Programme Erasmus + Europe on the move : Migration Biographies Interviews
Would you ever go back to Albania ?
No , I would never go back for any reason . No way . Except for holidays , like the way I would go to any other country . But permanently , NO , I can ' t live there . Because Albania is many years behind Greece . Basically in relation to the whole world . ( Laughs ). Because it is !
( one of the teachers , Vasso P . interrupted ): I want to say the following . Do you allow me Christina to say how I met your parents ?
Yes , Yes . I think , at the police station ? Right ?
Vasso P . ( teacher ): Yes . I happened to go to the police station here in New Moudania for some ... to tell you the reason , to get our family correspondence . Because we do not have a postman where we live ... in this beautiful part of New Moudania , our family correspondence is sent to the Police Department and the Traffic Department . Outside , I saw a couple coming in and asking the police officer what to do to authorize you ( their daughter ) to make a change at a phone company . The policeman clearly understood that they were not Greek citizens and the way he treated them was the worst ever . I didn ' t know they were Christina ' s parents at that time . I didn ' t know her , Christina was a schoolgirl , she was also my daughter ’ s friend , but I hadn ’ t met her parents yet . And I ' m starting to help them , because it doesn ' t make sense , even for locals , it is confusing filling in applications , imagine for foreigners . And I started helping . As soon as the name of Christina came out , I was astonished to find out that they were the parents of Christina who was a student at my school . They asked who I was and I answered that I was the teacher who went on a trip with ... And I started to explain the whole story from the beginning . The policeman didn ' t expect me to stand up and help two unknown people . Yes , he does not have to fill in these applications , but the way he treated them was the worst . Yes , in general the services here in Greece are inhumane , but also the behaviors towards immigrants .
Vasso P . ( teacher ): I am very sensitive , because I was also a migrant in Germany , all alone . At the age of eighteen I found myself there and had to fight alone with all this bureaucracy . It had everything to do with my survival . Maybe that ' s why I ' m helping . Because the memory of this trauma often comes back to me . I think this
is the right thing to do , help and that ’ s what we all need to do . We are all human beings and we should stand by
each other because we can find ourselves in the same place . Let ' s not forget this . If we respect other people we can expect to be respected . One last thing I forgot ; I took up athletics at high school . I liked it very much , I had the talent as my coach said and we had reached a very good level . Me and some other girls from the team had been proposed by Albania to represent them in European matches but to continue being trained in Greece with our Greek coach , that is , to represent Albania in Europe and all over the world , but with the coach we had in Greece . I refused because I was born in Greece . Greece has supported me and would be a betrayal for my beliefs to represent Albania . I have nothing else to complete
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