Музыкальный спектакль для детей "Про Данилу и Ненилу"

Московский музыкальный театр для детей и юношества «На Басманной» в рамках гастрольного турне по Кипру представит музыкальный спектакль для детей «Про Данилу и Ненилу».

Юных зрителей ждут захватывающие приключения и самые удивительные превращения, которые когда-либо случались с теми, кто любил… 
Спектакль расскажет ребятам о том, что истинная красота человека в его добром сердце и благородстве души.

Место и время проведения:
1 октября – Ларнака – театра Скала (17.00)
3 октября – Пафос – театр Маркидео (18.30)
4 октября – Лимассол – театр Агиос Афанасиос (18.00)

Продолжительность: 55 минут без антракта.

Возраст: 4+

Стоимость билетов: €12

Дополнительная информация по телефону: 96 30 2770
и на сайте: www.magictheatre.ru

Two sides to every coin - Paula Manoli-Gray

Saturday's screening on a documentary on natural birth versus c-section is a step in the right direction for an island that tops the lists for the highest number of c-section births, and I am strong advocate of natural birth. But despite my deepest wishes to give birth naturally, I unfortunately had to give birth by c-section both times I had my two children.

It was never in my plans; I did hypnotherapy, bought a TENS unit and drank raspberry leaf tea in the final month, all to prepare me for natural birth, and I was really looking forward to the experience.

But in my eighth month, I contracted a double-strain infection from my daily swimming pool sessions that is notoriously difficult to treat and requires very strong antibiotics, which I couldn't take during pregnancy. Giving birth naturally carried risks of stillbirth, pneumonia or meningitis for the infant.

The final month of pregnancy was awful for me and was spent in and out of the Dr's office having repeated swabs and tests in the hope that the infection would shift. My Dr, hubby and I kept the hope of a natural birth alive until the very last week when I had to face the realisation that it wasn't to be. Although the risk of my unborn child contracting the infection was small, any risk was a risk not worth taking.

The reaction from people was anger that once again someone was being forced to have a c-section, and some tried to insist that the risk was a fabricated one before finally accepting that it didn't matter how I gave birth, as long as the baby and I were safe and healthy.

So, I had my son by c-section (a horrible experience), breastfed for a week, stopped for two weeks to take the strong antibiotics (all the while pumping and discarding my milk, which was heartbreaking), then resumed giving him breast milk after the antibiotics were out of my system. When I was due to give birth to my daughter two years later, I had a c-section again to avoid tearing the stitches – the policy of my particular doctor – although I know some women do give birth naturally after a c-section.

My sister had a c-section too for her first child at the beginning of this year due to her placenta maturing too quickly, the baby being breach and the umbilical cord being wrapped around the baby's neck three times.

So, whilst I applaud all efforts to reduce the rate of c-sections on the island, and don't doubt that in some cases it can be avoided, we are also lucky to have this option for the cases where medically, a natural birth could be dangerous for mother and/or child. If my sister and I lived in the 'olden days' or in a country with an overworked state health system, we may not have given birth safely.

And whilst it is true our rate of c-sections is high and should be reduced, we also have to look at the infant mortality rate of Cyprus, which is very low. Yes, our private doctors here are overcautious and perform c-sections because they cannot risk their reputation, out of greed for money and also for the convenience of their schedules, but at the other end of the spectrum, you have state medical care in other countries that does the opposite and is willing to take risks for the sake of saving money and as a result of being understaffed.

I don't agree with opting for c-sections so readily, but at the end of the day, there are always two sides to every coin…

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 19/09/14

It's Vintage Darling Puttin' on the Ritz Fashion Show

Tumbling Toddlers

The need for dirty hands - Paula Manoli-Gray

My father has a lovely plot of land in the village of Lymbia that he nurtures with love and a lot of hard work. On it there is a wooden house (complete with kitchen and bathroom completely installed by him), all manner of plants and trees, a beehive and farm animals.

He maintains the trees and harvests the carobs and citrus fruit, as well as looking after and harvesting the olives from another one of the family fields. He has built water systems and structures, set up generator and wind-power systems and knows how to plough the land and tend to the chickens, ducks, rabbits and pigeons. He has also invented a honey extractor and was delighted when he recently bottled his own honey for the first time.

All the family enjoy going to the plot and having dinner, cooked in the clay oven and consumed in the fresh air, but not one other single member of the family would be able to look after it or have the first idea what is needed to keep it running and how.

This is the sad state we find ourselves in; with each new generation, more and more practical skills are lost, and whilst my generation is fairly rubbish, we are a million times better than the generations to come… those who are growing up in an uber-technological era where you do everything with a click rather than by hard graft and getting your hands dirty.

My paternal grandfather was a cobbler, and my paternal grandmother sold homemade ice-cream. My maternal grandfather was a tailor on London's Saville Row. What do I do? I sit at a computer and type. Hubby and I are rubbish at gardening and useless at DIY. There is nothing in our day that requires us to use our muscles in the functional way that working in the fields or manual labour does, so we go to a gym and exercise in a contrived way on machines that move our muscles in an unnatural manner as opposed to functionally.

So far we have managed to keep our two young children away from tablets and the like, but how much longer will we be able to maintain their innocence before we have to give in to peer pressure for the sake of not marginalising them?

These are issues that trouble me, which is why I am always delighted to see the programme of evening classes run by the government. To me they are a wonderful opportunity for a second chance at learning something new, and preferably something that enriches my life away from technology. In the past I took the herbal medicine course (wonderful!), a Turkish language course (it was so hard!), tried (and failed) at guitar and clothes making, but succeeded at the painting class and the glass mosaic course. Personally, I would strongly encourage everyone to take advantage of them and open up new doors of discovery and skill.

As for me, I have my eye on gardening this year (if it fits in with my schedule), as I want to be able to show my own kids in years to come how to look after the village oasis that their grandfather so lovingly built.

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 12/09/14