young and innocent
Heartache, tears and apprehension arose as a young nineteen year old girl left behind everything she ever knew, to begin a very long journey to the unknown.
The ship stood tall and proud, Orsova was her name and she was about to carry thousands of young Greek men, women and children to a new country. Hopeful and anxious at the same time, all chasing the same dream, of a better life ahead.
One of these women commencing the long journey was my mother, Niki. A young naive girl from a mountainous village that sat on the slopes of Mount Olympus – Palaios Panteleiomonas and with no conception of what lay ahead, prayed for the best.
The day before Mum’s departure, family and fellow villagers stopped by her home to wish her safe travels and a happy reunion with her older two brothers, Nestora & Yioryo who had already immigrated to Adelaide, Australia the year before. On a wintery January morning, mum woke to the familiar surroundings of her secure childhood – and was about to bid them goodbye. Accompanied by her parents, four siblings & village friends, they all made their way (by foot) to the train station in Platamonas, the sea side town 8km away.
Heartfelt traditional songs of xenetia could be heard in sombre tones, sung by the locals to the tunes of Pantelis Goularas’ clarinet. The gifted musician fromPanteleiomonas, Mum’s brother-in-law. Emotional scenes were visible as the train pulled up and it was time for mum to board. Travellers on the train yelled out to the clarinet player, “Έλα! Έλα πάνω! Να μας παίξεις τα τραγούδια σου μέχρι Αθήνα!”
“Come on board with us, play us your sings until we reach Athens!”
Hugs and tears, concerns of whether, or if my grand-parents would see their daughter again – their third child to immigrate. As my mother nervously made her way onto the train, tears running down her face, she turned back for one last wave. My grandmother distressed and pained yelled out to her daughter –
“Ama then sou aresi eki, ella piso se emena.”
“If you don’t like it there, come back home to me.”
Mum’s younger brother Dimitri escorted her to Athens and it wasn’t long before the train commenced the long five hour journey.
And so, a new life was about to begin.
(xenetia – foreign land)