PURSUIT OF PASSION

DARING TO DREAM

WHEN YOU ARE blessed with an outgoing personality and a positive outlook on life, there is no limit to where life can take you.

This has been the experience of Moffat Beach grandmother Eufrasia Gagliardo, who is rarely seen without a smile on her beautiful face.

Eufrasia was born in a world very distant from the Sunshine Coast, in the ancient town of Adi Ugri, in the southern region of Eritrea on the African continent. Founded in the fi fth century BC, Adi Ugri is now known as Mendefera and the name of the town means ‘who dared it’.

It is an appropriately named hometown for Eufrasia, as she went on to show the spirit to take on life in Colonial Africa, to dare to be herself throughout it all. She is now sharing her experiences with the world in the pages of her newly released debut book.

Eufrasia spent her formative years in Massawa, a port city affectionately known as the pearl of the Red Sea due to both its location and abundance of pearls found off its coastline. Massawa is known for its natural beauty and its diverse and alluring architecture, but it was the people of many different races and religions coming together to celebrate cultural traditions as one that made her feel blessed to grow up in such a harmonious setting.

As a child, Eufrasia often wondered if her mother had a premonition that she would live an adventurous life and would be daring enough to leave the comfort of her home and her country to travel the world.

She wondered if being born in a town with the moniker ‘who dared it’ also led her mother to give her a name that was unheard of at the time and hard to remember.

In a bid to help her school friends pronounce her name correctly, Eufrasia realised her name could be broken down into three easy-to-remember components. She would tell her school friends to just think of Eu for Europe, Fra (when you

Eufrasia with her granddaughter Aurora

sound out fr in Italian it sounds like fra) for Africa and Sia for Asia. They took to this with gusto and began greeting her with, “Ciao Europe Africa Asia!”

Not only did it become an unforgettable name for an unforgettable person, Eufrasia went on to live in all three of those continents.

An empathic heart and a willingness to help others has allowed Eufrasia to connect with people from all walks of life – from the Emperor of Ethiopia’s grandson, who was deputy commander of the Ethiopian Navy, to the Mother Teresa of Eritrea, the oyster man, the lady who was cursed and the leprosy crusaders.

Every one of them entered Eufrasia’s life at a pivotal moment and helped shape her world view.

“Meeting these people has taught me that every person has a gift to give to others,” Eufrasia says. “They taught me there is nothing more important than just being yourself and it is okay to share your gifts with others while enjoying the gifts they share with you.”

Connection has been the core of who Eufrasia is as a person, and despite the disconnect many in society feel in these uncertain times, Eufrasia is a strong voice encouraging people to be brave enough to reach out once more.

“Someone might appear to be very different to you, but we are all human beings and we all need someone in our life to help us along our way,” she says. “As the saying goes, we are not an island; we really do need each other.”

As a woman of faith, Eufrasia says she considers many of the people she has met to be angels sent to look after her and help her through her fascinating and daring life changes.

In her book, Living on the Pearl of the Red Sea: The Unique People of Massawa, Eufrasia takes us from her childhood in Eritrea, to her early twenties when she left her home in Africa to explore the world with her new husband Gianni by her side.

Throughout their years, they have seen many countries and have lived and worked in places like Italy, Nigeria and, of course, here in Australia.

Gianni and Eufrasia fi rst came to Australia in 1972 and as much as it was a daring move, it was not a mystery to her. Eufrasia already had a connection through relatives on her mother’s side, who had settled in Melbourne after fl eeing Malta following the sieges of 1940 to 1942.

They described their new life in the far away continent to Eufrasia as a child and it fuelled her fascination with the Aussie outback. However, Gianni and Eufrasia didn’t stay too long before work opportunities saw them travel back to Africa before moving on to Italy and eventually returning to Australia, where they settled in the late 1980s.

Before 2020, Eufrasia and Gianni split their time between running the family business, Mar Gra, in Caloundra and living in the stunning countryside overlooking the vineyards of Umbria, Italy.

While closed borders may have caused them to extend their time on the Sunshine Coast, it also allowed Eufrasia the pause she needed to fulfi l a long-held dream of becoming an author.

Her book is a collection of true short stories that give the readers a glimpse into the lives of some of the incredible humans Eufrasia met as a young woman as well as providing a time capsule into life in that unique part of the world from the 1940s through to the ’70s.

“It was an emotional roller coaster, writing this book,” Eufrasia says. “My memories were very strong for some of the people. Other people were entering my dreams as I began to concentrate on my book. It was like they would appear in my dreams and say, ‘Don’t forget about me. Write about me.’ It has been wonderful to share their stories.”

Eufrasia poured her heart and soul onto the pages and the reviews coming in from around the world are testament to the way she has been able to capture the characters of her past in a way that inspires soul-searching questions and gives readers a heart-warming reminder of how simple life used to be.

With many characters from other places around the world yet to have their stories told, Eufrasia has not ruled out more books in the future.

Living on the Pearl of the Red Sea is available online at Amazon, Kindle, Angus Robertson, Fishpond, Barnes and Noble, and Booktopia. Sunshine Coast residents can also buy it from The BookShop at Caloundra on Bulcock Street.