NUGAS Radio: Ta Leme
Leadership, Direction, NUGAS Ball
Earlier in the year we hosted our leaders at NUGAS – the National Union of Greek Australian students, in Anastasia Dolkas and Jacqueline Abraam to discuss our goals, direction and motivations for what to do in this term.
We delved into curiosities concerning leadership, open-mindedness and about leaving a legacy to inspire others in the future, for it was the legacy of others that was influential in our rising involvement.
The initial focus of the conversation was the preparation and speculation for our annual ball; our most anticipated event. NUGAS ball has brought up to 1,000 people in the past, filling the most grand and spacious of function halls across the city with Greeks and Non-Greeks alike for an awesome night.
The most powerful realisation and pleasure about the ball is also the mixing of worlds that happen on the night. All the university clubs unite to run the ball which provides an experience ‘all students and kids should have, especially those who otherwise have a distant relationship with the Greek community.’
Due to complications with our initial venue we made a shift to the Timber Yard in Port Melbourne. It wasn’t an easy process, as we feared our event may sink alongside the sinking Peninsula Shed but as a committee, we were galvanised into action to keep the event afloat. Sometimes the rockiest seas make the strongest of crewmen, and this was one massive storm for us.
The event is less than a week away and we can feel the excitement. Social media is overflowing with NUGAS promotion and we expect no less when people attend the event, for there are many… many surprises in stall… as well as someone special.
From the show we concluded that NUGAS is an organisation that has touched the hearts of many, is older, more established and has more memories and stories to tell than the whole current committee combined and deserves therefore to be cherished, respected, committed to and evolved as time goes on.
Our organisation is unique and has so much potential, and that’s why we contribute as much as we do to our market, our niche and our audience.
Jacqueline has a direct entitlement and responsibility to NUGAS to carry on and make proud the efforts of Peter Abraam, her dad. Anastasia has a more recent entitlement and responsibility through Eleni Dolkas’ efforts, her sister. We all have some reason to be there, and the fact that some of us feel like giving back because we’re giving back to family is a powerful realisation.
-Dean Kotsianis
Eleni Nzifas: Greece
I met you for the first time when I was five. You were a big adventure. You were eye opening. You were different but I was too young to know, too young to understand and to predict what was to come.
I saw you again when I was sixteen, but I saw you differently then. My world was chaotic and seeing you again made me face the fact that you had, buried within you, someone I loved who I could no longer see. When I was sixteen I came to you in a state of judgement, of critique and I began to resent you. I wandered with you and saw this life that you encompassed that I didn’t understand, that terrified me because I blamed it for the loss of my loved one. I spent 6 weeks with you and began to crave the comfort of my life back home, I wanted to run from you. I was a self contained dam, brimming with overwhelming emotions, whose depths were never explored for fear of contamination, of breaking. I was a dam that didnt know whether it wanted its waters to be a river or a waterfall.
Finally, I was 20, I saw you for another time and you liberated me. That’s when the whirlwind started, you pinned me with your gaze, you broke the walls that were cracking and told me to be whoever I wanted to be. The very same things that scared me only four years ago began to break the chains I had wrapped around myself, your laughter, your brightness, your life, the very thing that suffocated me, gave me my breath back. The chaos under your sun kissed self drew me in and allowed me to let go of the strictness of my life. My hair was let down, I breathed in the depths of your history, your knowledge. The ground I walked on taught me something new with every step, every sound, every word I heard around you inspired me and my soul was settling. You are wild, your waves surge and collide with the rich land to create the most beautiful views. You are a contradiction because you tame me enough to allow me to be free
Now here I am, 15 000km away and as I sit here, back to my routine, I realise I am well and truly in love.
Your turbulent state breaks my heart and I want nothing more than to run over and mend it.
I heard the whisper, telling me to be myself, to be free, to enjoy my life and oh how you taught me to let go in those dim lights, laughter encircling us, smoke rings passing us by and I did not hold back that night, I became a waterfall.
Greece, I miss you and I know our story is far from over.
-Eleni Nzifas
This article was uploaded by Greek Media Group but written by others. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TA NEA NEWSPAPER AND 3XY RADIO.
