Aggeliki had always wanted to escape from the violence of her life in Moldavia.
A brief telephone acquaintance with a man in Athens who would become her future husband was enough to bring her to Greece in 1994. The wedding took place a week after her arrival in Athens and a few months later her son Alexandros, whose official name is Sabur, was born.
Her husband deserted his family in June 2011, only a few days before Alexandro’s 16th birthday and thirteen years after the diagnosis of sclerosis in Aggeliki’s lower limbs. He returned to his homeland, Pakistan, where he got married to a second wife.
Aggeliki and Alexandro’s daily life almost exclusively unfolds in an apartment in western Athens. That is where I first me them.
When communication with the husband and father broke down, Aggeliki and Alexandros found themselves in an uncertain psychological, physical and economic situation. Having no income, bills remain unpaid. Since the summer 2011, Alexandros has dropped school in order to get a job and offer financial support for both of them. He has been encountering enormous difficulties due to the fact that he doesn’t have the Greek citizenship, even though he was born in Greece. He himself feels that he does not belong anywhere. Aggeliki’s health has deteriorated and she is feeling less and less strong.
In April 2014, the first notification of eviction arrived and their electricity was cut off for the second time. Both of them struggled to find solutions so that they do not lose their belongings and become homeless. Unfortunately, this proved impossible and they have been thrown out of the house. They managed to find temporary accommodation in a hostel, before being given an old apartment in central Athens rent free.
This is a story of mutual acceptance and support between mother and son, in recognition of the difficulties which have arisen from the cross cultural and social factors influencing their lives. Alexandros however is the one upon whose shoulders the main burden falls.
Alexandros would rather become a software programmer and designer of computer games.
