The Migrants

The Migrants

June 20th is world refugee day. Recently, I was reading about the sinking of yet another boat taking migrants from Africa to Europe. This time it was a boat taking West African migrants to Greece. The boat sank, and many lives were lost. Men and women mostly young people in search of a better life. Those that do make it across have further daunting challenges. Seen as nuisances and illegal, they are often locked up in internment camps for years before being deported back home.

The circumstances were different a generation ago. I was seeing an elderly patient of mine today. He became excited when I told him I had grown up in West Africa. He was born in the small Greek island of Kefalonia. He was 18 when in August of 1953 a major earthquake hit that area. Many were killed and most homes were destroyed.

My patient had lost his home and was sleeping in the open. There were no jobs. It was then a cousin convinced him to come to Africa where a family member was running a store. My patient made it to Rhodesia (current day Zimbabwe). He started in business trading in goods all over Africa, and was quite successful. He has very fond memories of those days in Africa remembering it as a beautiful place with wonderful people.

I had grown up in Nigeria and was reminded of another famous Greek merchant there, Anastasios George Leventis. Mr. Leventis moved to Nigeria in the 1920’s from Cyprus and was very successful as a trader. He eventually established the Leventis chain of superstores which were found all over Nigeria.  I remember going to these stores while growing up. 

Mr. Leventis was very friendly with the leaders of newly independent West African states such as Ghana’s Kwameh Nkurmah, who appointed him as Ghana’s ambassador to France. Mr. Leventis died in 1978. After several years his stores eventually closed down, but the A.G. Leventis foundation remains active and provides many charitable activities.

As for my patient, he eventually migrated to the United States in the 1970’s and settled down here. He subsequently got married and had children and grandchildren. He is in his seventy’s now and loves talking about his time in Africa.

However with time, things have turned full circle and migrants are now going the other way to Greece and other European countries from Africa.

I wish that a day will come when no one is forced to migrate for economic or other reasons.

Old Leventis Headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria