Rockstar turned priest on a mission to help orphaned African children

From touring with The Rolling Stones in the 1960s, to becoming a priest with the Greek Orthodox faith, Themi Adamopoulo has worn several hats. His new plight is to help children orphaned by the tragic Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

Father Themi Adamopoulos

Father Themi Adamopoulos Source: SBS

Imagine spending your teen years in a rock band touring with The Rolling Stones.

Now imagine walking away from that at the height of the band's success to become a Greek Orthodox priest.

That's the remarkable story of Father Themi Adamopoulo - and added to those feats was a recent missionary trip to Africa during the Ebola breakout.

He helped out in Ebola-ravaged communities in Kenya and Sierra Leone.

"It was an unbelievable situation. Bodies in the street, people picking up bodies with those space suits they wore so they wouldn't touch the body," he said.

"We went through an extraordinary difficult time. And at the end of it, none of us were contaminated by the Ebola virus, but what happened were the consequences were terrific. In the bad sense of the word 'terror'."
File image from 2014 of healthcare workers loading a man suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus onto an ambulance in Sierra Leone (AAP)
File image from 2014 of healthcare workers loading a man suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus onto an ambulance in Sierra Leone (AAP) Source: AAP
Father Themis said the disease left a trail of destruction, including thousands of orphans whose parents were killed by the virus.

He has now returned to Melbourne and set himself a new goal - to raise money to build a school to house the orphans.

The self-described Marxist-hippie said he learned a few lessons of his own, which he called the spiritual experience which changed the course of his life.

"I was a Marxist, I was an atheist, Christianity was the enemy that exploited the people," he said.

"I would never have changed, unless something would happen that would touch me at the very essence of my core - and that happened. And when that happened I dropped out of everything."

But he had another life before the church - playing the bass guitar for the popular Australian band, The Flies.

He said the band was inspired by the waves of political and social change during the 1960s.

"And suddenly you get the Beatles coming and The Rolling Stones - completely new emphasis, completely new look, completely new sound completely new feeling," he said.
The Flies
Australian band, The Flies (AAP) Source: AAP
"It was like a revolution that occurred in music and I also followed that as well. So there were two streams (that led him to form a band) a political stream and a musical stream. Both being revolutionary.

"That led me to form a rock group which became very successful. So I dropped out of university for a couple of years while I followed this musical trend, which brought us popularity, success, and records and top 40 hits and so forth."

That success also led to touring with the Rolling Stones.

"We would mingle with them, and even go to parties with them, and for a teenager, that was an unbelievable dream that had come true," he added. 

Born in Egypt to Greek parents, his family later migrated to Melbourne.

His sister Mary Jane Adams said she equally basked in his new found fame as a rockstar.

"I was very proud of him because, I thought, oh well, I get to meet all these bands. So for me, that was quite a normal period," Ms Adams said. 

His work with Ebola victims has inspired his sister to move to Sierra Leone where she now worked as a teacher.

"I was born in a country that gave me everything I needed to reach my potential, hence for me it is now my duty and responsibility to help," she said.

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4 min read
Published 16 September 2016 5:25pm
Updated 19 September 2016 6:42am
By Santilla Chingaipe


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