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							                           GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)
                       Address: P.O. Box 60820, GR-15304 Glyka Nera
                   Telephone: (+30) 2103472259 Fax: (+30) 2106018760
              e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr website: http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr

                                     PRESS RELEASE

                                      14 February 2009

 Greece: Doctor-role model for Roma says “the Third World is next door, in Aspropyrgos”

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) highlights today’s article in “Eleftheros Typos” focused on a
Greek Romani doctor who speaks with harsh words for the living conditions of Roma in Greece.


                                  ELEFTHEROS TYPOS

                             The doctor-role model for Roma
[Translation by GHM of original article in Greek at http://www.e-tipos.com/newsitem?id=75693]

                                   KONTOS GERASIMOS

                                     Saturday, 14.02.09
                           GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (GHM)
                       Address: P.O. Box 60820, GR-15304 Glyka Nera
                   Telephone: (+30) 2103472259 Fax: (+30) 2106018760
              e-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr website: http://cm.greekhelsinki.gr

                                     PRESS RELEASE

                                      14 February 2009

 Greece: Doctor-role model for Roma says “the Third World is next door, in Aspropyrgos”

Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) highlights today’s article in “Eleftheros Typos” focused on a
Greek Romani doctor who speaks with harsh words for the living conditions of Roma in Greece.


                                  ELEFTHEROS TYPOS

                             The doctor-role model for Roma
[Translation by GHM of original article in Greek at http://www.e-tipos.com/newsitem?id=75693]

                                   KONTOS GERASIMOS

                                      Saturday, 14.02.09




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The Roma of Aghia Varvara [a Greater Athens municipality, with a substantial presence of Roma]
call him “the example of the race”. He grew up and attended the local school, completed his studies
at the Medical Faculty of Athens and his medical specialty at the “Sotiria” hospital. He opened his
own medical practice and some time ago was appointed in a regional branch of IKA [the main
Greek Social Security Fund that also has regional clinics]. The 42 year-old lung specialist Mr.
Christos Vassileiou feels proud that he tore down the “wall” of illiteracy and wants to become a
role-model for the new generation of Gypsies. “For the standards of my race, it is revolutionary to
be working in the medical field”

The road to the University and professional accomplishment was anything but easy. “If you are a
Gypsy, you cannot expect help from any quarter. You come across only walls and locked doors.
Throughout your journey you need to keep your ears close and remain committed to your goal.

I was trying for many years to get a job at a hospital but in vain. I was patient and was ultimately
rewarded. However, I was lucky too. Had I been born in another city, maybe I would not have made
it”. Most Gypsies living in Aghia Varvara have managed to ensure a decent life. “Some steps have
been made. Let’s say it’s one of the areas where the elite of the Gypsies lives. [You can find]
educated people, doctors, pupils making good grades, professional businessmen. The model of
Aghia Varvara needs to be widely promoted and to constitute an example for all settlements. In
most of them, parents cannot afford milk for their children and collect whatever they can find from
the garbage in order to live.”

In the settlements of Aghia Sofia and Dendropotamos inThessaloniki, in the settlement of Sofades
in Karditsa and Nea Smirni in Larissa, the vast majority of Roma live in sheds without running
water, sewage and electricity. In Votanikos [in downtown Athens] the kids play next to dead mice.
In the area of Psari in Aspropyrgos, in fields with old olive trees and heaps of rubbish and rubble,
approximately 100 families live in wooden sheds and tents. Even in Aghia Varvara however, the
“model-city” for the Gypsies, basic needs in the fields of education and medical treatment remain
unaddressed. In Mr. Vassileiou’s neighborhood there are children that have no I.D. cards, cannot
speak Greek, never attended school. “They cannot even go to a hospital. They have no medical
insurance or medical booklet. They have no name. The greatest afflictions of the race are illiteracy,
unemployment and ghettoisation in schools. In Zefyri [another municipality near Greater Athens
with a significant presence of Roma], there is a primary school where almost all pupils are Roma.
No one sends his/her children to attend that school. How can young people be integrated into a
society that keeps them in the margins? The same phenomenon can be observed in other areas, such
as for example in Chalkida or Thessaloniki.”

For a few months now, he pays a visit twice a week to the offices of the Pan-Hellenic Gypsy
Cultural Association and examines for free Roma with respiratory problems. “Most of them start
smoking when they are eight years old. When they are in their 40s, their lungs have been
destroyed.” Two or three times per year he visits settlements in various areas of the country and
helps those who are in need, either by examining them or providing them with medication. “I try to
be next to them. Since the State does not care for them, the responsibility falls on us who have
managed to break out from the average fate of those belonging to our race. We have a duty to fill in
the gaps left by the State”

“The third world is next to us”

“At school I was taught Ancient Greek History. Greece is my homeland, my home. And if the need
arises, I will defend her. There are however young Gypsies who do not feel the same. The State

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needs to assign priority to the integration of our children in society.” Estimates regarding the size of
the Roma community in Greece vary. Greek Helsinki Monitor considers that there are 350,000
Roma but the Pan-Hellenic Confederation of Greek Roma Associations (POSER) makes an
estimate of 714,000. “It’s not important how many of us are there but under what conditions we live
in”. In our country there are approximately 250 communities of Gypsies. In many settlements where
“tent-dwellers” live, as much as 99% of the inhabitants are positive to hepatitis A, whereas 50% are
positive to hepatitis B. 90% of the Roma living in Greece are illiterate, 40% are unemployed and
80% have no social security. “They remember us only in incidents that attract bad publicity. And
during elections”. For a few months now, Mr. Vassileiou is gathering information regarding the
living conditions of the people of his race. “Our only solution lies in appealing to European Union
agencies. We have had our fill from wishes and promises. I keep hearing all the time people talking
about the children in the third word. If they visit Aspropyrgos, they will meet them. They live next
door to us. Among us.”




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