philenews
A visit of Fofi Gennimata to Cyprus in 2005 and specifically to the prisoners of Rizokarpasos is taken from the Fileleftheros archive, on the occasion of the sad news of the death of the president of the Movement for Change, which became known today and plunged the Greek political scene into mourning. “Tell me, my son, if he does nothing for us?” Mrs. Maria asked anxiously during that visit when she visited her son's house. Her presence there alone, as the first of all the political officials from Greece to visit the area, was enough to ignite the flame of hope for the trapped, the newspaper report wrote.
It was Friday, April 8, 2005, when Fofi Gennimata, as Deputy Mayor of Athens-Piraeus, visited those trapped in Rizokarpaso, as part of her visit to Cyprus.
SEE ALSO: Fofi Gennimata passed away at the age of 57
[…] Ms. Gennimata talked to the detainees and listened to the problems and difficulties they face every day. Then Mrs. Gennimata went to Rizokarpaso High School, where the president of the school, Eleni Symeou, welcomed her with a bouquet of lilies and lilacs.
He then took a tour of the school and sat with the young students at the desk and attended their lesson.
After the tour, the students gathered in the school yard, where Mrs. Gennimata handed them an album with souvenir photos from the Athens Olympic Games and gave the school videotapes with the opening and closing ceremonies of the games. He even invited them in the summer for ten days in Greece, where they would be hosted in a camp.
Addressing the students, she said that with the Olympic Games, the Greeks “sent messages of peace, which I believe is the most important of all so that democracy can develop and our children can grow up.”
“One of the first images I remember as a child”
After the visit, Ms. Gennimata said shocked:
“I have to say that I came here with very strong skepticism, with anxiety, with mixed feelings following one another, because I have to tell you that one of the first images I remember as a child since I was about 10 years old were my parents to cry about what was happening in Cyprus “.
“I also passed by the cemetery a while ago”, he continued, “I also went through the houses of people who have endured all these years and are here and I ended up at school. This was probably the most correct route of the route. Maybe this is where all the emotions calm down and balance. Because when you see the children, when you see the smile in their eyes, you feel that this is the light, this is the road and this is a crevice of hope that everyone lives here today. For this crevice of hope, we all have an obligation to fight from whatever base we are in, in order to open a door “.
