What It Means To Be Greek
Being Greek in a foreign country is far from being just one thing. It means that you have learnt to adapt, to overcome, to fight and to survive no matter what the context. This ability runs deep in our veins as our parents, or grandparents, left their places of birth to seek a “better life” - to look for opportunities to better themselves and for many to send money back home to families. Life was hard for these Greek migrants who were viewed as inferior, but this pushed them harder to succeed so that their children and grandchildren would become educated and live abundant lives.
It is to these legends that we dedicate this website.
We share a little about the vibrant Hellenic community of the beautiful city of Cape Town; the history of this community and a peep into the rich culture and traditions that make up Hellenism. We wanted to go past the stereotype created by movies like My big fat Greek wedding for it is time to get beyond the baklava and cafes, to stop the loud breaking of plates and to start breaking the stereotypes.
Greek heritage and ideals go beyond the food, and the animated typecasts, there is so much more. Here we will share what truly makes us Hellenes, and what the Cape Town Hellenic and Spartan Community stand for: our mission, the importance of faith and family that we all grew up to adopt and celebrate, but also our ideals like philotimo, Meraki, kefi, philanthropy, passion in all that we do, the pursuit of excellence and innovation - all core components of the Greek existence.
Many of us were raised by grandmothers straight from the Motherland who didn’t speak English, hence Greek was our first language, and particularly, if you were the first born, arriving on the first day of school with no English language skills, a halloumi sandwich or a piece of pasticcio in our lunch boxes, trying to navigate a foreign world. We were not allowed sleepovers, but our homes were always the homes our xeni friends congregated at, where hospitality and food were always served in abundance.
As first and second-generation Hellenes, we grew up torn between two countries, with a sense of belonging to both, while often not really belonging in either. One leg taking root in South Africa while the other stretched to our native roots tantalising our dreams and the sense of destiny. Annual summer holidays in Greece ensured that many Greek South Africans had explored some of the homeland, but little outside of mainland and the islands.
The problem (a good problem to have) is that Greece is not just a country. It is a feeling, an emotion, a place where the sun shines, but a nation where politics is always heated. It is a land where the economy is under pressure, yet managing, a place where you look up at the white and blue flag and dream. All of this seems idealistic, of course, which keeps Greeks eternally dreaming of making the move back “home”, but then being reminded of the breathtaking country and city we live in. No place is perfect, and there is no nation that doesn’t have its problems, so we settle for the simple truth. Our hearts are big enough to love both homelands and we focus on our blessings so that we get to live the best of both.
Σπίτι μου σπιτάκι μου και σπιτοκαλυβάκι μου.
"Home, sweet home."
The Story Of Greeks In South Africa
Credit and Source: Philip Chrysopoulos, GreekReporter.com
According to Antonis Chaldeos, who holds a PhD in History from the University of Johannesburg, the first Greek migrants were sea-men who arrived to the port of Cape Town around 1860, while thirty years later migrations increased, with most coming from Ithaca and Cephalonia and, to a lesser extent, from Aegean islands, such as Lemnos, Lesvos, and Samos. At the end of the 19th century, the Greek community numbered 200 to 300 people. Those living in the Cape Town area were traders while those living in the north, the then independent Transvaal Republic, were miners. Sadly, miners had a very tough life, with many dying of lung diseases.
According to Chaldeos, in 1899, the second war between the Boers (Europeans of Dutch and French descent) and the British broke out, with Greeks actually fighting on both sides: There was a Greek legion of thirty to forty people which fought on the side of the British, with the majority of Greeks, siding with the Boers, who fought to defend their territory from British colonists.
The first organized community of Greeks was called the Greek Community of Cape Town, which pre-existed as a Mutual Aid Association (1898) and was established as a community in 1902.
Similar groups followed in the communities of Pretoria, Johannesburg (1908), and Durban (1918). Gradually, and until the 1950s and 1960s, more and more Greek communities were established in more than twenty cities, with the Greek presence constantly growing.
But according to Chaldeos, Greeks sadly faced racism on an unprecedented scale in the period between 1915 to 1917 during which time violent broke out against Greek shops and businesses during this period.
“The riots were instigated by both the British and the Boers,” he explains. “This was because Greece remained neutral during the beginning of the First World War. They considered anyone who was not allied to their war effort to be their enemy.”
The violence was engineered “despite the fact that many Greek immigrants voluntarily left South Africa to join the forces of the Allied Powers,” Chaldeos notes.
Greeks—together with the Italians and the Spanish—were considered second class citizens for decades. Until the 1930s, Greeks were mostly in the business of owning and operating tea rooms, i.e. places that served coffee, tea, and food. In the beginning, they had canteens that were opened in the cities and mainly in Johannesburg, the city with the largest population. Later, they established tea rooms that grew over the years.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the small tea rooms and shops owned by Greeks developed into supermarkets with branches all across the country. Greeks were also pioneers in the production and standardization of tobacco products in South Africa, but they also established beverage and water bottling factories, ore processing factories, and shipping companies among other types of major businesses.
Greeks are known throughout history for their resilience - they integrated, sought out to become educated as a priority – fathers not wanting their children to face the hard lives they had left behind or had to face in South Africa.
To counter discrimination, they tried to integrate into the local culture; political and social life and became successful. “But, they paid a price in their efforts to be assimilated. Among the younger generations, many do not speak Greek,” he explains.
To try counter this, Greek schools were established all around the county as part of the communities with teachers coming from abroad and elders taking on teaching roles, to try keep the language alive.
The greatest migration flow took place after 1950 and mainly after 1960. After the end of World War II in Greece, several thousand Greeks came to South Africa, which at that time, was looking for Europeans. Greeks from African countries which were gaining their independence, such as Egypt, Sudan, and the Congo, migrated to South Africa.
Around 1970, the Greek community numbered 120,000 people, but it began declining after 1976 when native Africans attempted to regain political control over the country.
The Soweto Riots in 1976 alarmed many Greeks, who slowly began to leave the country, with the greatest wave of exodus beginning in 1990, when the country passed from the regime of apartheid and white domination to a democratic country. The rise of crime and economic hardship that followed forced almost half of the remaining Greek population to leave the country. From 70,000 in 1990, today the Greeks of South Africa are less than 35 000.
As a whole, Greek people tried to stay away from politics; however, one Greek man in particular became world-famous on the side of Nelson Mandela: George Bizos, who was Mandela’s lawyer and one of the three writers of South Africa’s Constitution. His name is linked to the struggle against racism, xenophobia, and apartheid and the values of solidarity, human rights, and democracy.
Despite being persecuted and discriminated against for decades, Greeks in South Africa managed to rise socially and prosper, with several of them becoming quite successful and wealthy. Today, they remain one of the most important beacons of Hellenism among the diaspora.
"Had Greek civilization never existed.... we would never have become fully conscious."
- W. H. Auden
The Hellenic Community Of Cape Town
Founded in 1900, the Hellenic Community of Cape Town is one of the oldest in South Africa. Its primary goals – which were enshrined in the constitution at the turn of the 20th century – were the construction of a Greek Orthodox church; tending to the social and moral well-being of the community; and providing relief for members in need.
Our Mission
Our Mission is to preserve and enhance a vibrant community that embraces and nurtures the religious, cultural and educational needs of all Greek South Africans of greater Cape Town.
"What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."
- Pericles
Our History
Early 1900s
It was at around the time of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) that the first wave of Greek immigrants arrived in Cape Town. These early settlers hailed primarily from Ithaca, Cephalonia, Piraeus, Thrace and Lesvos. Unemployment and poverty were rife in the aftermath of the war, and many Greeks moved from Cape Town to then Transvaal to find work. As a consequence, the number of Greeks in Cape Town fluctuated in the first decade of the twentieth century.
At the first official Executive Committee meeting in 1901, the construction of a church was deemed the highest priority. In 1903, a plot in Woodstock was purchased for this purpose, and a building contractor was appointed to build the church. The church and the adjoining priest’s house were completed in April 1904. In 1920, the community purchased a plot adjacent to the church upon which a small hall and a new priest’s house were built in 1932.
1950s-1970s
Between 1950 and 1970, over 15.000 Greek immigrants arrived in South Africa. The country’s relatively developed economy offered tremendous opportunity for these hard-working newcomers. Many of the immigrants came to Cape Town, where they boosted not only the membership of the community, but also the financial resources available to it.
The dramatic increase in population meant that the hall adjacent to the church could no longer meet the needs of Cape Town’s Hellenes. The community raised funds to renovate and enlarge the hall, and the project was completed in 1952. The Hellenic Community Hall was used variously as a school, for Sunday catechism classes, meetings, dances, plays and other social events.
By the 1970s, there were over 120.000 Greeks living in South Africa. Hellenic communities throughout the country built new churches and schools, and younger generations of South African-born Hellenes made significant inroads into many sectors of the country’s economy. By 1980, the membership of the community consisted of approximately 600 families.
1980s - 2000s
In 1979, the decision was taken to build the Hellenic Club on a plot located in Bay Road, Mouille Point. Construction began after a concerted fundraising effort, and a lavish inauguration marked the completion of the project in 1983.
Through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, the Hellenic Community of Cape Town went from strength to strength. Today, it continues to provide a strong foundation for Hellenism and a platform for all Hellenes to preserve and celebrate their heritage, culture and religion.
Early 1900s
It was at around the time of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) that the first wave of Greek immigrants arrived in Cape Town. These early settlers hailed primarily from Ithaca, Cephalonia, Piraeus, Thrace and Lesvos. Unemployment and poverty were rife in the aftermath of the war, and many Greeks moved from Cape Town to then Transvaal to find work. As a consequence, the number of Greeks in Cape Town fluctuated in the first decade of the twentieth century.
At the first official Executive Committee meeting in 1901, the construction of a church was deemed the highest priority. In 1903, a plot in Woodstock was purchased for this purpose, and a building contractor was appointed to build the church. The church and the adjoining priest’s house were completed in April 1904. In 1920, the community purchased a plot adjacent to the church upon which a small hall and a new priest’s house were built in 1932.
1950s-1970s
Between 1950 and 1970, over 15.000 Greek immigrants arrived in South Africa. The country’s relatively developed economy offered tremendous opportunity for these hard-working newcomers. Many of the immigrants came to Cape Town, where they boosted not only the membership of the community, but also the financial resources available to it.
The dramatic increase in population meant that the hall adjacent to the church could no longer meet the needs of Cape Town’s Hellenes. The community raised funds to renovate and enlarge the hall, and the project was completed in 1952. The Hellenic Community Hall was used variously as a school, for Sunday catechism classes, meetings, dances, plays and other social events.
By the 1970s, there were over 120.000 Greeks living in South Africa. Hellenic communities throughout the country built new churches and schools, and younger generations of South African-born Hellenes made significant inroads into many sectors of the country’s economy. By 1980, the membership of the community consisted of approximately 600 families.
1980s - 2000s
In 1979, the decision was taken to build the Hellenic Club on a plot located in Bay Road, Mouille Point. Construction began after a concerted fundraising effort, and a lavish inauguration marked the completion of the project in 1983.
Through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, the Hellenic Community of Cape Town went from strength to strength. Today, it continues to provide a strong foundation for Hellenism and a platform for all Hellenes to preserve and celebrate their heritage, culture and religion.