For those of us who went to the OIDFA Congress in Greece and remember Eleni Dafne (she was the young finger lace teacher), I think you will be interested to hear about the situation in Greece at the present moment. I will be glad to forward any mail you might want to send to her. ------------- Thank you so much for thinking of me and my family so much. I do not mind if you send the mail I send to you to other people. The point is that some things have changed since then.
For example a lot of fires in Peloponnisos have stopped. The problem now is what we all call The next day. What will be done with the people that have no homes to go to? All their belongings are burnt and they have no jobs since they were farmers and shepherds. Even if some have saved their sheep and goats, there is no food to give them. All plantations are gone. People may need to go to live elsewhere and find new jobs but this is not the solution. First of all they know nothing else but working in farms and with their animals. Furthermore, think of the time that there was the emigration of Greek people around the world abound 1950s. They went to the other side of the world as we all say: America, Canada, Germany, Australia etc. The point is that those people have left their houses behind but they were able to come back if they wanted. They left relatives behind that contacted them when possible. They left their ancestors graves but they were able to visit them when they would visit their homeland again. If those people leave their villages and go to the closest cities to make new lives, they will leave nothing behind. I have not visited a burned village yet, but I imagine it to be like the phantom cities we were seeing in western films. As for Evia, the main problem is with my village, Seta. There are 3 fires in Evia. The first is on South Evia, a city called Stira, and two around Seta. The fire that was 3 kilometers from Seta continued to burn until this morning (29th August). It has not ended but it came so close, 100 meters from the first houses of the village, and now is under control. I believe you have the pictures that I have sent you last year. If it went closer nothing would survive since the trees are actually in the village. On the other side of the mountain (behind the village) there is another fire in a village called Mistros. This is a very difficult fire since there are no roads for the fire department to go there, the same problem that we had with our fire that needed many planes and helicopters to throw water from the sky. If the fire continues, it will be more difficult to stop it from coming into Seta. Another fire has started in Attica near Marathonas I do not know anything more about that, it has started yesterday evening. Anyway, I hope everything will be ok in the end. Although there will be no trees in Greece we may need to live in a glass jar (like fish) in order to breath fresh air. Xi xi xi I am joking. That is all for now reporting from Greece (joke) Thank you for your concern Love Eleni ---------------------- Tess ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Tess= - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]