Demetra Christoforou:
Better late than never
I was born and raised in London, where I received a pure English education.
For the last 18 years, I have lived in Cyprus. Although my parent’s
mother language was Greek, I could speak only a little Greek and I could
not write at all.
Upon completion of my studies, on a holiday trip to Cyprus, my parent’s
country, I met and married my husband and we decided to live there. Very
soon we were a very happy family of five. We had two girls and a boy,
my husband was running a small business and we were leaving in a small
but very nice bungalow.
Although I was a happy housewife, I was facing a problem with the Greek
language, which I was not using properly. Many people were thinking that
I was a foreigner because of my poor Greek and that was hurting me very
much and was making me feel very sorry. It was also very hard for me to
watch the television programs, the majority of which were with Greek dialogues.
My problem became more serious when I tried to help my children with
their homework.It was then that I took the decision to learn how to read
and write Greek, my mother language. My desire for that was very strong,
but I did not know where to go for that.
One day, looking into my son’s schoolbag, I found a brochure of
the Adult Education Centre. I found out that there were Greek lessons
for illiterate adult people. I took the opportunity immediately and joined
a night class.
The people attending were all adults of different ages, youngsters and
grown-ups, coming all from different occupations, professionals, labourers
and housewives, but all with a common desire: to learn how to read and
write Greek.
The lessons were taking place once a week, at a primary school near to
my home. Our teacher, Mrs Christiana Georgiou, was very friendly, facing
everybody with patience, giving each one individually the required support
and encouraging all of us to carry on.
It is indeed a great honour to us to have such a nice teacher, who devoted
so much time teaching us our mother language. Out of that class we learn
to read and write thus being able to communicate properly, orally and
in writing, making our lives much easier and meaningful.
We deeply thank you Mrs Christiana, for the valuable assistance you have
given us. We have taken so much from you and we promise that we will carry
on our efforts and next year, to improve ourselves even more, for better
use of the Greek language.
Learning is the biggest tool of the human power. Someone without knowledge
is like a ship in the middle of the ocean without sails or a gun with
blank bullets. A very big thank you, to our teacher and to the Adult Education
Centres, for the opportunities they are giving us to enrich our knowledge.
You should always remember that, “Better late than never.”
Thasos Kontoloucas: Learning – a new lease of life
Being the eldest child of a family with four boys and two girls, I had
to get a job very early to support my family financially. So I chose to
become a decorator because at that time it was a well-paid job, although
I did not like it very much.
Until the age of 45 I was a happy family man, with a lovely wife, three
charming children, living in a nice house and running my own business,
as a decorator.
In 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus and occupied almost half of the island,
including my hometown, Famagusta. As a consequence we were forced to run
off, leaving everything behind, and had to settle down as a refugee in
another place, Limassol. There, I managed to start my life all over again,
set up my business, build a new house and looked after my children.
At the age of 57, I had another strike in my life. I lost my wife. The
blow was very hard. My life became miserable, especially after work, when
I was going back to an empty house, because I was a homebody (home loving)
man.
Then, almost by accident, I heard about the Adult Education Centres and
joined a woodcarving class, which I’d always hoped to do but never
before had the chance. This changed my life completely.
At my premises I set up a small workshop, where I was spending all my
spare time. I did the same at my home, where I was spending almost all
my time, when I was returning home after work and all the weekends.
At the Adult Education Centres I met other people who had the same interest
as me. Many of those used to come to my place and discuss ideas or just
talk about woodcarving. All of a sudden my premises became the centre
for all those people interested in woodcarving.
Gradually, I gave up decorating completely and became fully involved
with woodcarving and restoring old (antique) furniture. I enjoyed it very
much, because it was the kind of job that I always wanted to do, but had
never before had the chance.
Today, I am 75 years old, and still practicing woodcarving, but for pleasure.
I have made many pieces of carved furniture for my children and my grandchildren.
People still come to my place to ask for my opinion and assistance or
talk about woodcarving, or just to pay a social visit for chatting.
My involvement with adult education, for almost 20 years, at a very
difficult period, when I lost my wife, proved to be a very crucial stage
of my life. It has helped me overcome all the problems of loneliness that
I was facing at that time. It also made me change my job from what I was
in a way forced to do, to what I liked to do.
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