“Grandparents are often depicted as being weak, fragile, forgetful and unworthy of our time and attention. I wanted to create a page to show the opposite: how strong, intelligent, fun and loveable they are.”
This was the goal of Danielle Voyias when she started the ‘Happy Gramps’ social media page in June 2022, the name itself deriving from a photo of her παππού, Pantelis, in Cyprus with his brother where they both looked so happy (a cartoon version of the photo serves as the page’s logo).
The page has become increasingly popular on Facebook, Instagram and particularly TikTok, through short video posts depicting the lives of grandparents, ranging from wholesome, heart-warming moments to funny antics and comments.
The 32-year-old from Sydney has established contact with the majority of people featured on the page through her connections with the Cypriot community as well as through her work as a physiotherapist with Alpha Allied Health, where she is also a director.
“Most of the grandparents are either clients from Alpha Allied Health who I provide regular physiotherapy services to, family members or other members of the community who we’ve met along this journey,” Ms Voyias told Neos Kosmos.
The page has garnered much attention from Cypriots worldwide, and Voyias believes it has to do with the grandparents speaking in a Cypriot dialect.
“Many people don’t have people in their lives currently that speak it, living abroad and not having their grandparents around to speak with. They also reminisce about their own grandparents and the similar things they used to do or say as those in the videos,” she said.
“I think it has brought people closer to their Cypriot roots and created a lot of nostalgia in the community. Many people comment their own similar stories and experiences with their grandparents, many who they miss dearly.”
Voyias talked about when a γιαγιά, Tasoula,was given a photo of her father and two soldiers.”In the video, we hear that her father helped the two soldiers escape from the town they were trapped in Cyprus during the invasion…Tasoula later asks if anyone knows of the soldiers and how she can get in contact with them.”
“Recently, we have heard from family members of the soldiers who saw the video, and who are in the process of organising a virtual meeting or telephone call with Tasoula.”
The page has turned people into personalities as evidenced by the support garnered by one of the παππούδες, Sotirios, when his favourite chair that he used to sit on and watch traffic, was stolen.
“We posted a video simply to show our audience what had happened recently in his life and how he reacted to it. We were overwhelmed with messages from the community requesting to send us donations to purchase a new chair for him,” Voyias said.
“Everyone wanted to help him and it was so nice to see that he touched the lives of so many people, strangers that really wanted to help him. Fortunately, we were able to locate his chair from a local Facebook group.”
Ms Voyias posted a video of the 94-year-old’s reaction when he heard how many people wanted to help.
“He was so happy, he was laughing and couldn’t believe it. I will never forget that moment. Sadly, Sotirios passed away shortly after this.”
Other highlights for Voyias include a video of 95-year-old Kiriakos from Cyprus cutting flowers from his garden to make a bouquet for his wife, Chrisoula, on Valentine’s Day.
The page itself does not cover just elderly from the Cypriot community, there is a video of a 99-year-old grandmother form Uruguay named Gloria, where she was surprised on her birthday with a lunch at her favourite local café.
“They gave her a complementary cupcake with candles and sang her happy birthday. It was such a special moment. She was like royalty at this café, everyone knew and loved her and her big personality,” she told Neos Kosmos.
Voyias admitted that her favourite videos are of her own 87-year-old grandmother, Panayiota, who lives in Cyprus, cutting lilies from her garden to take to the Επιτάφιο before Good Friday.
“She is almost always outside, either in the garden, climbing ladders, collecting vine leaves or baking delicious food in her outdoor φούρνο. She doesn’t stop!” Ms Voyias said.
“Having her so far away from us in Australia is very hard but being able to create videos of her brings her that much closer to us here.”
Ms Voyias remarked that it can be challenging to explain social media to the older generations, but they are quite receptive to the experience once they do understand.
“For me it is very enjoyable, one of the highlights of my day.
It is always great to hear their stories and be able to put together videos for the world to see and share in the moments I experience with them,’ she said.
Ms Voyias encouraged anyone interested in sharing their stories to reach out to @happy.gramps on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook.
She also mentioned that anyone interested in receiving mobile health services to seniors in their homes across Sydney and Melbourne could reach out to Alpha Allied Health, either through their website at http://alphaalliedhealth.com.au or @alphaalliedhealth on Facebook and Instagram.
