HISTORY of the Harare and District Hellenic Community

According to the tradition the first Greek who came to Rhodesia was Ioannis Konstantinou Skinas. In 1895 Ioannis travelled on foot all the way from Transvaal (South Africa), through Rhodesia to Mozambique. Around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th the British South Africa Company, which used to administer what was then called Rhodesia, brought to the country some Greeks experienced in cultivating tobacco. As the years went by more Greeks immigrated to Rhodesia. They used to arrive at Beira, Mozambique's port, and from there travel on foot through the subtropical region with its tropical sicknesses (malaria, sleeping sickness-trypanosomiosis, leishmaniasis) and the wild animals and to arrive at what is today Mutare. From Mutare they slowly spread out to the various villages, which are today big cities. There, these first Greeks thrived as farmers or small businessmen. Slowly, while these pioneer Greeks were getting on with their jobs, having families, offering higher education to their children, treating the indigenes well, the Greek element rooted itself well in the country. Greeks became respectable and people of importance and at the present time (1984) Greeks excel in every sector of the country (doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers, members of Parliament, members in the military, manufacturers, businessmen, professors at the University, teachers, technicians, farmers etc.).

The first Hellenic community in Rhodesia was the community of Salisbury which was founded in 1920 under the name “Hellenic Association of Rhodesia” and which is known today as “Harare and District Hellenic Community”.

To honour the memory of those pioneers who were members of the Community and to give a historical account, we have printed below a certified copy (FACSIMILE) of the first meeting's minutes of the community council held on the twenty-ninth of May 1921, where the names of the members appear, as well. Also, we give a certified copy of the first page of the Community's first printed constitution. Years went by and the Community, under the wise administration of each council and the total support of all its members, became bigger and in general a respectable factor in the capital's social life and in particular a key factor in fostering Greek interests.

With the gradual progress of the financial status of the Community, the latter started its national and religious projects. The building of the church in 1954, the Athenaeum Hall in 1955, the Cultural Centre in 1961, the New School in 1975 and in the end the purchase of the building for the see of the Metropolitan of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar and Angola gave to the Community the means to maintain its Hellenism, its religion and coherence. The community carried on acquiring other properties with caution, which ensured constant incomes that were necessary for the support and viability of national and religious social welfare programmes. The buildings of the Community are shown in various photographs in this leaflet and they display the degree of the Community's success. Further down, we put a picture of the plaque with the names of all the Community's presidents, as an offering in honour of their councils, which governed the Community with a firm hand, overcame many difficulties and led the Community to today's brilliant success of achieving its national and religious aims.