at union with Greece.
Only Turkey recognises a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence in the island’s north where it keeps more than 35,000 troops.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said a prerequisite to reviving stalled peace talks is the recognition of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state as a legitimate legal entity on par with the internationally recognized Cyprus Republic.
Greek Cypriots fear a two-state deal would entrench Turkish control potentially over the entire island as well as hydrocarbon deposits off its shores.
Turkey doesn’t recognise Cyprus’ statehood and says that much of the sea around the island where the Cypriot government claims exclusive economic rights falls within its own continental shelf.
The Turkish government says a “unilateral” Greek Cypriot bid to carry out drilling off its shores ignores its rights — and those of Turkish Cypriots — to the region’s potential energy reserves.
The Cypriot government says Turkish claims contravene international law and the island’s sovereign rights.
Peace talks have been at a standstill since the last bid to reach a reunification agreement collapsed in the summer of 2017.
Colin Stewart, the new head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on Cyprus, will host Tatar and the island’s Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at an informal reception on Tuesday at an abandoned hotel inside a U.N. controlled buffer zone that cuts through the capital Nicosia.
The meeting is billed primarily as a social event geared toward breaking the ice between the two leaders in the absence of formal talks.
In Australia alone, there are over 235,000 children and teenagers who have taken on caring for a family member with a disability. These adult responsibilities mean they often miss out on many of the joys of childhood that most kids take for granted.
This Christmas, Margaret Skagias has decided to take matters into her own hands and bring some festive cheer to these young carers who often miss out.
Margaret Skagias in the toy workshop. All photos copyright: The Greek Herald / Andriana Simos.
Margaret’s charity, CaringKids, creates and delivers ‘Joy Boxes’ filled with children’s toys to carers aged 5 to 17 years old year-round. But she tells The Greek Herald that the boxes are extra special this Christmas because of the hardships and lockdowns people have had to endure this year.
“We do make Christmas for kids all year round because children who are young carers are caring every day of the week. There are no holidays. If someone in your family is not well, it doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas, it doesn’t matter if it’s school holidays, the caring role that people have in the family is every day,” Margaret says.
Caring Kids tries to spread Christmas to young carers all year round.
“So, at this time of the year, I think it is really important to celebrate children who give their love and their time and care to somebody else and to recognise them for all their efforts throughout the year.”
Take for example 14-year-old Ben and 11-year-old Annabelle. They have a little three-year-old sister, Cosette, who has been in hospital for most of her life. The siblings play an important role in Cosette’s life, caring for her and supporting their mum.
When they received their Joy Boxes from CaringKids, they couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces and Margaret says that’s the biggest reward of all.
14-year-old Ben and 11-year-old Annabelle care for their little three-year-old sister, Cosette (centre).
“The kids always get shocked and surprised but many of them ask, ‘Why? Why did I get this? Why did this person take the time?’,” Margaret says.
“It’s a good experience for parents to sit with them and explain that they are so proud of them that they helped look after the person in their family who is not well, and that they are really amazing and we’ve noticed them and they should enjoy some time for themselves too.”
The Greek Herald connection:
Of course, it must be noted that none of this is possible without the support of individuals, the local community and corporate groups who collect and donate new toys, games, stationery, art and craft materials and sport equipment to CaringKids to be included in the Joy Boxes.
One such individual was Despina Biniares who read about CaringKids in The Greek Herald recently and was spurred into action to donate hundreds of new children’s toys to the charity.
Despina Biniares with some of the products she donated.
Despina and a friend of hers once had a small business called ‘Cheeky Little Monkey,’ which distributed innovative products and toys to retailers such as Toys R Us. When Toys R Us went into receivership and administration, their final order was cancelled and Despina was left with hundreds of toys in storage for almost two years.
“The stock sort of sat there for a while and you know… we talk about connection and social media and networking platforms, so I follow your newspaper. I religiously buy it for my mum every single day,” Despina tells The Greek Herald.
Despina with Margaret in the toy workshop.
“I follow [The Greek Herald] on Instagram and I was just browsing through and I had seen your article feature about CaringKids and about Margaret and I thought to myself, ‘I can see the synergy. I can see that these products need to go to these guys.’
“I think the timing was all perfect as well because we were getting ready for Christmas.”
Since then, all of Despina’s brand new toys have been packed into Joy Boxes by a team of dedicated volunteers at a new warehouse in Banksmeadow, which is reminiscent of Santa’s workshop.
One of these volunteers is Jo Moses who does a lot of the administration work at Caring Kids. She processes toy orders as they come in and makes sure they’re recorded properly so that when it comes time to pack the Joy Boxes, volunteers know to include toys relevant to the child’s age, gender and any special interests.
Jo Moses preparing the Joy Boxes.
The new toy workshop for Caring Kids.
She tells The Greek Herald she loves volunteering at CaringKids and encourages others to donate more toys and help out.
“I was looking for a volunteer opportunity closer to home but I didn’t want anything that was meaningless. I wanted something that I found I could relate to having had children once,” Ms Moses says.
The Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA) have called for the Parthenon Marbles to be returned to their rightful place in Greece.
In a GOCSA press release, the Community said it will be giving its “full and unwavering support towards Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that works tirelessly on this issue until absolute and complete justice is served.”
Full Statement in English:
Two hundred years have passed since the sculptures of the Parthenon were taken away from their rightful place to be carried and placed in the British Museum.
Millions of people visit the Greek treasures in the UK paying an entry fee, which means a lot of money has been collected all these years to end up in the treasuries of Britain.
We believe that we have waited quite long enough for the Greek sculptures to be returned to where they belong.
Photo by Jane Hobson/Shutterstock (4278102a) The Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles The Elgin Marbles at the British Museum, London, Britain – 06 Dec 2014.
A story that has been repeated in history so many times, a story about conquerors – trespassers and looters who did not respect the cultural heritage of a people to whom this is an “ancestral heritage”. Heritage that is not an individual property but the rightful property of an entire people, property that must receive respect and international protection, recognition and preservation and must be returned to where it belongs: To the Greek people!
The Annual General Meeting of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia convened on 28 November 2021, knowing what the historical reality is, insists that the time has come – and out of principal – for Britain to show the required understanding and accept the just request of Greece, of the Greek people and their respective governments to return the sculptures of the Parthenon to their rightful place, in Greece, where they were made and presented to the Greek people by the first highly-skilled sculptors almost three thousand years ago.
At the same time, the members of the Community express their full and unwavering support towards Greece’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that works tirelessly on this issue until absolute and complete justice is served. We are and will remain in solidarity with Greece until final vindication.
