Moana Ruhfass was a talented, passionate young dancer who had everything going for her – until she suffered an ankle injury that ultimately turned her life upside down.
As a sporty child, she was used to getting injured, but this time was different. What was thought to be a seemingly innocent ankle injury led to a life-changing, debilitating, insidious disease. At just 11 years old following an athletics event, Moana was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
The family had moved from Greece to Sydney after discovering a promising program at the Sydney Children’s Hospital where Moana undertook a gruelling program to try and combat the disease.
Moana bravely endured 10 hours of physiotherapy a day to desensitise and reset the pain perception in her neuro pathways.
“The therapy was partially successful and enabled her to walk again; however, the unbearable pain she experiences remained constant,” Mr Ruhfass said.
Nearly two years on from intensive therapy, Moana’s situation has again deteriorated leaving her once again in excruciating pain.
CRPS is a neurological malfunction of the central nervous system that affects limbs (after an injury) and results in constant pain 24/7.
The 16-year-old regularly suffers non-epileptic seizures that can last three-and-a-half hours, with many sufferers describing the debilitating disease as feeling “eternally on fire”. As a result, Moana lives a life of pain and suffering.
The McGill Pain Scale measures the pain of CRPS sufferers as being “worse than childbirth”.
In an emotional GoFundMe post, her father Manfred said his daughter’s condition deteriorated so badly she was constantly crying and screaming in agony.
“The slightest breeze could trigger a severe pain reaction in her leg, and Moana was unable to walk and was confined to a wheelchair,” Mr Ruhfass said on the fundraising page.
“I feel pain like someone is constantly stabbing me, pain like it’s lightning striking and painful pins and needles,” Moana told Daily Mail Australia. “It can get to the point where I can’t even stand the wind on my skin or moving at all.
“I sometimes can’t even shower my foot because even a drop of water would have me screaming.”
Mr Ruhfass said Moana was losing the will to live.
“After much deliberation, Moana and her mother decided to return to Greece to once again be surrounded by family and friends in the hope that this would be of some comfort to her,” he said.
“Unfortunately, her emotional and physical wellbeing has deteriorated so much within the last year that she has now lost all hope of recovery or improvement of her situation.”
Moana is only able to attend school twice a week before pain sends her back to bed.
Mr Ruhfass and his wife Joanna (of Australian-Greek descent) considered dorsal root ganglion stimulation treatment, which involves a small device being implanted along the spinal cord – but they decided against it due to its invasive nature and 50 per cent success rate.
In one final bid to help alleviate their daughter’s suffering, the family will travel to the US after being offered a placement at the Spero Clinic, a holistic medical clinic in Arkansas, which Mr Ruhfass says has an 83 per cent success rate.
“Now we finally have real hope,” he said.
“This clinic is the only centre in the world with lasting success in treating this disease.”
Mr Ruhfass has set up a GoFundMe to help the family cover treatment costs, which will set them back $A65,000. So far they’ve raised $30,537.
“All children deserve a life free of pain, which is something many of us take for granted,” Mr Ruhfass said. “This is our last chance for Moana.”
Sourced via Central Telegraph. Written by Shireen Khalil.
Known best for her character Effie, Comedian Mary Coustas is bringing her “big boofy hair, thick woggy accent and irrepressible attitude”, to The Country Club St Georges Basin in NSW, next month.
When Mary heard about the fires in the area, she wanted to do something to help, and has donated 200 tickets to the show to be given to Rural Fire Service brigades from St Georges Basin and surrounding areas.
The one hour show, titled ‘Love Me Tinder’, will take place on Saturday, February 15 from 8.30-9.30pm, with doors opening at 7.30pm.
The club is reaching out to the brigades with details on how they can book. The Spencer Band will play live in the auditorium following the show for the volunteers.
“Essentially Love Me Tinder is about love – finding it and keeping it. And what happens on the other side of the fantasy. It’s about fidelity and commitment. It’s about the animal in all of us and trying to contain it,” said Mary.
The audience can expect some ‘guest appearances’, with Effie’s recently widowed and forever frisky Uncle Vasili dropping in.
“Vasili is an instant hit with the audience. We’ve all met someone like him. And having spent a lot of time in the Jervis Bay, St George area I’m sure the audience will recognise many of his Greek characteristics,” Mary said.
She said the show had been well received everywhere it played.
“Love Me Tinder has been a hit everywhere it plays, and I think it’s proof of how much we all need to laugh and stay connected to the quintessential Australian characters we love so much,” Mary said.
Tickets to Love Me Tinder are $40 and can be booked ONLINE or by phoning the club on 4443 0666.
At the Dandenong Table Tennis Centre, 11-year-old Connie Psihogios is sweating on her backhand and dreaming of a summer in Tokyo. During these school holidays, the pint-sized dynamo has been training up to six hours a day, preparing for the biggest challenge of her young life so far.
Her coach Michael Mastromonaco says Connie’s a long shot, a one per cent chance at becoming the youngest ever Australian Olympic athlete, and among the youngest in Olympics history. The consensus is that Greek gymnast Dimitrios Loundras was 10 when he competed at the 1896 games in Athens, making him the youngest ever. Two others have become Olympians at the age of 11. Connie, a grade six student at Dandenong North Primary School, could join that exclusive club.
Last November – still only 10 years old – Connie defied the odds to reach the final qualifiers for a spot on the Australian Olympic women’s table tennis team. She was in the first-stage qualifiers for the experience, to make up the numbers. But her perseverance, form and the luck of the draw suddenly changed all that.
She advanced alongside Olympics and Commonwealth Games competitor Stephanie Sang, second-ranked junior Matilda Alexandersson and No.1-ranked junior Parleen Kaur. That quartet will now compete against the six top-ranked players, including 46-year-old veteran Jian Fang Lay, to decide which four will represent Australia in Tokyo. The final qualifiers will be held at the Croydon & Districts Table Tennis Association centre from January 17-19.
Connie, who started playing club table tennis at seven years old, says getting through the first stage of qualifiers has been the proudest achievement of her career so far. She’s excited about going toe-to-toe with heroes like 29-year-old Melissa Tapper but shy about talking up her chances.
“In the first-stage qualifiers, I beat players I had never beaten before,” she says. “I was nervous, but I played some good games. I haven’t told my friends about it.”
Mastromonaco plays down talk of Connie pulling off an even bigger boilover. He says she has already surpassed all expectations. “She’s a very hard worker,” he says. “But she’s up against players with years of experience on her. She’s learning how to play consistently against high-calibre opponents.”
Table Tennis Victoria chief executive Ritchie Hinton says Connie’s performances are astonishing for someone of her age. “For a girl who was only 10 at the time to even have the nerve to participate in an Olympic qualification tournament is truly remarkable,” Hinton says. “To then beat some of these players and progress to the final stage of qualification is nothing short of mind-boggling.”
Sourced via Brisbane Times. Written by Engel Schmidl.
With Zoe Kalfayianni’s exciting release of her second album, Μαχαιριά, Vasilis Vasilas talks to talented singer/songwriter about her new release, making the Greek music market and the digital age of music.
Congratulations on the exciting new record, Μαχαιριά! On this record, you have written the lyrics of seven songs; how have you grown as a songwriter since your debut album, Πόσο Λίγο Σε Νιάζει?
Since releasing my debut album Πόσο Λίγο Σε Νιάζει in 2018, I have had great reviews and feedback from around the world that has given me the strength and confidence to be able to grow and continue writing songs at a professional level of high quality.
You enjoyed several decades of singing live in Australia’s live Greek music scene. How did you make the transition from singing in venues to becoming a recording artist?
As far as live entertainment in Sydney is concerned these days, it is who you know and what group you are in that gives you the advantage to work in this industry and it does not matter what you have achieved or how talented you are unfortunately.
I decided to lift myself to another level because I have always believed in my talent writing Greek lyrics from a fairly young age and it has always been my dream to record my own songs. This way I have an audience that appreciate and listen to my songs and these original songs will remain forever- unlike performing live in Australia where you are forgotten the next day.
What are the challenges of being a local Sydney artist and gaining recognition from Greece’s music industry to record and release your work?
The challenge is to write good Greek songs at a high level from a Greek Australian-born artist, like myself, to get these songs heard and accepted by Greek record companies and radio stations which I have achieved.
In 2017, my songs Kαμμένα Όνειρα and Απάτη reached Top 10 on Palmos Radio Athens and was released with Real Music In Greece on behalf of Dynamical Records Australia. In 2018, my song M’ Ένα Όνειρο was the first ever original Greek song from Sydney Australia to get released by Heaven Music in Greece and this gave me the recognition I deserved.
Album cover for Μαχαιριά.
What are some of the challenges of artists, such as yourself, face in the digital age of recoding and releasing music? Or has it made the process of recording and releasing easier?
The digital world of music has made it easier producing and releasing songs but to a point. The challenge is you still need to have good material (ie music, lyrics and production) to make sales and attract a potential audience in the thousands that will download and stream your songs worldwide.
What are some of the highlights from Μαχαιριά? What can we, as your audience, look forward to?
The highlights from my latest album Μαχαιριά is obviously the first song of the self-titled album , which is a strong rock ballad- that is surely to impress. A s pointed out, M’ Ένα Όνειρο was the first original song ever to be released with Heaven Music Greece from Australia. Vicky Mou is a strong modern roumba and a family- orientated song that means a lot to me- I wrote this song for my daughter. So, the album is diverse in that it captures various styles such as a zeibekiko, some dance rhythm songs as well as rock ballads.
One of the biggest sagas during the pre-season for the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest has been the internal selection of the Greek entry which is widely expected to be former Junior Eurovision star Stefania. OGAE Greece has reported that ERT will not make an announcement regarding their selected artist until either the end of January or the beginning of February.
It had previously been reported that Stefania had been working with Dimitris Kontopoulos on her proposed entry, and EurovisionFun now reports that Sharon Vaughn is the lyricist of the submitted song. Vaughn most recently teamed up with Kontopoulos on Sergey Lazarev’s 2019 Eurovision entry “Scream”.
Stefania Liberakakis, known under the mononym Stefania, was born in Utrecht in 2002. Aged just 17, she already has quite the record. Five years ago, she made it to Team Marco Borsato on The Voice Kids. A few years later, she flew the Dutch flag at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2016 as part of Kisses. The group finished in eighth place with 174 points.
In 2018, Stefania dropped her first solo single, “Stupid Reasons”. Joachim Vermeulen and Maarten ten Hove wrote the song for the then sixteen year old singer. The official video has over a million views on YouTube. It has not gone unnoticed in Greece, where ERT and MAD saw Stefania’s rising popularity with a lot of joy. She was even invited to perform “Con Calma” alongside Konnie Metaxa and Ilenia Williams during the MAD VMA 2019 awards. Her latest single, “Turn Around” was released last month.
With some people believing the title of the song could be “Super Woman”, EurovisionFun has given us a description of the song in question (translated from Greek):
“The song is a dance-pop song with a rap beat. It is in western style but incorporates the Greek sound in its instrumentation as it includes musical instruments such as the continental bagpipe, the zurnas and the violin. The mixing is achieved in a modern way so don’t expect to hear a track like “My Number One” or “OPA”! The song has an impressive bridge with percussion and contains a rather demanding note for the performer which will impress both the audience and the jury.”
Stefania and Kontopoulos have also prepared a second song to ERT for discussion, however, it is widely believed that all parties will prefer the song described above.
ERT and the Committee in charge of the Greek Eurovision entry are expected to make the final decision during a board meeting tomorrow. According to OGAE Greece, this decision will be made public in two to three weeks time.
Greece has put Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment into the next phase of a long-delayed tender process to build and operate a luxury casino resort in Athens but rejected Hard Rock International, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.
The two U.S. groups had bid in October for the construction and 30-year operation of the casino resort, with Mohegan partnered by Greek construction company GEK TERNA .
The winner of the tender will build a casino on a site of at least 1.2 hectares, with a minimum of 120 gaming tables and 1,200 slot machines. There will also be a luxury hotel, entertainment venues, a conference center and sports center in a planned 8 billion euro tourist resort on the site of the former Athens airport in Hellenikon.
Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the source said that Hard Rock submitted documents that failed to meet the tender’s criteria for financing of the project and required construction experience.
Once the bidders are officially notified of the decision, they have the right to appeal within 10 days. The opening of the technical offers will then follow.
Greece attracted a record 33 million tourists in 2018, with last year’s number expected to match that.
Experts speak to The Greek Herald about the unprecedented tragedy that no one was prepared for.
The summertime fantasy of a surfy Australia soaking up the suns warmth has been overcast with a dark dystopian cloud, as unprecedented bushfires continue to spread across the country. 27 people have lost their lives to date, over half a billion animals have died, and land that equates to twice the size of Belgium, or one third of Greece, has been burnt.
The Greek Herald spoke to a number of scientific experts, seeking answers to the questions that our governments and leaders are all avoiding:
Are the fires a result of climate change? Could there be better preparation? What will the long-term health effects be, and how can I better protect myself from fires this season?
The Greek Herald speaks exclusively to Dr Jason Sharples, an Associate Professor at UNSW Canberra at ADFA in Bushfire Risk Management, Associate Professor Brian Oliver from UTS Sydney, an expert in respiratory disease, and the chairman of Greece’s National Commission on Climate Change, Kostas Synolakis.
Dr Jason Sharples is an an Associate Professor at UNSW Canberra at ADFA with research interests in Bushfire Risk Management.
Jason Sharples
“These fires are unusual for three main reasons,” begins the Associate Professor at the UNSW Canberra School of Science.
“Firstly, they have been burning earlier in our fire season which usually runs from October to March, with the worst activity in southeast Australia occurring in January and February. This year the fires started burning in late August/early September, and burnt intensely through November and December.”
“Secondly, the area they have burnt is unprecedented, and many of the fires have made multiple runs over a long period of time as recurrent bad fire weather (hot, dry and windy conditions) in combination with extreme drought conditions, have been causing catastrophic fire behaviour almost on a weekly cycle. The temperatures we have been experiencing have also been record breaking,” says Dr Sharples.
“Thirdly, fires have evolved many times into fiery storms – far more than we have seen in previous times.” These are the elements that make up, according to the Professor, the anatomy of a tragedy, for which many believe climate change is responsible.
Climate change and government
“My view is that there is a climate change signature in these fires. To properly answer this question will take some more work involving attribution analysis (where the influence of climate change to a particular event is quantified), but I strongly suspect that the temperatures we have experienced, which effects the flammability of the vegetation, would have been unlikely to have been so high in the absence of anthropogenic global warming. The drought may have a climate change signature as well, but this is much harder to determine,” said Dr Sharples.
The fires have sparked backlash from Australians in regards to government leadership. Last Friday, thousands of people gathered in Australia’s major cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra – to protest the resignation of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Many of these outcries were associated with Morrison’s continued dismissal of climate change, as the country burns.
“Accepting that climate change played a role in these fires, the time for government to have done anything about that aspect of the fires was 20 years ago – unfortunately that opportunity was not embraced. Moving on from these events, I think there is a real need for us to better understand the dynamics of extreme wildfires, which should be viewed as quite distinct from typical forest fires that burn under milder conditions. Dealing with them operationally requires new ways of thinking, and mitigating their impacts requires a more wholistic approach to understanding how we manage the country, and how and where we live in an increasingly flammable landscape. Looking into the future, there needs to be more definitive climate action – what we do now won’t affect these fires, or even fires 5 years from now, but it may help prevent experiencing even worse disasters 30 years from now. Unfortunately our government doesn’t seem to fully appreciate this point,” says Dr Sharples.
The Professor anticipates the fires will continue until the country is hit with substantial rain, which is not forecasted until March 2020.
ssociate Professor Brian Oliver from UTS Sydney is part of a research project developing new ways to treat respiratory issues.
Professor Brian Oliver
The wildfires in Australia have infiltrated the air quality for months, which means Australians need to be further aware of the potential health problems associated with breathing unhealthy air.
The Greek Herald spoke to University of Technology Sydney Professor Brian Oliver, who recently interviewed with BBC regarding the health impacts of bad air quality. The Professor is also part of a research project developing new ways to treat respiratory issues.
“The risks differ according to how close to the fire you are, and if your some distance away (e.g. in Marrickville) how thick the smoke haze is. In general the immediate effects for everyone could be coughing, sore eyes, throats, but for people with respiratory diseases like asthma they might end up in hospital with breathing difficulties. The smoke can travel for hundreds of km, even from one country to the next,” says the Professor.
Health impacts of the bushfires
Professor Oliver believes there are two population groups who are particularly at risk. “The two conditions that we worry most about are respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, as when there is smoke haze it is common for more people to attend hospital due to worsening of these conditions.”
When it comes to precautions against worsening health conditions, Professor Oliver believes people should “avoid the smoke haze as much as possible”. This also means avoiding outdoor exercise. When it comes to masks, he believes surgical masks “offer no protection” unless “if the masks are good and fitted by an expert they will offer some protection”.
When it comes to the scientific and statistical understanding of the impact of bushfires on respiratory health, Professor Oliver believes this information will not be available for a long time.
“This depends upon how quickly we can see the health effects. In generally we are talking a minimum of decades,” he said.
Professor Costas Synolakis is a Professor in Coastal Engineering and Natural Disasters, as well as the Chairman of the National Commission on Climate Change.
Professor Costas Synolakis
Professor Costas Synolakis became familiar to Greeks during the wildfires that broke out in Mati in 2018, where he was a called upon crisis management expert.
A Professor of Coastal Engineering at the University of Southern California, and Professor of Natural Disasters at the Environmental Engineering School of the University of Crete in 2004, made Costas Synolakis a perfect choice for the Chairman of the National Commission on Climate Change, by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The internationally renowned academic has been painfully watching the events unfolding in Australia for months, he tells The Greek Herald.
“What you are living in Australia does not look like it has happened before, at least in California or the Mediterranean countries. It is an unprecedented situation, but it seems that we should have foreseen it. Many who estimated the impact of climate change are reminiscent of what is happening in Australia, but unfortunately, most scientists have not evaluated it properly,” says Professor Synolakis.
Climate change cannot be named the cause for many decades
The Australian government have shied away from the climate change debate during this unprecedented bushfire tragedy. Profesor Synolakis believes there will be no way of knowing whether the fires are the result of climate change for many decades.
“The debate you are reporting is wrong,” Professor Synolakis explains. “We cannot yet know what the extreme weather events caused by the fires are. We know that what is happening is compatible with many forecasts of the effects of climate change. But we will not know the answer accurately for many decades. That is why we need to prepare for the worst,” he said.
Preparing for the worst
Having experienced both the fires in California and the fires in Greece, Professor Synolakis believes there is no way one can absolutely prepare for a situation of such a scale, especially with the uncertainty of climate change.
“The easiest answer is to tell you that yes, fire preparation could be better. Of course it could, but, think about it, no country can be prepared for all the extreme phenomena that can ever occur, especially with the uncertainty of climate change. Preparation in Australia is much better than in Greece….”
“There has been much debate in Australia about whether it is better to massively evacuate people immediately or, if, in some cases, residents can stay and cope with the fire in their homes. This has affected crisis management. I cannot tell you what is most effective, but it certainly requires a unified strategy and proportionate preparation – as we have observed in California, that the slightest doubt or delay in managing the fire develops at the expense of many residents.”
Bushfires and wildfires are not expected to reduce any time soon, which means we must consider how to better protect ourselves for the future. Professor Synolakis calls upon examples from Greece, California and Australia regarding better preparation for bushfires.
“The best practice is to not always try to deal with the immediately preceding fire – they are never the same. In Australia, crisis management in general has set the example in the wildfires in Victoria, and in California, the wildfires in Oakland. No fire, like any earthquake, is an exact replica of a previous iteration of the same phenomenon. The practice of preparing for the future to deal with the extreme phenomenon we have just faced is, I insist, wrong,” says Professor Synolakis.
“The fire that is still unfolding in Australia shows us that there are extreme phenomena that we cannot yet foresee with precision. This means that we must plan our defence in such situations in light of the most extreme phenomenon that we should reasonably expect. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent worldwide to make theoretical estimates of the probability of a given fire, that is, to conclude that such a fire occurs every 300 years….For the government of a country where such a phenomenon is extreme, it does not need to be included in the annual preparation, as if happens every 300 years. But for the citizens, when they live, they don’t care if it happens every 10 or 300 or 1000 years, they get the impact now and ask for answers about improper preparation, if you ask me,” he said.
“For this reason, we should not deal with extreme phenomena with probabilities – I am not referring to meteor falls or volcanoes – but always calculating what is the most serious that can happen to us and considering whether we are sufficiently prepared. If we remain captive to the chances of contingency planning from our political preparation it is as if we are relying on mantis or those reading tarot decks.”
The audiences during the 2020 ATP Cup got shocked by the meltdown that Stefanos Tsitsipas displayed during his game against Nick Kyrgios, last week.
Right after Tsitsipas lost the first set to Kyrgios, the Greek player smashed his racket into the bench. However, he accidentally hit his father. This resulted in a bruise in his father’s forearm. His mother immediately ran from the stands and told Tsitsipas off.
The world no. 6 has already expressed how sorry he was for the incident. In the interviews done after, he said that all that happened was an accident. He urged everyone to move on as his family will deal with the issue on their own.
He, however, tried to have a sense of humour about it. When asked if he will receive punishment from his parents, he jokingly replied that he might be grounded at home.
The umpire, who also saw the incident, was unimpressed by the tantrum. Tsitsipas was given a code violation for the unsportsmanlike conduct.
Greek-Australian Kyrgios surprisingly was the one who stayed calm during the game. The world no. 29, infamous for his outbursts, managed to win the match 7-6 6-7 7-6.
Apostolos has been coaching Stefanos Tsitsipas ever since the start of his tennis career.
Apostolos, who confessed that he stumbled into tennis coaching because of his son, said that he never would have dreamed that he would be training a world top 10 player. A former football player, he and wife Ioulia taught Stefanos to play tennis as early as three years old. By age 12, the player-coach duo is already traveling to other countries for junior events.
Even now that he has helped his son win multiple WTA titles, he still feels lucky that Stefanos chose him as his coach. He even thinks that he learned a lot as his son’s trainer.
The Greek tennis player will be taking part in the Australian Open Rally for Relief exhibition match on Wednesday.
The event, set for January 15 at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, will gather some of the biggest names in professional tennis. Tsitsipas will join previously announced players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams.
The funds that will be raised from the event will be donated directly to the relief and recovery efforts. The players also encouraged people to further donate to the Australian Red Cross and the World Wildlife Fund.
Ranked world no.6, the Greek played his last match on the 7th of January when he had to bow to Nick Kyrgios 7-67 6-73 7-65 in the round robin in the ATP Cup.
The show ‘Marry Me Marry My Family’ has gained a lot of praise since it aired on SBS on January 7th, 2020.
It follows the lives of six cross-cultural couples who are bravely acknowledging the challenges of pursuing a multi-religious/cross-cultural wedding.
Tonight, the show will introduce the couple George, a Greek Australian Orthodox, and Ranmeet, a Malaysian Sikh Punjabi.
George, who grew up in a traditional Greek Orthodox household in Melbourne, always thought he would follow in the footsteps of his parents, grandparents and the generations before him by marrying a “good Greek girl”.
“I am a Greek Australian Orthodox, and my family and prior generations are pure Greek,” explains George.
It wasn’t until he met Malaysian-Indian doctor, Ranmeet, that he reconsidered the pathway of his future.
“When I met Ranmeet, a Malaysian Sikh Punjabi, I knew we were in for a big wedding. With both ethnicities rich in culture and what most would consider ‘staunch’ religions, neither of us were willing to give up our wedding traditions,” said George.
Ranmeet also grew up devoted to Sikhism, and always dreamed of a traditional wedding in a Sikh temple.
The couple are both largely empathetic to each other’s desire for a religious wedding, so they decided to have two weddings, in two countries.
How will this be possible? Ranmeet must convert to Greek Orthodox in order to be married in the Greek Orthodox Church in Melbourne, and George must adopt a new Sikh name if he is to be married in a Malaysian Sikh temple.
“After lots of research and phone calls to almost all the Greek Orthodox churches in Melbourne, Ranmeet and I finally found a way to ensure the Greek Orthodox wedding was secured. We cannot thank Father Antonio enough for his in-depth orthodox lessons, Ranmeet’s baptism and for the wedding,” said George.
Ranmeet also found a Sikh temple in Malaysia that was willing to do a last minute conversion, so that she too can fulfil her dream of being married in a traditional Sikh temple.
“Regardless of how difficult it was to have both weddings and the hurdles we had to jump over in order to cross the line, I feel it was only possible because Ranmeet and I were willing do whatever was needed. Without this attitude both weddings would have been near impossible and it would have been a very taxing journey on our relationship. In the end, our story was very successful and I feel it needs to be shared with others to prove that nothing is impossible if you truly love your partner, and if you are willing to ‘pull your sleeves up’ miracles can happen,” said George.
They both dream of a 'traditional' wedding – but traditional takes on a different meaning for George, an Australian with Greek Orthodox background, and Ranmeet, a Sikh from Malaysia. So it's decided: she will convert to Greek Orthodox and he will take on a new Sikh name.
Posted by SBS Australia on Thursday, 12 December 2019
WATCH the promotional video of George and Ranmeet’s love story.
Marry Me Marry My Family has been a very moving and encapsulating series for Australian audiences. SBS Head of Documentaries, Joseph Maxwell, said: “SBS commissions documentaries that explore Australia’s diversity. ‘Marry Me Marry My Family’ provides a unique insight into the lives of Australians who are facing one of the most important events of their lives. It captures intimate and heart-warming moments and explores the realities of navigating family expectations, traditions and values in modern multicultural Australia.”
Marry Me Marry My Family S2 airs over three weeks, premiering Tuesday 7 January at 8.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.
The Greek island of Castellorizo is opening its doors for another year of the Beyond Borders International Documentary Festival.
As of Monday, the organisers are inviting documentary filmmakers to submit their work for the fifth annual event.
Entries are open until April 20, 2020.
The Beyond Borders International Documentary Festival was founded in 2008 by a team of young historians and researchers with the aim of preserving, documenting and disseminating contemporary history.
The objective of the festival is to increase awareness on the importance of history, heritage and culture. Its activities include the publishing of scientific books, the creation of history documentaries, as well as the organisation of scholarly meetings, lectures, seminars, based on its publications, research and documentaries.
The Beyond Borders film festival takes place every year during the last week of August. It is co-sponsored by the South Aegean Region under the auspices of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad, the Australian Embassy in Athens, the US Embassy in Athens, the Embassy of Israel in Athens and the Municipality of Megisti (Castellorizo).
Those interested in taking part in Castellorizo’s Beyond Borders Documentary Festival may submit their applications here.
