“Is there any greater moral satisfaction than gratitude? From people’s smiles and kind words? It can make you outdo yourself and work non-stop day and night,” says Giorgos Kirkenidis, Founding Member and Treasurer of Axion Hellas, who inspired and helped realize the nonprofit’s first ground mission to be completed, in Column A. Several days ago. Axion Hellas was founded in 2016, at the height of the crisis, to help people in Greece access healthcare, education, entertainment and sports. To date, it has completed 11 missions in inflatable boats to the small islands of the Ionian and Aegean Seas, both with programs and infrastructure support. But Giorgos Kirkenidis, originally from Almopia, where his parents still live, had a different idea: since Axion Hellas is in a hurry to help those who live far from urban centers, then why not go to the other end of Greece, to land now , not far from Kaimaktsalan, in order to provide their charitable services there as well?

Opera and so it happened. The inflatable boats were briefly put aside and the car convoy traveled 600 kilometers with 90 people to six villages in Almopia, Pella prefecture, in four days, from 19 to 23 October. There, volunteer doctors from 17 different specialties conducted 1442 medical examinations of 447 residents of six villages: Polikarpi, Ormas, Megaplatanos, Sarakinos, Monastiraki and Korifi. Among them are ophthalmologists, cardiologists, orthopedists, dentists, endocrinologists. October is Breast Cancer Prevention and Awareness Month and the highly sensitive team of Axion Hellas volunteers welcomed 117 women from the Almopia region to the breast clinic.

As part of the Axion Hellas campaign, cultural and educational events were also implemented. Historian Maria Efthymiou gave a presentation on “Religion, Economics, Politics, Ideology: Major Intersections of World History”, while ultramarathon runner Marios Yannakou spoke to students about the effects of climate change and his personal experience in the Arctic. “On the islands, we mostly meet people who have financial means, but suffer because they are many miles from places where there is proper medical care. In mainland Greece, the economic difficulties are greater. The villagers told us that they would need at least 500 euros and multi-day trips to Thessaloniki or somewhere else to see all these doctors,” emphasizes Mr. Kirkenidis. Therefore, after the success of the last mission, Axion Hellas becomes an amphibian!