Hearts of Gold Cyprus 2016 winners
By Bejay Browne
 
A selfless life-giving act and a courageous young boy were awarded this year’s ‘Hearts of Gold Cyprus’ held in Paphos in December.
 
The Jasmitha Award for Courage and the Heart of Gold Lifetime Achievement Award, were also announced by Patron Marios Joannou Elia, at a packed ceremony held at Palia Ilektriki cultural centre in Paphos.
 
More than 30 adults and organisations and 15 children were nominated for this year’s awards.
 
Anastasia Chapidou Chrysomilou and William Cairns were announced as this year’s adult and junior winners, respectively.
 
Anastasia donated her kidney to her brother in law, a year and a half ago.
 
Chapidou Chrysomilou said that she was overwhelmed with the award and felt humble in a room full of so many others. “These people are all wonderful, it’s so inspiring,” she said.
 
Eleven year old William Cairns was awarded the ‘2016 Junior Heart of Gold’ for his courage and maturity, and for supporting his family whist his father undergoes cancer treatment.
 
“Polite, mature, talented, studious and full of love, this young man has also taken on the mantle of the man of the house, supporting his family with a smile. He is an inspiration,” said patron Joannou Elia.
 
Sham Al Habrat, 10, a gentle, kind and caring young girl was presented with the ‘Jasmitha award for courage’, named after a previous winner who died last year, aged just 15 years. The award was presented by her mother, Satiya.
 
Ninety four year old philanthropist, Kyriakou Stylianou, was overcome with emotion when she was awarded the lifetime achievement award for dedicating her life to charity and helping others.
 
Joannou Elia spoke about the importance of humanity and kindness, and that without it society and community doesn’t exist. He also announced that the awards will go island wide for 2017.
 
“The Hearts of Gold Cyprus will celebrate ten years in 2017, and we will open up the nominations to the other towns. We are very excited about this,” he said.
 
Nominees, their families and friends and members of the judging panel were all present at the ceremony.
 
George Michaelides, who represented Cyprus at Junior Eurovision in Malta and his dancers performed his Cyprus entry and the Zingers, an amateur singing group who were also nominated for raising over 70,000 euros for local charities, greeted guests with songs.
 
All of the nominees received a certificate and a flower presented by British Vice Consul Christina Smith and members of the judging panel, Judith Evans Davies and Linda Leblanc.
 
The Hearts of Gold recognise children and adults who have shown tremendous courage, strength and determination, worked tirelessly in the community or for charities, overcome tragedies with a smile or simply been a great help and support to neighbours and friends.
 
The annual award is supported by Paphos municipality, the British High Commission, Aphrodite Jewellers, Almyra Hotel, Massiva printers, Kivotos Gallery, the Cyprus Mail, The Paphos Post, Radio Pafos, Flybynite Media, Almyra Hotel, TOTT Events and Joulietta chocolatier and patisserie, and Palia Ilektriki Restaurant. Chris Hopkins was this year’s photographer and Nicky Kirby the videographer.
 
www.heartsofgoldcyprus.com and the dedicated Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/heartsofgoldcyprus/
 
 
Peyia to get ambulance station after more than a decade
By Bejay Browne
           
After more than a decade of waiting, Peyia municipality will finally get an ambulance to serve the community by January19th, 2017.
 
Local authorities said that the move is important for the community, which until now have had to rely on emergency services from Paphos General Hospital- more than 20 minutes away. The new service will mean that lives will be saved.
 
Last year, following the government’s approval to create four new staffed stations in Cyprus, including one in Peyia, the head of the health ministry’s ambulance service, Riana Constantinou, said that their goal is to reduce response time to less than ten minutes in urban areas and under 20 in rural areas.
 
Of the four new stations at Klirou near Nicosia, the old Limassol hospital, and Oroklini in Larnaca, Peyia is the only one to yet go ahead. They are staffed by 24 specially recruited emergency response staff.
 
Constantinou said that a number of nurses have been trained to cope with emergencies and the drivers have been specially trained in emergency response a few years ago.
 
The new ambulance will be stationed at Peyia fire station, which has been upgraded to accommodate the highly anticipated new arrival.
 
According to Peyia councillor, Linda Leblanc, who has been campaigning for an ambulance service and state medical centre in the municipality for more than a decade, portable cabins for staff, as well as a new wall and paving were added in anticipation, a year ago.
 
Although she said the move is a positive one, she said that much more still needs to be done for the local community.
 
“It’s a step in the right direction, but originally, we also wanted a small clinic which would have a doctor a couple of days a week,” she said.
 
Green MP, George Perdikis raised the question of a proposed ambulance base, along with that of state clinic a number of times in parliament.
 
Leblanc said a state clinic to serve the area is a necessity.
 
“We have around 6,000 residents in Peyia during the winter period, which mushrooms to around 25,000 to 30,000 visitors and residents during the summer, there is a great need for this facility.”
 
She also said that the new ambulance staff are not trained up to British and EU paramedic standards, although they have undertaken some government funded training.
It takes at least three years to train as a paramedic in the UK and here they are completing around nine to twelve months of training, she said.
 
The new, fully equipped ambulance will operate 24 hours a day, and as well as Peyia municipality will also serve the communities of Kathikas, Inia, Kissonerga, and other surrounding areas.
 
 
Paphos wins Best Creative Destination Award
By Bejay Browne
 
Paphos has won another European award, this time scoping the title of ‘Best Creative Tourism Destination 2016.
 
The international network of Creative Tourism is based in Barcelona, ​​and recently announced the 2016 awards at a tourism exhibition in London. They declared Paphos as Best Creative Tourism Destination.
 
Nasos Hadjigeorgiou, head of the Paphos regional board of tourism said: “Creative Tourism is considered a new generation of tourism by involving the tourists themselves, and the locals in the creation of the tourist products (co-creation).”
 
The Creative Tourism concept appeared in the 2000′s, he added.
 
Hadjigeorgiou said that the idea is for visitors to interact, and create their own experience, such as going into a village and seeing how weaving is done, before trying their hand at it.
 
“They can also visit a potter and create their own souvenirs, there are so many things like this to do,” he said.
 
This creative tourism network said that the new way of discovering foreign culture is by experiencing it, and that it has been growing increasingly for the last decade.
 
“Nowadays, tourists no longer conform themselves in attending a traditional sightseeing tours, they need to feel involved into the destination’s daily life. They don’t want to be considered as “tourists”.
 
This distinction came after evaluating a proposal Paphos prepared and which was filed by the local tourism board. It went up against over 100 renowned destinations.
 
Paphos came out on top as best destination for 2016, offering guests the opportunity for creative experiences with their active participation in experiences associated with the local community, tradition, and culture, said Hadjigeorgiou.
 
“People are no longer satisfied by just going on excursions, they want something more than visiting archaeological sites and places of interest, and they want to get involved. They are happy to participate in the experience, rather than just to observe it,” he said.
 
The tourism head said that the award is important as a foundation to build on, and efforts must be made to ensure that Paphos continues to be a top creative tourist destination.
 
“We have to continue to enrich and encourage services offered towards this end. It differentiates us a destination from so many others,” he added.
     
 
 
Kimonos art centre in Paphos inspires creativity
By Bejay Browne
 
Four hugely talented Cypriot artists are encouraging creativity and inspiring artists of all ages to embrace their talents and are offering a unique space in the heart of Paphos to do so.
 
Kimonos Art Centre is found in an old house in Paphos town, and was established just over a year ago.
 
Originally belonging to the grandfather of one of the founders, Charalambos Margaritis, the house was renovated and offers a calm and relaxing space for people to gather and participate in workshops, art classes and residencies.
 
The centre’s founders are all exceptional talents and are all involved with the European capital of culture 2017.
 
Sylvia Nicolaides, Yiannis Sakellis, Margaritis and Nicolas Iordanou have accomplished much in a short time. As well as launching three different Paphos festivals, including the Paphos International Film Festival (PIFF), they are also active in projects for ‘Pafos2017’- the towns winning bid for the capital of culture, an honour it shares with Arhaus in Denmark in 2017.
 
The artists have just arrived back in the town after visiting Denmark to meet with various artists including the European film school. They will be responsible for the school’s annual ‘Art Week’ in February 2017- which will see students come together to work on projects which will then be showcased.
 
The four artists said that they wanted to create a space ‘where things happen in a town where nothing much is happening’. The centre is a meeting place for people to be inspired and experiment and collaborations are encouraged: “That’s why we exist,” said Nicolaides.
 
Although Nicolaides and Iordanou are both artists in their own right, (a videographer and photographer), they chose to always work as a team on films they produce.
 
“We have designed the crew to be easy to move and travel the world and work well together,” said Iordanou.
 
As well as ‘cementography’ workshops (a unique form of negative relief made in a mould involving cement), painting, mixed media, film and other disciplines are offered for adults in Greek or English and art and animation classes are available for children.
 
“We want to share our knowledge and experiences with others, and we can learn from them as well,” said Yianis Sakellis, who trained in Italy and is a painter, he also works with installations.
 
Sakellis is also an event coordinator in ‘Pafos2017’, and said that the centre is a platform for arts, as well as a meeting place and a starting point for support and information for other artists.
 
He said that historically Cypriot culture is rich but that nothing new has evolved for thousands of years. He noted that art in Cyprus always refers back to the past, to antiquities, to Aphrodite and the mosaics and the art world is in crisis.
 
Margaritis said that the art centre also supplies the tools for people to use and has a printing room, with a traditional style press, the only one in Paphos, which is available for public use.
 
Iordanou said: “Kimonos is always evolving, which is what makes it so interesting.”
 
www.kimonosartcenter.com
 
 
Food donations still needed for cancer patients and their families
By Bejay Browne
 
Members of the public rallied round to help four Paphos families that were in urgent need of help at Christmas, according to a local charity. They also said that donations are still being accepted for the families in January.
The association of cancer patients and friends, Pasykaf, appealed for donations of food and gifts for four struggling families with sixteen dependent children and young adults between them.
 
Pasykaf social worker, Skevi Kleanthous said that donations were greatly appreciated and helped to make a terribly difficult period much better for the families involved. All are coping with at least one member who is suffering with cancer, or has just died of cancer, she said.
 
“One of the families has four young children and the mother has recently died of cancer at the age of 32. They are foreigners and have no family help.”
 
Dried foods, food vouchers and other donations were made by the public and help is still needed for the families in 2017, she said.
 
Non-perishable goods such as rice, pasta, lentils, beans, rice and canned goods can be taken to the Pasykaf office in Paphos during January, but no fresh food can be taken to the office, she said.
 
Pasykaf was founded 30 years ago and provides help and support for cancer patients and their families. Pasykaf has a team of health doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and volunteers.
 
In Paphos the association works alongside the Paphos cancer patient support group, to provide services which include: a centre, home care nursing and palliative care, psychosocial support, a free bus service to the oncological clinics, a telephone helpline and a befriending service.
 
Pasykaf Day Centre, 84 Ellados Avenue,Paphos.  
Tel: 26 952478