CNN made a report on the case of Greek teacher Julie Koukliati working at a private school in South Africa, where she is teaching the Greek language to the children of the Greek migrants there.

Full of optimism and despite the cuts in her salary from the Greek government for her teaching abroad, Koukliati told CNN: “You only hear bad things about Europe and Greece but people there still have hope. They are still falling in love, going on vacation, they are getting on with their lives.”

More and more people begin expressing their interest in travelling overseas to make ends meet while Greece is suffering from the fifth consecutive year of recession.

In South Africa, the Greek Community includes up to 50,000 people, according to the Consulate General of Greece in Johannesburg.

According to the CNN report, community organizations are receiving more job applications from electricians and artists desperate to escape the tough economic conditions in Greece, which could boost the declining numbers of the Greek population in South Africa since 2004.

The meeting was officially initiated on Tuesday 27 December at the St George’s Hotel in Pretoria. The keynote speaker at the opening ceremony was George Bizos, a prominent Human Rights lawyer, as well as Nelson Mandela’s lawyer. Mr. Bizos spoke about the importance of rule of law, identity and his experiences in South Africa. Other speakers who addressed the opening ceremony were the Archbishop of Pretoria and Johannesburg Damaskinos, Mr. Cleopa Elia (President of the Cyprus Brotherhood of South Africa), Mr. Christos Karaolis (President of NEPOMAK), Mr. Philip Papathanasiou (President of NAHYSOSA) and Mr. Michael Pappas (President of NEPOMAK South Africa).

The meeting of the Executive Council focused on establishing new programmes for members, new partnerships with other NGOs and charities as well as outlining ways in which NEPOMAK can continue to support Cyprus and lobby decision makers even more effectively.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to begin developing the plans for the celebrations of NEPOMAK’s 10th anniversary in 2012. The Executive Council discussed the recently launched NEPOMAK logo re-design competition, how to coordinate events across member organisations to celebrate NEPOMAK’s 10 year anniversary, and also how to refresh and update NEPOMAK’s strategic goals to ensure NEPOMAK remains relevant over the next 10 years.

NEPOMAK President, Christos Karaolis, said “We are exceptionally grateful to the South African and Zimbabwean Cypriot communities for the warm welcome that they gave us. During the course of our meeting we put in place proposals for new programmes and initiatives that will ensure we continue to deliver on our core aims: raising awareness of the Cyprus issue and maintaining Cypriot culture and identity across the diaspora. With these activities, I am confident that NEPOMAK will continue to go from strength to strength over the next 10 years”

Members of the Executive Council also visited the Hellenic Cypriot Brotherhood of South Africa and Cypriot communities in Cape Town and Zimbabwe.

Artscape and the Siyasanga Cape Town Theatre Company will present Greek classic comedy “The Birds” of Aristophanes in the Kirstenbosch open-air theatre from December 20 2011 until January 15 2012.

The timeless comedy performances are scheduled to start at 7am. This peculiarity of the early morning performances is explained by the fact that ancient Greeks used to go to their theatres at dawn time because they had no lighting and it got too hot to sit outside later in the morning.

Theatre goers can either bring their own picnic with them or book for breakfast at the Kirstenborch Tea Room (021 – 797 4887).

Roy Sargeant directs, with choreography by Nhanhla Mkhwanazi, costume and mask designs by Keith Anderson and original music by Michael Tuffin. Jeroen Kranenberg and Nhanhla Mkhwanazi star in the play with Francis Chouler, Armand Aucamp, Riaan Visman, Wiseman Sithole, together with the Siyasanga Acting Company, Michael Inglis, Zondwa Njokweni, Lee Roodt, Frans Hamman, Anele Situlweni and Melissa Haiden.

Tickets can be booked via the Kirstenbosch Box Office (021 – 761 2866) or at the gate leading to the theatre from 06:30 before each performance.

For more information contact 021 – 799 8783

Greek-S. African Kirsty Theologo died just a week after she was set ablaze, press reports from the Greek community in South Africa said.

Court records say that Theologo and her 16-year-old friend known as “Brownyn” were among 8 young people gathering on a remote hill. The young girls were offered something to drink but Kirsty spat it out because of its strange taste.

One of the young men then doused Kirsty with gasoline and threw a lit match on her. Her 16-year-old friend  tried to put out the flames by rolling her on the ground. Thus,  Bronwyn suffered burns to her body as well, but unlike Theologo she will survive the attack, doctors said.

According to Telegraph, another boy cut a third girl’s hand and then held it over a Bible so that the blood would soak it. The group then left and the girls managed to break free and walk 10 blocks home in a terrible condition before driving to South Rand Hospital.

After sustaining third and fourth degree burns, Kirsty was in an induced coma for some days, but the burns had caused serious damage to her lungs and throat.

According to iOL News, four male suspects – Lindon Wagner (21), Robin Hardwood (18), Lester Evan Nathaniel Moody (18) and Jeremy King (18) – have been brought to justice so far with the charges of murder and attempted murder. The police are continuing their investigations of the case.

Today, Miss Theologo was at a Johannesburg hospital in an induced coma after suffering burns to 75 percent to her upper body while Bronwyn was under medical supervision at a private clinic.

South Africa’s Star newspaper reported that their attackers set them ablaze after deciding to turn them into satanic ‘sacrifices’.

While she was burning, one boy cut her hand and held it over a Bible so that the blood could soak it, according to one of the girls who was in the group, the paper said.

A 16-year-old girl tried to put out the flames by rolling Kirsty Theologo in the sand, burning herself in the process, the paper said.

Provincial police spokeswoman Captain Pinky Tsingane said the girls had been tied up and there was speculation the attack was a satanic ritual. Two men aged 19 and 21 who took part in the incident turned themselves in on Sunday.

Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe is a 100,000-year-old paint workshop in Blombos Cave, South Africa, about 186 miles east of Cape Town. The discovery indicates that our early Homo sapien ancestors had a basic knowledge of chemistry.

“The recovery of these toolkits at Blombos Cave adds evidence for early technological and behavioral developments associated with Homo sapiens and documents their deliberate planning, production, and curation of a pigmented compound and the use of containers,” the study authors wrote.

“They really knew what they were doing. It’s not just idiosyncratic behavior, but it’s a very planned process,” said Francesco d’Errico, study co-author and researcher at the University of Bordeaux in France.

This cave seems to have been used as a workshop, and then the early Homo sapiens left it behind shortly after making these compounds. It appears that sand blew into the cave and very quickly covered these objects, preserving them throughout the millennia.

So far no paintings have been found on the walls of the cave. Scientists speculate that the paint was used for body decoration, or as an antiseptic for preparing animal skins, or both.

“It may be combination of functional and symbolic reasons,” d’Errico said. “In traditional societies, the symbolic and functional often go together. One reason cannot exclude the other”, he concluded.