I find it quite difficult to explain what the crisis means for us. I just find this widespread Greeks = immature pubescent lazy party bags attitude towards our costs incredibly arrogant and stupid. Just like the finger-wagging statement with a sour face: “If you get into debt, you have to pay it back!” Greece is portrayed as the epitome of corruption, sloppiness and laziness. The very word guilt implies: “Ugh! Shame on you!”
When I say: “My children don’t have heating at their school in the winter because they don’t have the money for heating oil.” Then everyone looks at me suspiciously.
“What do you mean?” I then ask myself, which word was incomprehensible? And I respond patiently, in the same way you would explain a complicated situation to a child: “The children are sitting in the classroom with gloves and a winter jacket because the heating is off, because the government doesn’t provide any money for heating oil, because they are saving money.”
I try to keep my tone very matter-of-fact, even though I know exactly what’s coming: “You don’t even know what winter means! It doesn’t even snow where you live!” The focus is on “Jööö!! (German: oh-how-sweet!!) The Greeks fiserlets once (German: fall-a-few-snowflakes) and they think that the big onset of winter is coming! They have no idea!” instead of “What? Unheated classrooms! The poor children!” lies. Incredible!
Actually, anyone who speaks like that should be prescribed a trip to winter Greece to broaden their horizons.
It’s definitely snowing here! But I can also assure you that I have never been as cold in my life as I am here in Ikaria. (I’m trying to keep my tone matter-of-fact again) Even though the temperatures rarely drop below zero, the humidity is so high that everything is damp and clammy, whether it’s bed linen or the clothes in the closet. And of course, like everywhere else in the south, the houses are poorly insulated.
Our school in Raches is the only one that is located in the mountains and not in a coastal village near the sea. That’s why heating is essential. Or could you imagine solving math problems and writing essays at a school desk from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with numb fingers? Aluminum windows (single-glazed, of course) and aluminum doors, ice-cold tiles under your sports shoes!
Or could you imagine teaching in a school like this and somehow keeping the students engaged? Because it’s not like gritting your teeth for two days means summer is coming. Winter lasts.
My mother-in-law is a sprightly 91 years old and a petite person. She lives alone in her two-room apartment near the village bakery. She receives a pension of €300 per month. Yes, you read that right, three hundred. Heating oil costs one euro fifty a liter in Ikaria.
Big eyes again. “What do you mean?” Everything is more expensive here on the remote islands because of the high transport costs.
Since my mother-in-law, like most people here, lives below the poverty line, she has recently received a government heating subsidy. According to information from the responsible authority, she should simply provide her bank details so that a transfer can be made. But my mother-in-law doesn’t have a bank account. She receives her small pension via the post office. I’m calling the bank in the capital. I am informed that only she personally can open an account. I explain the situation, no authority possible, no mercy. What do they mean by that? I think.
Opening a bank account means a two-hour drive into the capital to the nearest bank. Because for such important matters it must be the bank’s headquarters in Agios Kyrikos.
My mother-in-law has osteoporosis and attacks of dizziness. A trip to the bank in Agios Kyrikos, across the mountains on the bumpy serpentine road, is pure torture for her, who doesn’t like getting into cars. The last time I drove her to the hospital a few years ago, we had to stop every few meters because she was vomiting and I was afraid she was going to pass out because of all the vomiting attacks. A torture that I can’t possibly inflict on her.
She is very reluctant to leave her house. But when it gets really cold, we bring her in because her toilet is outside the house and we’re worried she might slip on the slippery stone stairs. We have a fireplace at home and enough firewood, so it’s always nice and warm and cozy.
She was a farmer’s wife and worked hard all her life and voted left-wing. She never got into debt, not even with the neighbors. There’s no question of partying anyway, but neither is guilt, ugh, shame on you.
As for the school children in the unheated school building in Raches regarding parties with other people’s money or debts…
The pictures are from Facebook. I did some research but couldn’t trace the copyright, I have no idea. So if you have legitimate claims to one of the images, please contact me and I will be happy to mention your name.
By the way, we continue to collect donations for heating oil for the schools. You are welcome to show your solidarity with a small donation! Donation accounts
My film tip:
“Power without control. The Troika”
In order to receive their emergency loans, the crisis states in the Eurozone had to bow to the dictates of officials who are not subject to any parliamentary control: the Troika. Recruited from the institutions of the IMF, ECB and European Commission, they demanded savings on a devastating scale. But the positive effects of austerity policy failed to materialize for most.
Film by Harald Schumann, on ARTE. The documentary shows the work of the TROIKA and its social consequences, primarily using the example of Greece, but also Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.
If you missed the show, you can watch it here. It’s scary what goes on behind closed doors in Europe! Excellent research by Harald Schumann!
You should definitely watch this documentary!!!