GREECE - 1958

In my post, Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, I had written:

"When Spiros Steven was six months old, to our great delight, I was pregnant again!   We continued our life in Kampala for four months, when we were, suddenly informed that we were being transferred by the company to Arusha, Tanganyika as Tanzania was called then.  Aleco was furious and after profound and very serious thought and contemplation, we decided that enough was enough so Aleco bravely resigned from Ralli Bros and we left for Greece.

So once again we packed our belongings, sold our FIAT Cinquecento, bid tearful (on my part) farewells to our cook Odiambo and his family, to Philip and Shiela Samoylis and to all our new friends in Uganda and left by a BOAC flight for Athens.  It was the 29th of May 1958.

We were offered special treatment on the plane, due to Spiros Steven and my condition.  The flight attendants helped me to prepare our baby's meals and tried to make our journey as pleasant as possible.  It took us nine long hours to reach Ellinikon, with a stop at Khartum which was extremely hot.

The Old Family House in Kifissia

Aleco's brothers Pericles and Nico were there to meet us and drove us to the family house in Kifissia where we were warmly welcomed by my Mother-in-law, Dolly and Cleo and our adorable nieces and nephews.

Aleco immediately started looking for a job.  Milto Zouros, an old friend from India, had started working as a commission agent and asked Aleco to join him as a partner.

It was very difficult in the beginning because even though we lived in a lovely house, in a fashionable Athenian suburb, we were very poor as we had no steady, monthly income and we had already bought a FIAT Cinquecento, which was an essential tool for Aleco's work as a commercial agent.

My parents came on home leave from Pakistan and stayed at Kosti's Hotel in Kefalari, which was near our house.  They were ecstatic with their grandson and the expectation of another grandchild in the not so distant future.  It was wonderful seeing them again and learning all the news about our dear friends in Karachi, it was just like old times.

On our baby son's first birthday, on the 17th July, he was christened Spiros as the priest did not allow us to give him a second name and my sister-in-law Cleo was the godmother.  To celebrate the happy event we held a small garden party for our family and friends, which apparently was a great success and lasted until the early morning hours.

Our life continued in Greece with financial difficulties and great pleasures.  Spiros was growing by leaps and bounds.  He suddenly started walking, he conversed in basic sentences and was a very sweet and handsome young fellow!  He thoroughly enjoyed his cousins and other children's company.  I just adored him and I couldn't imagen loving any other child more than him!

My parent home leave was coming to an end so they left for Karachi, in early October 1958.  On the 12th of October, our son Yiannis was born.  He was a lovely, ash-blond baby and the moment I saw him I just adored him.  I realized then that parental love is not shared among children, it is doubled or tripled or quadrupled.

It was a busy, exhausting but extremely happy period of my life. 

 

A Child's Painting of Beautiful Flowers