An alternative tour of Athens

Published Nov 19, 2014

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Athens- A few blocks away from where tourist buses can be seen ferrying visitors from the ancient Acropolis to the Temple of Olympion Zeus in the Greek capital Athens, a new tourist service is underway which is set on solving one of the city's greatest problems: homelessness.

Launched only a few months ago, a group of homeless people now have paid jobs showing tourists how they live in the narrow alleyways and chaotic backstreets of Athens.

While the Greek capital hosts approximately 2.6 million tourists every year, the cradle of Western civilisation is also home to more than 15 000 people who sleep on the street, in emergency shelters or in abandoned buildings and warehouses every night.

Christos Bakoyannis, 50, homeless for the past several years is just one of the guides involved in the “Unseen Routes” tour, a new initiative launched by Shedia - “Raft,” the country's version of a street paper also found in other European countries. Homeless guided tours are also offered in London, Barcelona and Prague.

During the two-hour tour of Athens, Bakoyannis makes frequent stops to show visitors where he used to do drugs, eat and sleep.

The tour includes stops to soup kitchens, shelters, health clinics like the one run by Doctors of the World, day centres, drug rehabilitation centres and the city's social grocery where hundreds of needy families are given the opportunity to purchase grocery items at a 90 per cent discount on the retail price.

“Everyone has a story to tell and if by sharing my story I can inspire other people to care and help others in need then this is a tremendous satisfaction for me,” says Bakoyannis, as he shares his story with the group of 20 Greeks and tourists about being abandoned by his parents when his was 12 years old.

Since its launch, the tours have helped many homeless people like Bakoyannis, who currently lives in a warehouse, to get back on their feet.

Each person pays six euros for the tour with half of the earnings going to the guide.

While on paper Greece's six-year recession is shown to have come to an end, the reality is different as more than a third of all businesses and shops have shut down.

The billions of euros Greece required to stay economically afloat has come at a steep price as international lenders continue to demand unpopular tax hikes, salary reductions and pension cuts in exchange.

Unemployment is still at a staggering high of 26 per cent and that means that more than 1 million people out of the nearly 5 million people who live in Athens are now without a job.

With new jobs in short supply, the chances for a previously homeless person returning to work is slim.

“While charities and NGOs can help out in terms of food and accommodation they can only go so far because what people like me really need is a job,” says Bakoyannis who also is helped by the income he gets from selling Greece's street newspaper, with half of the earnings going into his pocket.

According to Anta Alamanou from the homeless support centre Klimaka, “homeless” does not only mean people who live on the streets or in shelters but also includes those living in abandoned buildings, with friends or family or even in their own apartments but without electricity or water because they are incapable of paying their utility bills.

“We are seeing middle-class families, where either one or both adults have lost their job, as being the new poor in Greece. ... Many are now either facing eviction or are using services like soup kitchens, social grocery stores or social health clinics,” says Alamanou, adding that the rise in unemployment has also led to an increase in alcoholism and drug abuse.

Unemployment insurance, which averages 350 euros per month, is given for a period of one year but almost 85 percent of people currently out of work currently receive nothing.

Many of the tour guides, like 51-year-old Lambros Moustakis, had their dreams destroyed by the crisis and ongoing recession that forced thousands of Greeks onto the streets after losing their jobs.

“I was working in a hotel but in 2010, at the height of the crisis, I was fired and could not find work again. I managed to pay my rent for another 3 months but then I found myself homeless and living rough on the streets for a month before finding a shelter.”

“Everyday is a battle for me just to survive but I refuse to give up and continue to fight,” he tells the tour group as he stops in front of the National Theatre to share his passion for acting.

Those taking part in the tours say the guides are an inspiration and should be supported.

“This is a unique story told by real people and they are proof that anyone can do wonderful things if people support them,” says French retiree Orthodoxia Salomon from Lorraine.

Another tourist, 29-year-old Lora Kordolaini, says the experience “shows a different side of Athens - one that you cannot read about on a website or in any tourist guide book.”

Guides are given in Greek as well as several other languages such as English, Spanish and Italian. - Sapa-dpa

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