General News
31 August, 2024
New life for old church
Warracknabeal residents have expressed their gratitude to a Melbourne couple for giving a long-time vacant church building a new life.
About 40 attended an afternoon tea provided by the new owners to celebrate 100 years since the foundation stone was laid for Warracknabeal Church of Christ. It was last used as a church in the 1990s.
Melbourne couple George and Eva Youssef bought the Jamouneau Street building in 1999 after seeing an advertisement in the Herald Sun newspaper and, over many years, have turned it into a holiday home.
Both said they were delighted to find a church building for sale.
At that time they had no idea where Warracknabeal was or anything about the town, but have since grown to appreciate the town and its people.
"In Egypt, our home country, Coptic Christians were not allowed to start a new church and so church buildings are never sold, "Mr Youssef said.
A visitors' book carries positive comments from people who attended the afternoon tea about the new-look interior and also expresses gratitude that the building is no longer sitting idle.
Eva Youssef, a retired GP, and husband George, a retired maths-science teacher, live in Doncaster and used the building as a holiday home,
They then returned after a long absence to find the building had fallen prey to birds and the weather. They renewed their efforts to restore it.
Mrs Youssef has also used her leadlight skills to repair broken diamond-shaped leadlight windows on the building's north.
It has also taken many trips from Melbourne to Warracknabeal to carry furniture and other items to their "second home".
Mrs Youssef arrived in Australia with her family when she was five. Her parents had applied for entry to both Australia and the US and were accepted by the Australian Government.
"Politically things were not going well in Egypt," she said.
Her dad, an industrial chemist, was unable to work in Australia, so he did further studies and became a maths-science teacher.
The couple met in Egypt when Mrs Youssef's family returned to their home country for a visit.
Mr Youssef was 28 when he arrived in Australia, but he was unable to work as a mechanical engineer so he also took on further studies to become a maths-science teacher.
Daughter Alex has also helped renovate the building. A sound and light technician, she has worked at arts festivals including the Adelaide Fringe and Edinburgh festivals.