Even though temperatures soared above 40 degrees in Melbourne last Sunday, over 1,000 people attended the first function hosted by Hellenic-Australian Community Support Association (HACSA). The event, held in Clayton, saw newly arrived Greeks network and talk with Greek Australians about life in the Antipodes.
John Athanasopoulos, one of the 12 committee members of HACSA, says the first thing achieved at the event was to “see the newly arrived migrants face-to-face and hear their problems first hand”.
“[The newly arrived migrants] told us they have issues with obtaining work and getting a house,” he says as their primary concern.
“We also got to see how their emotional state was, as some of them are in a very good emotional state but some are still feeling disappointed, so we tried to give them strength and support them as much as we can,” Mr Athanasopoulos tells Neos Kosmos.
For a first time event, HACSA were taken aback by the show of support from all who attended, and with the Greek Community of Melbourne.
“The Greek Community of Melbourne helped us a lot, and I want to thank them,” says Mr Athanasopoulos. “They supported us in so many ways, financially too, and it confirms a new cooperation between both organisations for HACSA to reach our goals.
HACSA – made up of a dedicated committee of volunteers – is doing all it can to take the stress out of migration and help these Greeks in any way they can.
The association originally started two years ago as the Facebook group Greek Australian Support Network. As members saw the demand for assistance increase, they officially registered the association three months ago as HACSA.
And with the show of support shown by the community as a whole, HACSA is planning another event in the near future, this time in the city centre of Melbourne to ensure all newly arrived Greeks can attend.
“We will be having another meeting so we can put together a plan of action, to understand what we want to achieve and mark some goals moving forward to assist the newly arrived migrants,” he says.