A jail for "illegals"

Those who commit a crime and harm other individuals on purpose or in their behalf should be punished, and a stay in a prison might help these people to get back into society and don't repeat the same mistakes.

But what about the people whose only crime is not getting a passport, a visa, or other travel documents? What about the people who are running away from opression, injustice and harassment from their own compatriots and their leaders? What about those people who just were born in a place where there are no chances to grow up as a person, to satisfy the basic needs, to live with dignity? What about the people who cross a whole continent carrying nothing but the hope that Europe will bring them a better future? 

Is it fair for these people to be in a prison? Is it necessary to treat them as criminals just because they don't have a piece of paper with them? What is the teaching they are given while staying there? Which is the profit for the society? What about history? Did not Europeans ranaway from wars and misery before? Were not Cypriots refugees 40 years ago? Is it that easy to forget? Apparently it is.

Today I went to Menoya detention centre, better said, the jail for "illegal" imigrants. It is, indeed, a jail. Even though the food is good and the policemen treat them nice "if you do what they tell you to do", "they can go outside and play basketball or football in the morning and afternoon, and they can have their phones", one might say, "it's not that bad". It's not that bad except for the lack of essential aspect of the human nature, freedom.

It's hard to describe the feeling and the emotions that arise when you enter a prison, big fences, wire with spikes, document control, eternal security control, exhaustive checking, and doors closing behind you. I don't know if it's because imprisonment is against human nature, or because of the feeling that something is wrong, something is not working in the society, in the system, in the world and in ourselves, but the fact is that being in a prison, even for a 2 hours visit, always provoke a strange feeling inside you.

It's an awkard situation when is the first time you meet the people there, a lot of questions come to you while driving there: what to say? what to ask? what to do? how should I behave? what can I do?

I guess there are no answers for that, every person is different, every situation and circumstances are not the same, nor are the needs or what they are looking for.

A person who only has one bullet left or will be deported, after seven years living here and speaking fluent English and Greek; another person who only has the Supreme Court left to appeal and try to make his life in Cyprus; and a man who is already 8 months in prison waiting for the answer for his asylum request. Different cases, common complaint: "Why do I have to be in a prison?"

However, not everything was bad today, our last visit today came into the visitors room with a big smile, despite his difficult situation, we laughed about the danger of playing volleyball in the court, about African footballers and their superhuman speed and power, about other fellows we know...

Maybe that's the key to stand it, keep positive, keep smiling, assuming the situation and don't let it get you down.
I know you can, I know you will, you are a survivor, you went through many difficult experiences that made you stronger, stay strong man, don't give up, we are waiting for you outside, we don't forget you, better must come.

To all the people in Menoya

Cats, cats everywhere

Have you noticed that Cyprus is full of cats? It could easily change its name to Catpurrs. They are all over the place. Wherever you go, look closely. Do you see it? Yes, right there, that is Mr Whiskers.

Since we agreed that this is an island of cats I think it's quite important to know your cats. I mean our cats. Therefore I decided to dedicate this post to all the cats around our apartment. I have been observing every single one of them and now I can tell you what is going on here. And yes, pictures are included.

I should definitely start with Brownie.

Brownie (or as I like to call him: Pumpkin) was the first cat we met here and from the first moment it was clear that he thinks he runs this place. And as you can see on the picture, he surely is the 'big boss' material. He is very friendly to people, enormously cuddly but kind of an ass to other cats. Expects food everytime he sees someone and then is very hurt if he does not receive any. At the beginning he tried his best to meow in order to get some food, but according to some of us these attemps were just riddiculous, since his meowing sounded more like a princess who was expecting a prince on a white horse but he showed up on a dappled horse instead.
Needed to be said that he is used to go inside the apartment. But because one of us is allergic to cats all the cats are forbidden to go inside. However this little rascal just does not care and everytime we leave a window or a door open, suddenly we can hear his meowing somehow closer... One of us could tell you a story about how he/she came to his/her room just to find this crook lying in the bed. Upon request to leave he just stretched his body and complained about disturbing his sweet sleep.

Next cat should be Soft Guy.

This guy is so soft it will melt your heart. He never fights and is very submissive. If you give him food he is happy if you don't he does not mind, because more than food he is interested in cuddling. Recently we agreed that he is probably just a dog trapped in cat's body. He does not fetch, but he is always merrily happy to see someone. Also, he is here all the time or just a call away.



Then there are cats we do not know much about.

Pirate

He does not have a wooden leg, but he has just one eye, thus Pirate. Altough I cannot imagine him drinking rum nor on a boat, I imagine he fights a lot; he looks like a typical street cat. He does not visit us often and when he does he just sits and observes. When I try to approach him he runs away, but I am sure I am close to pat him on the head. Cats cannot resist being worshiped.

Happy cat on the left

Angelinos

One day we were sitting on our terrasse and enjoying breakfast before going to our Greek lesson. And we had a lovely guest, friend from Canada who was also in the Greek class. Because she was soon about to go back to Canada and because we all like her we asked her to name a wild cat that just appeared on our terrasse. She decided to name her Angelina. Weeks passed, we did not see Angelina for a while but then we did and we found out it's a male cat. And since we wanted to keep the name our friend chose I think you will agree that the only logical conclusion was rename the cat as Angelinos.
He turned out to be quite a funny cat. He likes to play with other cats, preferably with their tails, and if you approach him slowly he will let you rub his head, sometimes even playfully uses his paws.


As you can see so far it has been just male cats. Probably because it's three women in the house the cats decided to help the only man in the house. But we do have female cats.


Ginger

Like most of women this cat is a pure mystery. We know nothing about her. And just like the Loch Ness monster or Yetti you can barely see her on the picture. But just as Nessie and Yetti, Ginger exists. She spends most of her time in the front of our house with her girl friend and she is extremely timid. My secret thought is that she is actually Brownie's sister, they had to look alike before someone put him in the washing mashine.

Fluffinda

The fluffiest cat we have around. She is Ginger's best friend and they often hang out together. Somehow she is always here, but hiding so no one sees her. She likes to sleep on our table or chairs, when she is alone here. If you are lucky enough you might get closer to her and even touch
her. But you would clearly see that she does not enjoy it much. And the moment you stop focusing on her she slips away.
It is just a matter of time when we will have some fluffy kittens.





I saved the best for the end. Sometimes you see a cat and you fall in love. To me it happens with almost every cat. But then there are special cats with which you do not fall in love, you just are (in) love.
From the first time I saw this cat I was captured. There was something in his eyes that left me speachless. But because he would never let anyone to come closer, he ran away everytime, I named him

Tough Guy.

He showed up twice a month, spend some hours and disappeared. Every effort to get closer to him was wasteful. But I know that if you want to win heart of an animal (or a man) you have to make it with a help of food. So once in a time I left slice of cheese, or a piece of meat outside. One day, not that long ago, I left bit more food and when he finished eating I stayed and offered him my hand. He just could not resist.

From this moment we became friends. He is always around, almost everytime accompanied by Soft Guy. And everytime I offer him my hand he comes and lets me cuddle him. Or they just lie on our terrasse. Often meowing loudly to demand some food. And since Tough Guy is here, Brownie's meowing has improved and now he sounds properly. So basically begging for food turned into a concert of symphonic orchestra.

Oh, I almost forgot. There is one more cat. We saw it just three times or four times so we are not even sure if it is a female or a male. It always just goes through our backyard, never stops. From Brownie's reaction it might look like it is his arch enemy, but the cat does not give a damn. I call him Capo di tutti capi. For obvious reasons we do not have a picture.


Two times there was a dog too. But it belongs to a fellow neighbour so we do not count it as our pet, and we can barely count it as a cat. Although it made a poo here and ate the food for cats (but just because the cats did not want to eat it at all).
And that's it. Now when you know basic things about them you can have a nice chat when you come. Cats always appreciate decent conversations.


I am not saying this piece was written by a cat, but I am not saying it wasn't.

Do not judge a book by its cover!

I usually do. When I go to a library or a bookshop, first thing I do is wander around in search for inspiration. I let the book call me and then when it jumps in my hand, I look at the cover, reading every single tiny detail on it, even the most unusual, like the name of the graphic designer who took care of the "outfit" of the book. Even the touch or the smell are important...is it smooth, or rough? Does it smell of paper and ink? Next step is opening the first page and reading the incipit, just a couple of sentences are enough, and then I go to the last page and read the last word. If it is convincing and awakes my curious, the adventure starts and I bring it home.

That's how I judge a book...but what happens with humans?

Last Thursday, the 1st of October, we went to a human library.
Before applying for this project I had never heard of it, but the name was convincing enough to make me do more research and when I found out what it was, I liked the idea very much. It was one of the tiny details that made me choose this evs instead of another one. It was exciting to finally take part in this event and touch with my hand what it meant and how it worked.

In the frame of Phaneromeni Square, there they were, the human-books, sitting on their shelf, waiting for somebody to be attracted by their cover and starting consultig them. None of them was left to dust, there were enough curious readers for everybody. The organization was very efficient and quick: read the description, choose your book, book your reading and here we go...half an hour of consultation and you return the book to its shelf undamaged, ready to move to the next one.
And what you share is much more than a catchy title or a colorful cover (sometimes white, sometimes black, sometimes both)!

The first minute could be a bit awkward, maybe because it is the first time you read such a book, maybe because you have so many questions that you don't know where to start. But if you allow yourself to go deeper in the conversation, this awkward minute will last just one second and you will dis-cover pages and pages of beautiful different stories. What makes them special is that they are full of feelings, emotions, welcoming smiles, eyes that look directly into yours, eyes that change with every word as the story develops, page after page.

And in the end, when the clock tics its last second, you will find yourself filled with that story, your mind open, your heart thankful, your eyes different. Maybe even your way of looking changed. After sharing somebody else' story, you may realize that in the end, even if we all are different from one another, with different covers, titles, year of publication, graphic designer, stories, ... we still have so much in common, each one of us is special and worth-reading!


Special thanks to the two beautiful books I read and to the ones I didn't read, hoping to have the chance to read them in another library.