There is city called Dambeni in South Africa !
August 12, 2005 - While doing some research on the Internet I found out that there is a city in South Africa called Dambeni also ! I wonder if there is any connection?
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/SF/1/Dambeni.html

In Loving Memory
It is with deepest regrets that we announce the passing of two former inhabitants of the village of Dambeni. Todor Stanishev (Theodore Stanisis) was born in the village of Dambeni, Kostursko in 1920 to parents Trpe and Tsveta Stanishev. On Thursday, April 1st 2004 he died peacefully in his sleep to a long battle with cancer and leaves his wife Stoyanka Ballova. Gjorgi Ballov (George Ballios) was an active participant in the Macedonian community in Toronto. He died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday, April 4th 2004 and joins his late wife Lena. Both will be deeply missed.

Dambeni Message Board
I've just created a message board to which people can post on. If you're looking for any lost relatives, or would like to share some stories please feel free to post them here. Click to view the message board.

Dambeni Christmas Dance 2003
There was quite the turnout that Saturday night in the downstairs hall of the St.Clement Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral. "Makedonija" was playing the music to dance the night away, and as always there were a tremendous amount of prizes to be won in the raffle. Although I was quite surprised how many Grkomani there were dancing to the Greek songs ... oh well. I picked up some books of poetry by Vasko Karadza. If anybody is interested, please email me at tedn@dambeni.com. The books by Lazo Pop-Janovski were sold out, and so were the ones by Atanas Bliznakov (I'll see if I can source some of those books for sale on the website).

What I also managed to pick up was an enlarged portrait of the first annual Dambensko Benevolent Society picnic in Toronto, Canada. I will try to get a picture of it online and more details for those who would like to order it.

Not many of my pictures turned out, so apologies to those who were looking forward to seeing them.

Miss the Corn Roast
I don't know if I missed it or it wasn't held this year. This turns out to be an annual event so I guess I'll wait until next year.

Grand Opening - July 8th, 2002
Sorry I was a day late with the Grand Opening of the Dambeni site. I had recently discovered a lost relative of my grandfather half way around the world in Australia. It was extremely exciting to me because my grandfather, Todo Stanishev was the only member of the Stanishev family I knew of. Anyways, I had discovered a trail that his older brother, Yoto (Pete) Stanishev left behind. After some research on the Internet, I had discovered that he had served with the US Army in World War II and that there is a memorial in France for him.

Unfortunately there isn't much content to this site at the moment. I am currently compiling a list of family names that were inhabitants of Dambeni, along with their Hellenized versions. I am also putting together a photo gallery based on pictures from my grandfather's past and a book by Lazo Pop-Janevski, entitled "Kostursko Selo Dambeni" which is written entirely in Macedonian. I am trying to obtain copies of this book for possible sale on this website. Along with that are 2 other Macedonian books - one book on poetry, and another on it's history. And for anybody who is interested, a panoramic shot of the attendants to the annual 2002 Dambensko picnic (more to come).

Later on this year the Dambensko Benevolent Society of Toronto, Canada will be holding their annual corn-roast picnic in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. I am planning on attending this function armed with my digital camera - I expect to leave the picnic with no less than 50 photographs - and perhaps a few stories and tales!

For the most part, stay tuned as I constantly add and update the existing pages.

Ted Nitchov