THE REFUGEES
As I have previously said, I slept on the balcony and there I would meditate upon everything under the starry sky, until finally sleep would take me. Due to the fact that I slept out, I would be the first to awake in the morning and for that reason I saw much of what transpired in our neighborhood.
I awoke around five one morning, due to the loud conversations in the street and as it happens below our very balcony.
Upon opening my eyes and looking towards the street, I was struck by the scene in front of me. Starting from our house and running the length of the road for some two hundred meters, was parked a very large caravan of oxen-carts.
They were placed one behind the other, and the oxen that were tied to them seemed like elephants; the reason for this being that these were twice the size of the work oxen that we were familiar with. There were some forty or so of these oxen-carts, and upon each one were crammed the members of the families to whom they belonged. On as many of those carts as I could count, the family members were in excess of ten; all in all together they constituted an entire village.
I wasn’t able to comprehend what was happening and I heard the people who were below our balcony saying to me, “tell your father to come outside, because we want to talk with him”.
Half of what I heard was Turkish and the other half the ancient Greek dialect from the Pontós. I understood from
the mere fact that they were below our balcony that our destruction had come and for that reason was searching for a way to stop it. That’s why I awoke my mother upon entering the house. Upon her looking from the window and my quickly conveying to her what little I had heard, she replied in despair, “that’s it, were lost”.
I went back outside and lied to them, having agreed with my mother to tell them that my father was absent, that he would be away for many days and the best thing they could do is leave.
They in turn paid no heed to what I had told them, as in time I found out that they were both educated and informed as to our situation. They had an answer ready for what they 
herd and said to me, “It does not matter. We will stay here and wait until he returns. Besides we have nowhere else to go”.
They were determined to carry out their decision and were well aware of our weak point, as we also were. There position was strong, whilst we had no hope, as ill fortune was outside and awaited us.
My father awoke partly because of the shouting of these discouraged people; going down stairs he asked them what they wanted from us.
There emerged someone who appeared to be their leader, and in their language gave a detailed account of the adventures they had undergone to my father
From all this we understood the following, “We are refugees, some of the last from the exchange which began back in 1922. Through a mistake or possibly indifference from those in charge we were sent to Pinthos to live, to cultivate its mountainous and barren land. Bear in mind that we are farmers and well stocked with heavy agricultural tools, ideal for the flat plains but useless for mountainous land. After much effort we arrived there and we could not find even a little arable land to cultivate. This was the reason that forced us one day to leave, in order to find the land we need on our own. From that day we are searching, roaming from village to village and from region to region; having traversed the whole of Epirus without success. Eventually we reached Macedonia. We’ve come this far, hoping to find in her the land we need, so that with the sweat of our brow can provide for our families. But, unfortunately not only did we not find any cultivated land that is free, we didn’t even find any uncultivated land. Wherever we wretches have been, wherever we have passed, we have always been expelled, because wherever we go we bring destruction. You see it is very costly to provide for us. That’s why whoever attempted to give us hospitality even for a while, be they an individual or governmental body, they were destroyed economically. That’s also the reason why they expel us wherever we may be, because nobody can provide for us especially for any length of time. We’re searching for somewhere to graft ourselves, we’ve reached your region and have told our plight to those we have met, they in turn have sent us to you. They said you could do something for us and that you would not dismiss us empty handed.
Upon finishing his story, he asked that my father not only help them, but that he back them, so that they might survive.
What they were asking was nothing little. They wanted his help in finding fields to cultivate; to give them credit so as to cover their needs for food and provisions which they will need in order to establish themselves; to cover their needs for health and also the cost for renting the fields that they would need.
Confronted with their need to survive, they promised with great spirit to cover the dept that they would incur. They would do this from the harvest of the wheat and the sale of the tobacco, which they would grow. They did not consider for a minute that no sane person would rely on a future crop, because there is no guarantee of its success.
My father listened to them with attention and showed understanding for the suffering that they had endured, but he replied to them with sobriety, “I haven’t any fields that I can give you. I haven’t even got the ability to cover all of your needs, especially considering that you will require a year as you yourselves say. I sympathize with your concern as to how you will survive and will therefore gladly provide food for you until you find somewhere to stay. Beyond that I can’t do any more and that is not a little if you consider that you constitute an entire village”.
We were relieved when we herd our father take such a restrained decision regarding their problem, which had come to us literally out of the blue, and we briefly thought that we were in the clear.
The refugees were not intimidated in the least by what they herd our father tell them. They went to their wagons from which they brought and dropped in front of our fathers feet some twenty or so emaciated children as well as quite a few elderly and emaciated individuals, which in turn addressed my father with a trembling voice, “We have nowhere else to go. If you do not take care of us, we will stay here to die on the street right in front 
of your shop. After which, you can consider what apology you can give to God for having forsaken us”.
My fathers heart bled from what he heard and he replied to them, “I will reply to you, but first I must hear my families opinion, because whatever my decision is they will also bear the consequences”.
He gave them all the bread that we had along with olives, halva, tea, water and a large stew-pot, so that they could make their own breakfast. They had told us that they were traveling and did not have any food with them.
After a while our father called us to the shop, in order to conceder what position we would take concerning their problem. “Mother and son, think and tell me what we should do”.
I held the funds of our business and knew very well what our abilities were. At that time we supplied provisions for twelve villages and our annual turnover was approximately five million drachmas. I mention the drachmas, because that is when the old inflated money was abolished, a thousand drachma note had the value of a drachma. They were given to the children as gifts, and were worth ten candies. The oka system of weights went the same way, replaced by the kilogram.
Mindful of our own position, I said to my father, “half of our turnover is in cash and the other half in credit. Most of the annual needs of our present customers is for food and they owe us half of our annual turnover. But the new customers want everything. They want houses to live in. rent to pay for the fields. Spores to plant. Materials for the houses they will build. Cloths for both them and their children. Expenses for weddings and baptisms, medicine and doctors for both themselves and their livestock.
All this expense will far surpass the turnover of all the villages and from what the newcomers say all of this will be on credit, seeing as they don t even have one drachma to give us. How can we undertake such an obligation, when we ourselves don’t have the necessary economic strength”
Upon hearing my side, he said to my mother, “What do you say woman?”
“I say that if you foolishly accept them, not only will we loose all that we have, but we will end up owing the dept they ask us to cover. I ask you to think very carefully not only of them, but also of us; think of the future of our children. Also consider how much effort we have made to obtain what we have to date. It would be good if you remove from your mind whatever thoughts you have for those people, before it is too late for all of us.”
When my mother had finished giving her opinion, I heard my father say, “I see that both mother and son agree and from your position you don’t care in the least for these people. What kind of persons are you? Don’t you fear God? What answer will you give to Him on the day of judgment?”
This is what we feared. The weakness our father had towards the elderly and to children. No doubt the refugees had been informed and that is why they were playing on our fathers emotional weak spot.
In struggling to solve their problem, they did not hesitate to take advantage of our weakness; which for us seemed like a nightmare. That is why we did our utmost to free him of it, hoping in this way to save our possessions.
Since our father was unable to overcome himself, it was then certain that he would do everything that they asked, no matter how hard we tried to change his mind. We feared the outcome of this undertaking and justly so; because upon committing ourselves to such a large undertaking, we put our economical well-being to great risk and as it seemed as if we would loose everything due to them.
I foresaw that something of this nature would happen from the moment that I saw those refugees outside our shop at the break of dawn. That is why I said to myself with certainty, “From here on nothing will be as before, both for my family and for my personal future; things will be bad”. I gained this information, whilst sitting on a chair outside of our shop some time ago, by contemplating my life. I would from here onwards live with as much money as a simple worker, it would be sufficient to live with dignity, but not so that I could live with ease”.
I therefore told my father, as also did my mother, that it really was a great risk and that the responsibility was also great; that if we now commit ourselves we will not be able to withdraw in the future. He would hear nothing of it saying, “Don’t worry, we will bring things around. After all, when it all boils down whatever we have, we have gained this from the people. That is why we must also give these people a chance. Since nobody else has helped them, let us help them. After all, why worry? Is it yours? In the final analysis it all
belongs to God. He brings forth and also He takes. Let Him do as He wishes with His belongings.”
He said this and went outside of the shop, where he gave his word to the refugees; that he would fund there livelihood.
Upon obtaining my fathers word they thanked him and gathered their people and wagons from the street. They turned back and went to take residence in one of the deserted villages, where he had told them that they would find the necessary fields to rent and cultivate.
My father did not do all of this blindly. He hoped that the refugees would work their fields and at the end of the year, that they would have the necessary harvest, in order to repay him the money he had advanced them. They in turn were not indifferent, they immediately set to their plan, they looked for fields and found some to cultivate. At the same time they started to build their houses, whilst also catering to their daily needs; all of this against the future crops, if any, be it from
