A group of students are giving a new dimension to volunteering
Fifteen people, all students from Avgorou, spontaneously decide in 2013 to put on a theatrical performance in their community. Their goal is to collect money, food and basic necessities. Four years later, the group continues its activities, putting other young people in the "trick".
Today the group consists of more than fifty young people, not only from Avgorou, but from the entire province of Famagusta, Larnaca, Nicosia, and even Paphos.
2013 was a year that marked Cyprus. Within hours, one of the country's largest banks was closed, deposits were cut and the financial crisis began to show its hard side. In this lailapa, however, the greatness of soul of every Cypriot emerged, who showed his human face. Thousands of people, both individually and collectively, rushed to help their fellow human beings in need. Among them was a 15-member group of young people from Avgorou, who spontaneously decided to stage a play in her community, aiming to raise money, food and basic necessities. This is how the beautiful journey of this group of students began, who, wanting to express their cultural concerns through a theatrical performance, managed to change the way in which we perceive voluntary offering and charity.
The Chronicles
The theatrical non-profit group "Create" is anything but a commonplace group of theater lovers. Fifteen people, all students from Avgorou, spontaneously decided in 2013 to put on a theatrical performance in their community. Their goal is to raise money, food and basic necessities, which will then be used for the Social Grocery of the Apostles Church of Peter and Paul and for the "Never Alone at Home" program for the employment of elderly people by the Avgoros Community Volunteer Council.
They choose to stage the theatrical event "Romanism in a Cohesive Tribal World" adapted by Michalis Pieris. The selection of this work was made on the occasion of the recent economic crisis that hit the island and based on the messages conveyed by the work of the national poet of Cyprus, Vassilis Michailidis. "For the first time," the president of the theatrical group, Angelos Fiakas, told SIMERINI on Sunday, we felt strong the sense of social cohesion, the collectivity we experienced to deal with the consequences of the economic crisis, and these messages of cohesion of the Cypriot people are presented in July 9 of our national poet ". The economic crisis and its aftermath have been translated as an opportunity by team members to contribute to the wider society. At the same time, their presence in the cultural events of the province of Famagusta resulted intentionally or unintentionally from the crisis of values that emerged as the deepest culprit of the economic recession. The first performance was given at the crowded Ethnographic Museum of Avgoros and was the occasion for the formation of the group.
The group currently has more than 40 members consisting of amateur actors, artists, professionals and amateur musicians and ordinary volunteers. Each of the "Create" activities is aimed at charity, with the proceeds going to families facing financial or health problems, to social church grocery stores and other institutions. Important is the contribution provided by the volunteer Andreas Christou who undertakes the direction of the theatrical works but also George Kalogirou, who undertook from the first performance the orchestration and the direction of the orchestra that accompanies the theatrical performances.
Panhellenic recognition
The audience of the province of Famagusta embraced with special love from the first moment the "Create", which in 2014 uploaded the tragedy of Euripides "Phoenix" in Avgorou, Sotira and Aglantzia. A year later he uploaded the comedy "Wealth of Aristophanes" to Avgorou, Sotira and Lakatamia and in 2016 the anti-war work of Bertolt Brecht, "Mother Courage".
Just in her third year of life, the theater troupe participated last August in the 6th Panhellenic Amateur Theater Festival "Distomo 2016" with Brecht's work where she won eight awards (first for best performance, direction, music composition, first and second female). , second male role, audience award up to 25 years old and audience award over 25 years old). This year the team will once again participate in the 7th Panhellenic Amateur Theater Festival "Distomo 2017" with the masterpiece of Victor Hugo, "Poor".
Charity cafe and summer cinema
Nevertheless, the action of "Create" was not limited to theatrical performances. As Mr. Fiakas explained to "S", the increased needs to support needy families, both inside and outside the province of Famagusta, led to the need to find additional actions. Thus, since April 2016, the group has operated an original mobile charity cafe with the also original name "As many times lakkirtin", which means "up to many years of gossip or gossip". The cafe operates at regular intervals at the Ethnographic Museum or the Elderly Club of the Community of Avgoros and as Mr. Fiakas explains, the love he gathered from the residents of the community and the surrounding areas was so great that many are the ones who make it voluntarily. delicacies to offer to cafe guests. Very often, in fact, in the area of the open-air cafe, summer movie screenings and musical evenings are organized.
The new generation is an investment for our society
Today, the group consists of more than fifty young people, not only from Avgorou, but from the entire province of Famagusta, Larnaca, Nicosia, and even Paphos. According to Mr. Fiakas, among the goals of "Create" is the participation for the first time in the 30th Pancyprian Festival of Amateur Theater of THOK and the finding of a house, which will facilitate the most frequent organization of the charity cafe and the organization of other events. charity. At the same time, one of the goals of the non-profit group is to create a point of cultural interest that will function as a place for studies, intellectual cultivation, folklore research and literary research.
These young people, who make up a group that only by its name suggests the character of creativity, respond to the frequent voices that with pompous characterizations criticize the youthful indifference and inaction. The answer comes through the work and action of "Create" which proves that the young person needs motivation and reason to be able to create great things. While, even when the motives and reasons are absent, our young people can and are able to create even more important things. It is up to the society and the state to realize the very heavy responsibility it brings to the new generation, in order to offer it the supplies to be transformed into complex personalities. To realize that the new generation is an investment for tomorrow's society.
* SIMERINI Sunday newspaper (30 / 7 / 2017)