Lady Bilali is very fond of basketball, especially the basketball of Giannis Antetokounmpo. In winter, he did not miss the Bucks games even at dawn, despite the workload of his Ph.D. Like all Greeks.

He came to Greece from Albania in 1996 with his parents and a sister who is only a few months old. They crossed the border, a caravan of people seeking happiness for themselves and their children.

He himself was only 4.5 years old, but he still remembers the cries of “outdated outdated”, “soldier, soldier”, the command to lie down, hide in the bushes. “The journey was difficult, dangerous. We had to pass under the noses of the border guards on both sides. But for me, this movement was completely natural. I saw that the village was emptying (s.s. near Kortsa), the regime had changed, people were leaving for large urban centers, I remember seeing trucks full of their life. One day I asked my father why they were leaving? They’re getting better, he told me, and I didn’t ask anymore. Therefore, when they told me that we were leaving, I thought that it was natural that we were also going for the better.

They found a house in Ano Tumba. The lady found other children who spoke his language, as he played in the street in the village, he played there too. “Only that I discovered new flavors in ice cream and chocolate,” he laughs. Their home was a place of love and peace, she recalls. “My parents and I went for a walk, I always saw them with a smile. They never showed us what they went through. I began to understand what happens when we need to get documents for a legal stay. I saw how we were treated in the civil services, that some officials looked down on my parents. I remember it looked bad, but my parents forgave them. They felt somewhat obligated.”

He received citizenship at 18, at the age of 26. “Until then, I extended my residence permit, which is one of the most traumatic things that can happen to you, is the renewal of your Greek origin. It’s in your head all year, a Sisyphean process.” Of course, along the way, he met people who offered him all their love and recognition. “I am not the child my father just brought me here. I am deliberately here. Greece is my homeland by choice. Feeling aggravated, matured and matured. This is my spot. And if one day I go abroad, it will be like a Greek who went in search of happiness.

A few days ago, he went to Albania for three days with his sister to see their grandparents. On their way back, they were asked at the border control where they were going. The sister, without thinking, answered: “our house.” Nothing more was asked of us. It was appetizing. Yes, there is more than one place that can be your home. Greece is my homeland, but I do not erase images, feelings for my first homeland. Whether you consider yourself a Greek or an Albanian is a false dilemma, many second generation children feel both, and having to choose is cruel. The Antetokounmpo brothers could not play for any other national team than the Greek one, because wherever they are, this place feels like home to them. This does not mean that they deny the memories of the first homeland, the language of their parents and their traditions. We must finally find the courage to recognize the hybridity in the identities of immigrants, without evaluating it negatively.

This time EuroBasket will see him for another reason. “It’s nice to see the mosaic in the team. This multiculturalism that existed before but is now more visible. We hid her under the carpet, but she came out and needs a place. Like a flower blooming on concrete,” he concludes.