Construction of the first Greek Orthodox Church to be built in the United Arab Emirates is most likely to begin by years end, made possible by the donation of 1,800 square meters of land by the General Shaikh Mohammad Bin rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's Crowne Prince.
Until now members of the Greek Orthodox Community in the UAE have had to use other churches for their services. There is a church in Iraq, and a villa used in Kuwait by the Greeks, but in the UAE, the community has to share the Holy Trinity Church in Dubai, which is often over crowded.
This church will be the first Greek Orthodox Church built in the Gulf with "proper manner" accodering to John Theodory, an Arab Canadian who is the chairman of the church committee. The church will take about 1 - 1.5 years to construct and will not only serve the Greek communities in the UAE, but also worshipers from Russia, Cyprus, Ukraine, Syria and Greece.
Greek Orthodox services currently draw about 400 people in Dubai, and 200 peoplein Sharjah weekly, but during holidays can draw up to 2,000 people.
posted on Sunday, July 31
The DailyFrappe road crew will be hitting up Boston the next few days and will be coming live to you from the AHEPA National Convention, where over 6,000 Greeks from all over North America will be meeting to discuss issues concerninig Hellenism.
Stay tuned as we interivew people from all over the continent.
Gia sou Boston!
posted on Sunday, July 31
At the urging of school superintendent Clayton Wilcox, the Pinellas County School Board has decided to give the Athenian Academy charter school in Dunedin one more brief chance to fix its problems.
The board voted 6-1 to grant a one-year provisional charter to Athenian Academy. That decision, which reverses a unanimous March vote against giving the school a new charter, places a heavy burden on Wilcox and his staff to monitor the school's performance.
Wilcox asked for it. Shortly after the School Board voted against renewing the charter, Wilcox asked board members to allow him to meet with the school's directors and parents to see if he could work out something to keep the school open. Parents and teachers had begged the district not to shut down the school, which provides some instruction in Greek.
Wilcox came back to the School Board this month with the recommendation for a one-year charter, which will allow Athenian Academy to open its doors for the 2005-2006 school year only.
DF: At a cost of over 4,000 dollars per student a year, this charter school in Florida is a icon in the community for trying to spread our Hellenic language to non-Hellenes. We hope that the school can fix its act in the next year.
posted on Sunday, July 31
