Greek Independence Day - South Africa and Lesvos, an Olympian Call

Greek Independence Day

As we commemorate #GreekIndependenceDay today, #Tokyo2020 announced that the #Olympics will be held in #2021, which will on this day coincide with #Greece's 200 yrs of independence! 

This is pretty awesome because for me, the Olympics are most certainly synonymous with Greece and our #values? How beautiful is it that we will be celebrating our 200 years of freedom in the same year that the Olympics were postponed for the first time ever!? How do you / can you envision these celebrations to be?

Am sure that you to feel that whilst our 200 year celebration is “only” a year from today, it may feel like a lifetime away...!!! Our health, the health of our loved ones, our livelihoods and even our #freedom hang in the balance. 

Who would have thought, or even imagined, a month ago today, that we would be “celebrating* our 199 years of “#Freedom” being restricted in our homes, on absolutely no fault of our own!!? That half the world, would today be on #lockdown, completely uncertain and fearful about the future? That we would be disconnected from loved ones stranded in other cities / countries- that we would indeed NOT be able to visit our beloved homeland? 

As we take time to reflect on our lives and on what is important, think that it would be equally important to “embrace” technology in any way that we can to empower ourselves (eg additional training / education / digital skills / communication / etc) but equally importantly, to take time to sincerely consider those less fortunate than ourselves, and recognise that there are many! So as challenging as this may be, let’s again take time to truly appreciate what we have today and challenge ourselves to take time out to help those less fortunate! 

Would really like to appeal to my fellow South Africans, especially those that are able, to mobilise soonest to create working groups / teams that can find “creative ways” in which we can provide food, soap, etc to those less fortunate! Today, as we celebrate our 199 years of freedom, I would like to especially appeal to our Hellenic Communities in South Africa. We have been blessed to have incredible and very supportive communities, which have taught us the importance of looking after / supporting fellow Hellenes! I encourage you to mobilise our great community today, to take action in inspiring the future of South Africa that we want! Let’s please do whatever each of us can, so that tomorrow, a year from today, 10 years from today, we can look back to our actions and know that we did the very best we could to inspire the future of SA that we wanted! Our government and fellow South African citizens, need us today, more than ever!

The reality is that things have changed and they will never be the same again! The quicker we recognise and realise this the better / easier it will be to adapt- we need to be proactive in addressing this. 

To my fellow Hellene citizens, and especially to those on Lesvos and the Aegean Islands, many of which are totally dependent on the tourism industry, you will have NO tourists, to very limited tourists, this season! 

Ironically, the only tourists that you will be able to get, would be those who would want to show solidarity to you for carrying the tremendous weight on your shoulders over the past 5 years! Sadly though, this will not be enough! 

As you reflect on these developments, and the impact that this has had on you, I respectfully ask that you consider the life of a refugee- a person that would never had wanted to leave home, yet had to do so due to unforeseen circumstances. 

I recognise that this may be seen as a “crazy” statement, but the absolute irony, is that by you continuing to show the incredible solidarity that you have shown over the last 5 years, is arguably the only way that we could survive this economic crisis that is approaching. 

It will in fact require an Olympian effort! There are over 27,000 people on Lesvos alone living in the camps- 66% of these are women and children. With our hotels being empty, and near certain catastrophe, please consider holding discussions with our National Government / EU Representatives, on hosting unaccompanied minors and families in our hotels and villages for the next year, after which we can ensure that they will be relocated to other European cities? 

During this world wide crisis of the corona virus, Lesvos is still a global talking point, given the uncertain future of the many asylum seekers- please do consider actions that not only can ensure your livelihoods for the next year, but can also provide hope and inspiration to our world! Let’s work together to ensure that whenever people hear about #Lesvos, they think of the #Olympian efforts of the local people, the people of Lesvos who held the #OlympicFlame up high, shining a bright light for #humanity! 

Our world now, more than ever, needs us to be #UnitedByEmotion! 

I know that the above may sound optimistic but right now, the only possible solution for us is through #unity towards the most idealistic scenarios- as our history shows, as Greeks, we unite when things are the toughest that they can be and this is when we shine the brightest, similar to the #OlympicFlame…!

Please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones during these difficult times and I pray and hope that we will forever be stronger together! Thanks again for being the incredible community that you have always been- for being family. 

Lots of love

Vasili

#Olympics2020 #Olympics2021 

#FutureofEurope #FutureoftheWorld #RiseRainbowNation #RainbowNation #Freedom #Humanity #Tokyo #SDGs #socent #impinv #EULesvos

May we always be guided by #love. God Bless.

PS From a personal and sentimental perspective, would like to include on this post a position for an intern for #Changemakers Lab:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12AXXS7zsXIpIAftJ8HP028KLfdXTWuE0/edit