Thessaloniki: “Life goes on” for Ukrainian refugees – They find work in tourism
“Life goes on if we have it war and we live it immigration“, Victor tells us before they put signatures with her beloved Victoria and come” in one flesh “with a civil wedding at the City Hall of Thessaloniki.
Wedding in Thessaloniki
The groom in a white T-shirt and the bride in a simple white dress look a little anxious. They do not want publicity, they are only photographed for friends and relatives.
“We decided not to waste time, we do not know what will happen tomorrow, and we decided to get married in Thessaloniki where we arrived as refugees,” he added. Updated their wedding was scheduled for September in their homeland. “The war changed our plans, we left with the first ones bombings. We passed through different countries and ended up in Thessaloniki while my wife’s parents stayed in Romania “.
In difficult times they want to be a couple, united and with the bonds of marriage, as he says and adds: “We really liked Thessaloniki, we fell in love with her, maybe that’s why we got married in this beautiful city.”
Victor and Victoria are currently going through honeymoon and do not work. But most of their compatriots who fled to Greece find it difficult to survive and desperately look for work.
Some have opened websites on the internet such as “Ukrainians in Greece” and “Mariupolites in Greece” with the aim of informing each other, looking for relatives and work.
Looking for a job online
“Good morning. We will be grateful to those who help us. My husband is a refugee in Greece and looking for work in Athens. She could work as a cleaner, a housekeeper, in the others washing dishes and a kitchen assistant, as well as a babysitter. Write to my wife on the compatriots Facebook page, write a message on the messenger or call her at 697 …. Her name is Oxana. Greek … she just started learning, but I think there are no problems with the translator on her mobile. He lives in the area of Paleo Faliro. Have a good day everyone! writes 34-year-old Artur Serzko who stayed in Ukraine to fight while his wife and relatives are in Athens.
The war separated the couplewho did not have children, but Arthur is convinced he can help his wife remotely.
Oxana also feels proud of her husband and is ready to work hard, because she has experience, she worked as a waitress in the city of Dnipro.
“I live in Athens with my relatives, appeals too. We rented an apartment, but the money ran out and I have to find a job. I did not know what to do and my husband found a solution, posting the ad on Facebook “, Oxana tells APE-BPE and continues:” I am not afraid of any job, I am used to difficulties! I wish I could find a job!
“He in the boat and that maid”
Dennis R., a 37-year-old from a shoe designer, was found in Lanza of a hotel restaurant in Crete.
“We had friends of Greek origin and leaving for Thessaloniki, they told us about Greece. “They told us that it is a country that suits Ukrainians better, and they were right,” he told us from the village of Panorama in Heraklion, where they found work.
“It simply came to our notice then. We could not pay the rent and food, we were desperately looking for work. Fortunately they got to a hotel in Crete. I in the kitchen at scullery and my wife chambermaid. “We did not expect to have too much work and because we were not used to such work, we adjusted with difficulty, but we did it,” he says.
He himself was forced to leave behind his favorite job as a designer and shoe manufacturer.
“Fortunately, our apartment has not been bombed yet and I hope we will return to Ukraine, but first everything will go well and the war will end,” he said, feeling lucky that they all survived and found work and housing, food. hotel.
“In Crete all people are polite and dumb. In Panorama we go out to the cafes some nights and they accept us as their own people, they talk to us and we feel very nice with them “, and he adds:” Unfortunately our Greek is minimal, only a few words, we can not talk, we speak, of course , English, but my wife and I are also trying to learn the Greek language “.
He found a job in Skiathos
The former president of the Greek association in Kharkov, Katerina Sevchenko, also found a job in the field of tourism. He has no language problem as he taught at Kharkiv Greek and culture at the club’s Sunday school.
“I will work as a maid in hotel in Skiathos. Hard work, with one day off, but I will raise the money we will need in Thessaloniki where I left my elderly parents. “Rent and food require a lot of money and it looks like we will not be returning to Ukraine any time soon.”
Another Ukrainian, Olena Sotnikova, is trying to help her fellow refugees find work.
She came to Greece two years ago. “I immediately undertook to do something for my compatriots, so he created a team on FB”, he says to APE-MPE. Volunteering has been and is for Olena a way of life since his homeland of Ukraine. “I could never believe that I would find myself helping my compatriots war refugees. But it is the harsh reality. However, life goes on and many refugees need immediate help. “
One of the last women that Olena helped is the 42-year-old Ukrainian Angela K. who works for a few days in a tavern in Thessaloniki, in the kitchen and the lunch. A pedagogue by profession, he worked in the public school, but also in a private children’s creative employment center in Mariupol.
“We left our bombed-out city in terror. Only the foundations of our house remained. We walked many kilometers to the Russian border, because we had no other choice. We crossed the border and found ourselves in Novorossiysk (ss. Black Sea), from there to Vladikavkaz (ss. North Ossetia), then – to Georgia, and from there to Turkey, so, with many difficulties and adventures on April 3 we crossed the border . Of Greece, and we arrived in Thessaloniki “is narrated in APE-MPE. Angela says she is happy because a few days ago she started working. She does not seem to be bothered by washing dishes all day. “We can not go back to Mariupol, our house was destroyed. “I decided to be patient, as some of our fellow citizens were killed, others were injured, while we were saved.”