Dimitri Argyros, a 54-year-old accountant from Sydney, is a strong believer that everything has to be done in an appropriate time in life. If you find an appropriate girl, you have to propose to her – otherwise someone else will get her if you wait too long, he says with a laugh.
As simple as that was Dimitri’s decision to embark on a 12 month volunteering program in South Africa, that he had been dreaming of since a teenager.
“I always wanted to do it, but then you are caught up with life – studies, family, career.”
It was three years ago that the idea came back to him. He was at the crossroads, caught between opening another accounting practice and trying something new and different.
“That’s when I told myself – if you don’t do it now, who will take a 60-year-old bloke with arthritis and a history of heart attack? I was still young enough inside and in health to do it. I felt that my kids now didn’t need me – it was a wind of opportunity which may not have been there in a few years,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
It was Dimitri’s supportive wife who found the job – the only one Dimitri applied for and was accepted for after extensive interviews and training.
In September 2012, along with three other Australian volunteers, Dimitri was posted to South Africa on a 12-month volunteer assignment as part of an Australian government initiative – Australian Volunteers for International Development program, through AusAID and Australian Red Cross. Instead of sending money and funding activities overseas, the program has been praised for sending people with particular expertise and skills to vulnerable areas of Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
In South Africa, there are over 1.9 million orphaned and vulnerable children, who lost one or both of their parents, often to the AIDS pandemic. An organisation called Noah is now trying to empower local communities to care for their children often left with no support, through so called Community Based Organisations (CBOs).
With extensive accounting and financial management experience, Dimitri was given the role of the financial sustainability officer. In 12 months, he made a real impact at the Noah CBOs, providing training and identifying small business opportunities.
“My position was to train the black communities that are looking after orphaned and vulnerable children, to train them in bookkeeping, in recording of financial information. But it ended up in me creating small businesses, so these people could start on their own feet, create employment and income for themselves, that could pay for care and education of children who had been orphaned by the AIDS pandemic,” Dimitri says.
And in his role, the Sydney based father and grandfather went overboard to ensure the sustainability of these CBOs long after his one year assignment in South Africa is over – from implementing hydroponic vegetable gardens to production of biltong – a local dried meat delicacy, from puppet shows to bakery shops and second-hand clothing.
Greek, Egyptian, Australian
One year in South Africa was no cultural shock for the Cairo born Greek Australian.
“The reason is I’m Greek Australian, so I’m a wog. As an accountant, I deal with many other ethnicities. And you have to be sensible with all of them. Plus, I am a Greek Egyptian from Cairo who came to Australia 24 years ago, at the age of 30. My mother tongue is Greek, so in Egypt I already had a cultural experience – I was in the middle of another country, culture and different setup.”
The only difference in South Africa was the language. He joined a Zulu language course, and managed to learn just enough to break the ice when meeting new people.
Based in Durban, the main port of South Africa, for a year Dimitri travelled roughly 150 km a day, to reach the seven communities he looked after in rural areas.
“You can’t really get the connection with someone without being face to face, seeing the body language, understanding their concerns, if they say what they want to say or they are holding something back. The training was in bookkeeping and accounting and then we started developing business plans for small businesses. The main thing we developed was a biltong project.”
The South African dry meat delicacy with spices was a source of profit for the small communities in Dimitri’s eyes. After researching the profit side of it, he ended up with a biltong-making machine and devoted evening after evening to brushing up on his newly developed skill – how to do biltong himself.
“I probably did around 100-150 kg of it. I was doing it every night, I would mess it up, until the recipe succeeded. I took my biltong to the head office, and left it for colleagues to try without telling them I made it. When they came for a second run, I knew it was good enough. And if a Greek Australian could make a decent biltong after six weeks in South Africa, then it’s very simple,” Dimitri says with a laugh.
Soon after, a biltong business was set up and the Sydney accountant and volunteer ended up training South Africans on how to dry and spice the meat, how to cut and pack it. The biltong was later sold to taverns.
“It was a lot of profit. We used to sell it for 160 rand a kilo, instead of 220 – the price in the shops, but it cost us 100 rand to make it. For us, it was more about teaching the community how to make money, teaching them what one needs to make an income,” Dimitri tells.
As an accountant, a person has the advantage of meeting a lot of people with many ideas and small businesses, Dimitri admits. That’s how he came up with his other small business idea, to implement the bio-intensive gardens, to feed the communities’ children.
“These children don’t have anything to eat unless we feed them. They are orphans, with all their elderly having passed away due to AIDS, or tuberculosis. It’s the only substantial meal they have in the day.”
South African Greeks with a big heart
In the South African port of Durban, that is home to many of the 30,000 South African Greeks, it didn’t take long for Dimitri to make a connection. As a matter of fact, it only took one Sunday church service.
“I didn’t even need to introduce myself. The connection with the Greek community helped me so much – I took the opportunity to tell them about volunteering and Red Cross Australia and Noah. They absolutely embraced me, they loved the program.”
It was the connection with the Greek community that, till the end of his stay, would help Dimitri in his business plans. Greek ladies gave him second-hand clothes; local Greek carpenters and plumbers assisted the communities that Dimitri worked with in maintenance issues for free; Kyrios Manolis, the wholesaler of biscuits, would sell them broken biscuits half price…
“That meant profit for our CBOs. We would repackage the biscuits, sell them outside of the canteens, and make profit of almost 100 per cent.
“It’s a great community … it triggered a lot of my conversation with myself, that ended up in a booklet of Internal Dialogues, with 40-50 short stories,” Dimitri says of his experience with Durban’s Greek community. His stories were also published in a monthly magazine of the South African Greek community.
The spice of life
Embarking on the volunteering program for Dimitri Argyros was a different type of adventure than it would be for some 25-year-old. He didn’t go for a holiday to South Africa. His only aim was to be useful and to pass on as much of his knowledge to as many locals as possible.
“The reward for me personally was not them saying ‘thank you Dimitri’ – it was the unspoken word, the touch at the back, the body language, the joy when they show you that today’s muffins are better than yesterday’s.
“You embrace the role that you never thought you would have. You represent a lot more things than you think – you represent Australia, the Greek Australians, a male, a husband, Red Cross volunteer, a charity employee – everything you do is a big representation.
“You go over there and you think you are going to help someone, help the world – and that’s great, as you do help, they all get the benefit from all the good you have done. But in the end, the major benefactor is yourself. Building these people’s self-esteem and self-confidence is priceless. As well as the rewards you get, the life memories you bring back,” Dimitri says with passion.
And talking about the roles Dimitri never thought he would have – one of them is a puppeteer. Never before had he envisaged himself in front of the mirror, practising with two puppets, for two hours every day. Once he got comfortable with Sesame Street puppets, through performances he entertained children and raised child protection issues. It was his way to engage with the youngest members of the community; their only way of communication. During the South African child protection and prevention of abuse week, he performed seven performances to over 1,000 children, raising current child protection and abuse issues.
Dimitri remembers this as one of his most rewarding experiences.
Now back in Sydney with his family, Dimitri says he is not done with volunteering yet. He has always been active with St Raphael Greek Community in Liverpool, anyway. At the moment he is in the camping stage, he says with a laugh, before he goes for the next climb.
“I didn’t want to look back to my life when I’m 70 and realise I’ve done nothing for the last 20 years because I got too comfortable. I wanted to try something different, out of my comfort zone, that speaks to the heart a bit more.
“It spices the life,” Dimitri explains simply.
Being part of the great Australian story
With the Red Cross of Australia celebrating 100 years of helping people, Dimitri was one among one million Australians, who during last year committed their time and support to Red Cross and vulnerable people.
In a crisis big or small, a simple act of humanity changes lives. To find out how you can help Red Cross change lives for the next 100 years, visit www.redcross.org.au
Skilled Australians who are interested in volunteering can visit www.australianaidvolunteers.gov.au for more information, or call Red Cross on (03) 9345 1834