Victor is a dear friend and a wonderful member of The Cyprus Strollers. He is involved in the organization of a 3-day series of events, taking place in the suburb of Kaimakli from 20 to 20 September (https://pame-kaimakli.org/). He asked me to spread the message, and even though I don’t engage in promoting similar requests from other members, I am making this exception. Here’s why.

Like many people, I ‘always’ thought that one’s country is the country one has been born in. Until, living in Athens, I met Nigel; another dear friend, and fellow hiker. Nigel was living in Greece for many years, and had led many hikes for us. We thought of him as an Englishman. One day he took us to Lavrion, a location over one hour’s drive from Athens. The route we followed passed from an ancient silver mine, which had been half-restored as an archaeological site. While walking, Nigel told us in a passionate, detailed description the story of one Persian War, in which the Athenians (led by Themistocles) used the silver they were excavating from Lavrion, to finance the construction of the fleet that proved instrumental in winning the battle (Salamis, 480 BC). It was on that day that I experienced a paradigm shift, because I realized that Nigel was more Greek than persons born in Greece.

Victor is a Cypriot resident of Kaimakli, more Kaimakliotis than persons born in Kaimakli, and I urge every reader to attend this festival.

The above train of thinking is additionally relevant, in light of the reality facing Cyprus and Europe with immigrants we continue to fail to view with all our sympathy.