“We were all very close. A few students who were trying to keep a strong Greek element in a distant land.”

OUR Katerina Domazinaki she remembers the days when she and her two younger sisters, Eleni and Hara, they studied at the Greek school in Addis Ababa. Every year on March 25, students took part in a bright school holiday dedicated to their origin. A young generation of Ethiopian Greeks grew up in this country, her thoughts and eyes were focused on Greece.

“The March 25th celebration was a very important event for our school, so preparations started at least a month earlier. The holiday always took place on weekends so that everyone could attend. Dressed in traditional costumes, we enthusiastically danced in front of our families and official guests of the Greek community,” says Eleni Domazinaki in K. “What I remember from the celebration is the feeling of pride and nostalgia for our homeland, which we experienced very strongly,” adds Hara, the youngest of the family.

Three sisters were born in Athens in the 90s to Greek parents, and in 2002 they settled with their mother in Addis Ababa. All the years they studied at the Greek school in the Ethiopian capital, and then returned to study in Greece. Today, all three have built their lives away from Ethiopia: Katerina is a dentist in Athens, Eleni is a veterinarian in London, and Hara graduated from Athens Medical School two years ago.. All three look back with nostalgia to their days at the Greek school, and even today maintain a strong relationship with the country in which they grew up.

“I visit Ethiopia at least once a year because my mother still lives there. For me, every time is a journey through time. It’s nice to reconnect with old classmates I met there and reminisce about the great moments we spent together in high school,” says Eleni.

They felt more like Greeks than Ethiopians.

It has been 13 years since, on a journalistic assignment, I watched – on days like this – children rehearse at the Greek school in Addis Ababa ahead of the national anniversary. Greek children who spent many years in the Ethiopian capital, such as the Domazinaki sisters, as well as Ethiopian children of Greek origin, such as Alexandros, Christos, Lydia and Panagiotis, who had never traveled to Greece before. But they knew the language, studied its history, and felt, as they said, more Greek than Ethiopian. Their big dream was to come to the country they considered their first home, study here and build their lives.

OUR Alexander Kouros, was in this company of children. In 2010 he graduated from the Greek School of Addis Ababa. He managed to get a scholarship and enter the Athens Agricultural School., but the authorities sent him back to Ethiopia for a student visa. “I didn’t give up. I came back, got my visa and went back to Greece to start my studies,” he tells K, recounting some of the hardships he faced, especially during his early years in Athens. “The police often stopped me on the street and took me to the police department because of my skin color. It was something I didn’t like, it bored me. Growing up in Greek culture and the Greek way of thinking, I graduated from a Greek school, and at home we only spoke Greek, why did I need to prove my origin?

Things got much better for him when he moved to Rhodes and started working in the tourism industry. “There I became a normal Greek,” he says happily. “I made many friends who were interested in learning about my history and the country in which I grew up. They told me that one day they want us to make a trip to Ethiopia so that I can take them there.”

Alexandros is currently living temporarily in England, but he says he plans to return to Greece soon to start his own tourism business in Rhodes.

“Fighting for Scholarships”

It is not easy for all schoolchildren to live the Greek dream. “Even if they are repressed,” the current director of the Greek school in Addis Ababa emphasizes “K”, George Philiswho has been teaching there for the last ten years. “Despite the love children have for Greece, most of them cannot afford to travel. Also, these children do not receive a Greek passport, while they have all the certificates that they are Greek by origin. Color doesn’t make a Greek,” he stresses, and touches on the issue of scholarships, which he says should be given special attention by the Greek Ministry of Education.

“We are struggling to find scholarships for the remaining students because there are none,” he adds.

The Greek community is “fading away” along with the School.

However, today there are even more problems. The difficult political and economic conditions that have developed in Ethiopia over the past decade have forced many to leave the country. The Greek community, which has been strong for many decades, is now also gradually “disappearing”. Today, only 200 Greeks remain in Addis Ababa, and the school, which first opened in 1910 as an elementary school, is in danger of closing within the next year.

“In 2010, the school had about 60 students. In 2023, there are only eight children left in the last two grades of the lyceum, while some other children of Greek origin now attend the English school Kalogeropouleio, which is next to the Greek school. In fact, in doing so, the teaching of Greek was boosted with a few extra hours per week, especially for some students of Greek origin,” says Mr. Philis at K.

Two or three years ago, he planned, according to him, to stay in the African country for the next few years. However, events disrupted his plans. “I think next year will be the last year for both the school and for me in Addis Ababa,” he says, adding: “I am now thinking of returning to Athens. Unless a miracle happens by then.”

However, today’s conditions did not affect the preparation of the school holiday. The National Anniversary will be celebrated next Sunday with the same splendor in the public hall, in the presence of the rest of the Greeks of the area.

George Phyllis is the teacher who undertook to organize the holiday this year. “Last month we devoted many evenings to rehearsals, and we all do it with great enthusiasm. Children have a lot of enthusiasm and enthusiasm. We want a better result and we all feel proud again.”