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Fire
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Evros: Migrants on the frontiers of EU
Orthodox Monasteries: The other side of a scandal
Addiction
Alchemists of Compassion - "KE.PE.P" Center for Nursing Children
Romà below Acropolis
Mentally ill next door
Mushroom safari in burned Greece
Fournoi : Lonesome in the Aegean Sea
Sithonia, Halkidiki
Rhodes: It is the world on an island
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Aotearoa:Land of the White Cloud
Greece: Fire
Courage from the ashes: In the scorched land of Ileia & Messinia-Peloponissos, we were not searching anymore for the catastrophe and its misery. We were looking instead for the smithereens of strength and courage that people had been left with, following their trials and tribulations. Text:© Giorgos Xepapadakos Photographs:© Maro Kouri
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Greece: Natural Spas
Spa bathing in Greece, a remedy for stress and illness for thousands of years, is now being re-discovered by national celebrities, tourists and locals alike. All over the country, deep underground streams of hot mineral-rich water bubble to the surface and are used to soak away tension, aches and pains, and even to treat chronic ailments. Some spas are in natural settings of great beauty- like a waterfall of warm water hidden in a forest glade. Others are modern and luxurious, equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and gadgets designed to pamper, relax and promote healing. I 've traveled the length and breadth of the country in an old Mercedes tracking down little-known spas and checking out the variety of treatments in the better-known ones. I have talked to many enthusiastic patrons from various nations and all walks of life. I describe this journey as one of life 's memorable experiences that leaves its traces on your soul and body. Photographs and Text by: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Fournoi : Lonesome in the Aegean Sea
Fournoi Korseon is located east of the north Aegean, between Samos and Ikaria. Fournoi is part of a group of three islands, the others being Thymaina and Agios Minas. The island has an area of 31 km² and about 1470 inhabitants (2001), most of whom are fishermen, although during the summer season they are also occupied in tourist activities, specialised in making tourists feel welcome. The whole island smells good food! Some of the inhabitants continue the know-how of making local products like milk, cheese, honey and soft drinks. The beauty of countless natural fjords creates an image that the visitor will always carry in his mind and soul. Text & Photographs:© Maro Kouri
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Greece: Mentally ill next door
A story for the mentally ill people who live next door: Once upon a time they were institutionalized, they were given electroconvulsive and they were being drugged. Nowadays the state is trying to deinstitutionalize them and reintegrate them into society. Following the European Union’s direction 815/84, when they are not considered dangerous to the society and to themselves, they have every right to live among us. Some of them are living next door, and some are sleeping in the streets - if they are homeless. They wander around with a body marked by the hardship they are going through, and if someday, society stops to treat them with disdain, it will signify a progress in its own morality. This reportage describes daily life moments of some Athenians who carry the signs of mental disturbance. Text: © Giorgos Xepapadakos. Photographs: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Sithonia, Halkidiki
Sithonia, the middle leg of Halkidiki, receives annually thousands of visitors from Greece and Europe: from the camping-site festival of Armenistis to the windless bay of Porto-Koufo, and from the engraved rocks of Vourvourou to unending beach of Kalamitsi and the mountainous made of stone villages. Sycamores and pine trees engulf the famous for their white sand beaches. Exotic beach-bars captivate visitors with world music, offering refreshing coctails until dawn, when the sun comes up behind the mountain of Athon (Agion Oros). Photographs: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Addiction
Around midnight, the central squares of Athens overflow with drug users. Major distribution spots, such as the squares of Omonia, Vathi, and Klavthmonos, resemble scenes from George Romero’s cult film, “Living Dead”. Teenagers wander aimlessly, begging for money and looking for a dealer that can provide them with a hit of heroin or strong tranquilizers. Some of the pictured users will not be alive after a few months. The more lucky ones (a small minority) will have entered a detox program. The return route from the dark world of substance abuse is filled with obstacles and some don’t even want to return. Around 300 persons die annually in Greece from overdose or bad heroin. 65% of the deaths occur in Athens, while the total number of users is estimated to be 60.000. Text: © Giorgos Xepapadakos Photographs: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Rhodes: It is the world on an island
The island of the Knights and of the jet-setters is considered to be one of Greece’s most popular resorts for over forty years. The old city of Rhodes is one of the largest and most well-preserved medieval towns in Europe. During the summer months, festivals and traditional feasts are organized in the streets and open squares of Rhodes, which end up in all-night festivities. Sun is seldom absent from Rhodes, even during the winter months. Faliraki, Lindos (occasional home for Pink Floyd) and the 2,400 year old city can be equally enchanting, as well as the mountains and the south regions. That’s where the island’s virgin nature is concealed: running waters, pine trees and hidden tracks, traditional and by the “civilization of cement” villages, where grandmothers still bake bread rolls in the oven, while grandfathers distill ‘souma’ (a local spirit) or make cheese. They say that Rhodes is a cosmopolitan island. Wrong. It is the world on an island. Text: © Elias Barbikas, Photographs: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Alchemists of Compassion - "KE.PE.P" Center for Nursing Children
One year ago, I heard for the first time about the Center for Nursing Children (KE.PE.P) in the small city Lehena, in Ileia prefecture of Southwest Greece. The reportage was referring to the tragic death of a child from suffocation during the night. He was swallowing down pieces from his mattress. At that time, there was no closed circuit camera yet, and when the few nurses realized what had happened, it was unfortunately too late… I knocked at the door of the institution one winter morning. The administration and the staff not only opened the door to me, but they invited me to stay in their guest room where parents usually stay. But, there were never parents there. They expressed their despair that people who were outside the institution actually could never realise the harsh difficulties of the children's everyday life. I started capturing the rough and tough conditions of looking after 79 children that suffer from the worst disabilities, and who live here totally forgotten even by their parents. Birth irregularities, severe psychokinetic impairments, and difficult cases of mental retardation constitute a mosaic of rare diseases that “could lead to ten PhDs within just one year”, according to the deputy minister of health and professor of paediatrics Mr Kostantopoulos. The total lack of stable medical presence and specialized nursing staff, forces the authorities to “protect” some of the children who suffer from self-destructive tendencies by closing them into wooden cages and locking them up. On the other hand, the staff says that is their only way to avoid overdoses of sedatives. The nursing staff constituting only 21 nurses men and women, do everything they can to take care of, to lullaby, to play with the children, giving all their soul and their courage. At the same time, similar institutions in Netherlands and in Germany, occupy 600 persons, meaning 4 specialized people to take care of each kid in more modern conditions. On the other side, the young, foreign volunteers create with their work and their presence, a warm environment found only in model European institutions. With the jubilant assistance of the volunteers, a child of mental disability can evaluate itself and learn through playing, drawing, dancing, walking or doing gymnastics. Such a dramatic place is accused by part of the press as “Souls Storage”; a small number of people do their best so that those children feel like they have found a home. As a result, most of the children have surpassed the expected age limit. Since 1987, when the “KE.PE.P” opened, there has never been any photo reportage inside the building. These are the first photographs that capture KE.PE.P’s story and reality. May the example of the solidarity and self-sacrifice of the nursing staff and the young volunteers, be followed by all of us. Text by © Yorgos Xepapadakos, Photographs by © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Mushroom safari in burned Greece
Two Spanish hunters of mushrooms,Joakim Cunill and Luis Casanovas, found themselves in the Greek forests that were burned by the terrible fire that occurred during 2007. They were searching for a rare eatable type, which sprouts only in the ash. Following them, we understood the uncontrollable force of nature. Ten months afterwards the absolute destruction of August, it was full of fruits, as long as you had eyes to see them. Text: ©Yorgos Xepapadakos Photographs: © Maro Kouri
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Greece: Orthodox Monasteries: The other side of a scandal
“Decency and Humbleness” was the main cue of conservative government of K. Karamanlis in Greece. Two words taken straight from the principles of Christian Monasticism. Dramatic irony, one of the major political and financial scandal of the decade, arises when the government try to transfer - under outrageous terms - public property to the ownership of a famous monastery of Mt. Athos, Vatopedi. Decency and humbleness of the “Cathars” of the government party ends up in hell, a minister resigned, and more than thirty officials accused for this case. But the most effective consequence in Greek society was the humiliation of a large group of people who still believe in Orthodox Church and in the ideal of monasticism. Instead of Vatopedian abbot Efraim who became an expert of real estate, Greek monks and nuns continue to live their life in the simplicity and devotion of faith. We followed them to their monasteries and churches, to litanies and fests, to their own cells, trying to find the other side of a scandal: Living with spiritualism on our godless times. Text by Yorgos Xepapadakos. Photographs by Maro Kouri
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Greece: Evros: Migrants on the frontiers of EU
There is no illegal human being in this world. In November last year, the European Union's border police sent emergency forces (Frontex) to help guard Greece's borders. Most illegal migrants enter Greece through its 200km border with Turkey. Between 70 to 90% of irregular migrants enter Europe through Greece and the country is struggling to cope. All the detention centers in the area are full and the government has backlog of at least 60,000 asylum cases. Those migrants that make it across the River Evros or past the heavily patrolled 12.5km land section of the border, walk through acres of marshy land, wheat and asparagus fields until they reach an inviting village. Many of them walk for hours through mud and swamps, and usually at daybreak, following the train track south towards Alexandroupolis. Other migrants seek shelter in abandoned buildings. On the way they discard passports and ID in order to say they are from countries Greece cannot deport them to, like Afghanistan, Palestine or Somalia. In my eyes, Evros is the incorruptible Greece that hasn’t yet vanished, the hospitality of the inhabitants of the border with the earthly eyes, the watery virgin plains of the border and the courage, which along with aspiration and hope is deeply implanted in the deserted human heart… Maro Kouri
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Greece: Athens Riots
Greece is a debt-ridden country. The Indignant Citizens’ Movement is the peaceful sit-in of the Constitution Square of Athens named Syntagma, in front of the parliament. It started demonstrating in many cities across Greece from May 25. It is not organized by any political party. The spark was enlightened by the Tunisian Revolution that inspired many other countries of the Arab World and then the 2011 Spanish and Portugal Protests. All those demonstrations were organized through Facebook and other social Networks. Citizens united with solidarity and dignity. People assembly every night. The majority of Athenians, pass by the parliament shouting nasty words to the politicians because most of them are corrupted. People also shout “Bread, education, liberty, the dictatorship didn't end in 1973". On June 15, a huge demonstration and strike took place in Greece. Ruling Socialist party launched negotiation about a coalition government with rival conservative party. Prime Minister Yorgos Papandreou was ready to quit, because of the new austerity plans that enraged the nation which already were hit from the draconian welfare cuts. Instead of resignation, he reshuffled his government. Riot police came out in the streets with thousands of people in the square, fired repeated volleys of tear gas to repel demonstrators and provocateurs hurling ripped –up paved stones. Finally, the peaceful groups of Syntagma, managed to through out of the square provocateurs and police. On June 28, thousands of protesters clashed with riot police outside the parliament during a 48hours general strike against the midterm agreement. On June 29, riot police was extremely violent, clashes and arrests were happening meanwhile parliament approved the austerity measures for Greece to receive its next installment of 46 billion euros by the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. Photographs by Maro Kouri
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Greece: Romà below Acropolis
Almost 30,000 Romà from Albania and Bulgaria have entered Greece during the last two years. Since 1998, one thousand Romà, have lived in a slum in Botanikos area, just 3 km from Acropolis, in the municipality of Tavros. This township is in the heart of the crisis-hit Athens, where the first Botanical Garden of the world was created in the 4th century BC by Theophrastus, the most famous student of Aristotle. About 500 children from infant to 15 years of age, live under extremely unhealthy conditions in a garbage-strewn township full of rats. Their Romà families survive by stealing or collecting metal garbage in order to sell, doing the hardest job, by burning cables to extract the copper contained inside, which creates a toxic cloud from cancerous dioxines that hover over their shanty town. They sell the copper to the illegal scrappers for 4 euros per kilo. Their township is settled illegally in a private land, so they have no access to clean water, electricity, sanitation, school or medical care. Roma's rehabilitation is far from reality, since Greek society is struck hard by corruption and the economic crisis. While shantytowns are less common in Europe, the growing influx of illegal immigrants has fueled them in cities commonly used as points of entry into the EU, including the ancient - historical center of Athens.
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