The emotional story of a Greek refugee girl by Grigoria and Maria

The story that I am going to tell you has not been written in any book. It has been written in the heart of the people who lived it. It is the story of Chrysovalantia ,a Greek refugee from Asia Minor. Chrysovantia was ten years old when the war between Greece and Turkey began. Her father, Dimitrys was a rich herd merchant and he was worried for his beloved only child. So he decided to send her to Greece in a ship to live with his sister in Larisa. So  Chrysovalantia's journey begins…

    One cold winter day morning Chrysovalantia embarked on a ship to Greece in search of safety. After some hours the ship anchored at Thessaloniki's port Kalamaria  She was too young to realize that the port was not Larisa she thought that she had reached at Larissa and she disembarked from the ship. When she looked for her aunt (at the port),she did not find her anywhere and she started to panic. As the time passed she got more and more hungry and afraid. When night came, she slept on a nearby bench.

     The next morning she asked a woman was walking close to the port where she was and the woman replied that she was at Thessaloniki. When the woman saw the surprise in the child’s eyes she wondered where the child wanted to go . So she asked the young girl where she was supposed to be . The child almost in tears responded that she had to be at Larisa. The kind woman asked the little girl’s name and some more information about her. She also offered to help the poor child to take her to her aunt’s house. She gave Chrysovalantia some instructions and a basket with food.

     The first thing that Chrysovalantia had to do was to take the horse cart with the name “Acropolis” to Platamona. When she caught it she started her trip to Platamona . It was a cold winter back then. During the journey there were many times that it was raining heavily so when they finally reached Platamona it was a big relief for the young child . But as she was a bit late she didn’t catch the horse cart to Larisa, so she had to go on foot for many kilometers to Pyrgetos, in order to take the next horse cart to Larisa. After two days of walking alone in the cold rainy weather, she eventually reached Pyrgetos. From there she was able to take the horse cart to Larisa. After getting on the cart she fell asleep because she was exhausted from the big distance that she had walked the previous days. She slept for almost twelve hours. When she finally reached Larisa , she tried to find her aunt's house. In order to succeed that ,she had to ask many passers-by for instructions by giving them her aunt’s home address.

       At last she managed to get to her aunt’s house. They were both so happy to see each other after such a long time. Chrysovalantia told her aunt all her adventures and started

to cry with happiness. She was finally home.

    After eleven years of living in Greece🇬🇷, Chrysovalantia decided to visit her old town back in Asia MInor with the hope to find her father and relatives there. But to her disappointment, she only found her house burned and no one was there as she had hoped for.