1960’s Baby – Christina Haramis Charalambous – My autobiography -Chapter 3 - Trekking (Moving)

Playing on my dad's piano which was in my room

Playing with blocks on my "mummy's: balcony

Fun at school in Port-Said

Puzzle Pieces

1960’s Baby – Christina Haramis Charalambous  – My autobiography  -Chapter 3

Trekking (Moving)

In my heart Egypt holds great lovable memories. There were of course some that created fear and unsettled me. Yet because of my faith in God, the Spirit of Love, I trusted that it all would be ok.

I very fondly remember the piano that was in my room and which my dad used to play on occasionally.  I also remember his mouth organ which he used to play and my sister and I would sing along. I so enjoyed walking with my dad to school and back. It felt it was a time just for him and I to be together. Sundays were such big preparations, putting on my beautiful church clothes and then lunch at “mummy” my granny.

Then talk started that we needed to leave. Things in Egypt started to change. Gamal Abdel Nasser was now the president, Egypt lost the six-day war and there was a lot of uncertainty.

My dad originally wanted to immigrate to Australia where he had two brothers, and his second choice was Greece, and lastly South Africa.  To immigrate to Australia took a lot of red tape, and because this would have resulted in a lot of delays it was decided it would not be such a good idea.

Although Greece was his second choice, it was not a consideration. My dad studied medicine in Athens in the 40’s became a rebel and was labelled a communist. So South Africa was the final decision. On the positive side of this move, was that my mom’s family was in South Africa and we would have help and support in settling down.

That is when small fears started to creep up. That is when I started to pray very hard. I listened as the adults spoke of South Africa and the apartheid that ruled the land. This was something that my dad was completely against.  To this day I hear my dad’s voice saying, he rather go to prison than treat someone else as unequal to himself. This statement put such fear into my heart. I did not want my dad to go to prison. I would question him, and he would try to explain to me how all human kind is equal. Colour, religion, culture does not make anybody superior to anyone else. This stayed with me forever.

We started packing, we said our goodbyes to the school, and to the communities we were members of and to my Italian family on my mom’s side. The hardest and most heartbreaking goodbye was to my “mummy”.  I just could not let go. I held on to her and sobbed so much, that this memory triggers a pain in my chest.  My “mummy” was my very best friend; A place where I expressed myself and played and learned. Now I will be leaving her. Deep down, I knew I would never see her again. I clearly remember getting into the taxi sobbing. I sobbed so hard, I could not breathe, my chest was sore. My dad told me we would visit her in Greece because that is where she was immigrating with my uncle. I did not believe it, and rightly so.

The taxi took us to our bus station where we boarded the bus to our trip to Cairo, to catch a flight to Greece. One short stop over before we took our flight to South Africa; a new country, a new language, a new life and many, many challenges.

I am a young Greek girl-Είμαι μια Ελληνοπούλα

Puzzle Pieces

During these difficult times that Greece is going through I have been reminded of a poem I knew as a school girl. I am first inserting the Greek version and then the translation.

Είμαι  μια Ελληνοπούλα

                                                           Είμαι μια Ελληνοπούλα

Που σαν μια Ελληνοπούλα,

Αγαπώ με την καρδιά μου

Την Ελλάδα τη γλυκιά μου .

Κι αν ο εχθρός μας έρθει πάλι

Με σκοπό να μας την πάρει

ΟΧΙ , δε θα τον αφήσω

Και θα του φωνάξω : «Πίσω !!».

I am a young Greek girl

 I am a young Greek girl

Who as a young Greek girl,

I love with all my heart

My sweet beloved Greece


And if the enemy comes again

In order to get our land

No, I will not allow him

And will shout: "Back!".

Dad’s Secret Valentine.

Puzzle Pieces

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I so enjoyed reading my friend's true love story... I know you will too.
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Dad’s Secret Valentine.

Friends, Valentine’s day is over a dawn of a new day. Renewed passion for some, baby step of love for others, new love for some, but some noticed that love had not come home to reside.

I would like to share a little story about Valentine’s Day with you. When I was in Standard 9, all of 15 years old I decided that I would send my dad a Valentines card. I promptly discussed this with my sisters and mother. Who were all game and rather excited that we were literally all going to be dad’s secret Valentine.

I took my money and walked to our nearest news agency and bought the “wondrous” Valentines card. I ran home with glee and proceeded to write every imaginable rhyme know in the 1970’s. Not forgetting to plant the famous lipstick kisses all over the white envelope and on the card itself. I forgot to mention that some of the rhymes were a little more expressive for a very shy and conservative dad.

The next day off I went to the local post office to post this very exciting Valentines card. Now all we had to do was wait for the post man’s delivery to my father’s business. Mother and daughters waiting in anticipation giggled and relished this secret Valentines card and wondered how dad would receive such a card.

One day before Valentine’s Day the postman arrives at my father’s business with card in hand. Dad takes one look at this with a shocked look in his face while mom looked on. We in the meantime were at school but upon our return mother confronts us with this “shocking information” about dads Valentines Card. Dad is all lost – in fact totally at a loss for words and most embarrassed at who would have sent him such an illicit card.

Yeas passed and every year sins 1975 dad got his faithful Valentine’s card , year on year dad loved the attention he was getting from his secret admirer. Every year he waited for her card, every year when February arrived he would sing “Oh! Sweet Valentina”. Every year he wondered if his treasured admirer thought of him once more. He did not mind being admired and relished the thought that someone other than his loving wife found him attractive.

As the years moved on a dad grew older he then wondered if his secret Valentine was alive and well and still able to send him his much anticipated gift, and as sure as the rain hits the earth she sent him a card for 35 years. He never looked for her he only waited for that one day. That very special day – Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentines Day Daddy! We were your Valentine because you were and are worth it. Even now, you have no idea that we were your treasured Valentine girls. WE LOVE YOU FOREVER DADDY !

~Maria Avraamides 15.2.2012~

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Take Chances

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Take chances, take a lot of them.

Because honestly, no matter where you end up and with whom, it always ends up just the way it should be. Your mistakes make you who your are. You learn and grow with each choice you make. Everything is worth it. Say how you feel, always.

Be You, and be okay with it.

♥

Puzzle Pieces

1960’s Baby – Christina Haramis Charalambous – My autobiography - Chapter 2 - Port- Said

Puzzle Pieces

1960’s Baby – Christina Haramis Charalambous  – My autobiography  -  Chapter 2

Port-Said

My childhood years in Port-Said always bring forth a feeling of nostalgia and love. I remember the loving times I spent with my dad in the clothing store in which he worked.  While I visited my dad, I would spend hours drawing. I vividly remember two occasions, one where my dad made a kite with us, and one where he bought whole corn cooked on coals from a vendor, and how he took of every kernel and put it on a plate for me to eat. I usually visited my dad on my own, because my sister did not like being away from my mom. This is something that my mom shared with me recently.
My dad was 41yrs older than me, yet he was so very patient and spent so much time with my sister and me. He loved telling and reading us stories. One beautiful memory I have of my mom, is the beautiful dresses and coats she used to sew for us. We always looked so pretty with bows in our hair with a very cute girlie look.

My favourite pass time was of course going to the beach, taking the ferry from Port-Said and going across to Port-Fuad, where we visited family or swam. In Port-Fuad we belonged to a club where many Greeks used to gather, had lunch and socialised. I specifically remember the jelly fish and star fish, and for some reason or other the smell of the star fish.
Another fond memory is the open cinema theatres we went during summer nights. This is where I first saw “The Sound of Music” and straight away fell in love with the movie and still to this day is my favourite.

My love and the very best of the best times I have in my heart are the times I spent with my “mummy” a translation for granny from the island of Kastellorizo, also known as Megisti. It is situated between Rhodes and Cyprus.  My “mummy” was so ever loving and patient and involved me in all her chores and I felt like a little madam worth so very much. When I was there, time went so very fast, I felt safe and much loved. She had long white hair, and I would play with it hours on end. I would watch her crotchet, and of course she taught me this too. She would crotchet socks for us with ribbons, and I would crotchet clothes for my dolls. My “mummy” also taught me how to eat cheese and bread; a big bit of bread, and a small bite of cheese. To this day when I eat any Greek or Italian hard cheese I still remember these words.  A memorable picture I have, is the big family lunches, how I was taught to lay the table; always a large plate at the bottom with the smaller plate on top where the meal was served. I remember the love and laughter and my grandfather as the king of the occasion.

The family that I very fondly remember on my mother’s side is her aunt and cousins on her father’s side. They were Italian, very loving and a dog called Vrailla and cooked delicious meals. My aunt Tsia Tina was like a granny, I also would visit them and spent a night with them. My uncle Giorgio, my mom’s first cousin,would take me for a treat at a hotel which served crème caramel, which was and still is my favourite dessert.

My mom’s mom, sister and brother had already immigrated to South Africa when I was a baby so I only got to know them when I arrived in Johannesburg in 1969.

Beautiful loving memories embedded in my heart.

Put your hands up in Gratitude

Puzzle Pieces

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Instead of putting your hands up in worry, put them up in gratitude.

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1960's Baby - Christina Haramis Charalambous - My autobiography - Chapter 1 A Begininng

Puzzle Pieces

1960’s Baby – Christina Haramis Charalambous- My autobiography - Chapter 1

A Beginning.

I was born into the family of Sophia Kasfikis Haramis and Agapitos Paraskevas Haramis on the 4^th of July 1960, in Cairo, Egypt. 

My mom’s parents originate from  Trikala Greece, and  Trani Italy. My grandmother was Greek and my grandfather Italian. They met on the island of Corfu.

My dad’s parents were both from Kastellorizo/ Megisti Island of Greece.

Both sets of grandparents immigrated to Egypt where I was born. I lived on the coastal town of Port-Said with my dad, mom and younger sister of two years Maria.

I have the most beautiful and memorable years of my first 9years. We lived in an apartment on the first floor which had two bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, a bath with a steel portable bath, a bird cage which had two canneries, a separate toilet and very long corridor, or so it seemed to me, a lounge, dining room which had an old fashioned phonogram and a balcony.

The rooms that made the most impression on me those years where my bedroom, the main reason was it had a door with a plain white curtain, where my dad had shadow puppet shows for us. Also my dad had a book shelf which was on top of my bed. Every night I would look at it, and pray that it did not fall on me.  

The next room was the kitchen as it holds memories of fear. Fear of food and meal times. I was a very fussy eater as a very young girl, and I was forced to eat my food.  A problem I most definitely do not possess any longer.

In this home I also have very strong memories of the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel and the bombings, the sirens and the blackouts.

I also know that in this home is where my faith and bond with the Spirit of Love , my Creator, God started. This has been the deepest and most realistic beginning of my life. A life that as a young girl I always felt much loved and always supported in my faith and belief in God, whom I always observed to be only Love.  

Little did I know at that age, how important this was to see me through my journey on this life.  How I would always use my faith to find and put the puzzle pieces into place and slowly but surely build the Jigsaw Puzzle I call Life to see the picture and make sense of my purpose.

The more I recall memories, the more I thank God for being here, for the love shared, for the people I have met, for the lessons learned, for the challenges and victories.  Every day is a miracle, a chance to live, to be grateful and an opportunity to serve with Love.

HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF...

Puzzle Pieces

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How others see you, is not important...
How you see yourself means everything.
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God's Perfect Bloom

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GOD SEEDS BLOOM PERFECTLY AS IS.

via and thank you ~David Fishman~