SANTA BARBARA, CA – The celebration to commemorate the 1821 revolution against the Ottoman Empire took place on March 25 at the Saint Barbara Event Center located on the grounds of the picturesque Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church. The event was to benefit the Santa Barbara Sister Cities Group and the AHEPA Scholarship Foundation.
The idea for the formation of the Patras-Santa Barbara Sister Cities Association started during a friendly conversation in 2009. Theony Condos, who had attended the University of Patras and Georgia Gastouniotis, who was born in Patras began discussing the possibility of introducing Patras as a sister city, even though they knew very little about the process.
They attended a Sister City board meeting and decided to present Patras as a sister city candidate. Because Patras shares geographical and cultural characteristics with Santa Barbara, as they are both great university cities and similarly small but diverse populations, the Sister Cities Board accepted Patras, and Mayor Helene Schneider acknowledged the group in 2010. Today Patras is one of Santa Barbara’s seven sister cities.
Mayor Schneider told TNH that the ”Sister City Program is part of the People-to-People program initiated by President Eisenhower in 1956 and aimed to promote friendship among people regardless of race, color, or creed. The initiative is completed through activities of private citizens, organizations and the various cities.” She said she is a strong supporter of the program because it ”reminds us that we have a lot more similarities than we have differences. Cultural exchanges reinforce our humanity.” General Council of Greece Gregory Karahalios said that ”as we are here celebrating the historic revolution that led to Greek Independence, Hellenism is facing some serious challenges.” At these difficult times the Greek people have demonstrated some of their ancestors’ values, ”strength of the spirit and solidarity to those in need. Looking at our glorious past we get the right inspiration to overcome challenges that sometimes seem impossible.” With several European countries closing their borders to refugees and augmenting the crisis in Greece, Karahalios said that ”human suffering does not have a country or color.”
As Greece is in the midst of endless financial negotiations with its partners, Karahalios said that ”we hope that our European allies will start acting again as friends and allies and to understand that what is good for Greece is also good for them.” Dr. James F. Dimitriou, a noted educator and scholar on Greek-American studies, addressed the future of the community, as it is becoming largely homogenized into the American mainstream. ”Today, Hellenes are challenged to see if they are worthy of their ancestors just like Pericles during the Golden Age.” Dr. Dimitriou raised the question of ”what will be the fate of our fifth generation of Greek-Americans as we are now approaching this critical juncture in our history? Will our organizations continue to be relevant and meaningful? These challenges need to be met as the Greek-American community has achieved a high level of education, high economic mobility and are highly suburbanized. Our ethnic communities have dissipated for the most part.”
Regarding the Sister Cities Group’s future plans, Gastouniotis told TNH that “we are coordinating a Skype program with two high schools in Santa Barbara and the Experimental High School in Patras. We are working with the two cities’ Chambers of Commerce for a business conference and we are raising funds for an exchange student program with UCSB and the University of Patras.”
Most importantly, she said ”the Greek flag is up at the Santa Barbara Airport along with the six other Sister Cities groups’ flags.”