The heart of Ukraine beats in a cafe bistrot in Exarcheia

The knitted rugs with the Ukrainian designs decorated the gray urban columns outside the cafe bistrot at number 67 of Emmanouil Benaki Street in Exarchia.

Sweet lighting bathed the interior of the store and made the colors in yellow and orange tones look more intense.

A gentleman pushes the door and asks if the shop owner is there. Mrs. Alexandra – Lesia Slobodian was sitting at the bar, wearing a dark jacket and playing with her hair.

He approaches her, shakes her hand and tells her “know that we are with you”.

Mrs. Alexandra Slobodian arrived in Greece alone in 1999. When the Soviet regime in Ukraine collapsed, she sought work in our country, as the economic situation in her homeland was difficult.

Far from home and family

The deteriorating health of her children after Chernobyl was another reason to look for a better future for her and her family. With all the money she collected in Greece, she sent them food, financial aid and medicine, as the radioactivity had destroyed them.

However, nine months later, as she told in.gr, she was forced to bring little Olena and little Bogdan to Greece as she did not see any improvement, estimating that the change of environment would help.

“When I left they were staying with their father, as only one of us could leave and so I left because I knew how to speak English. I think at that time women could find work more easily,” she says.

Mrs. Alexandra- Lesia Slobodian

Her first job in Greece was as a babysitter in a family and as she mentions she was lucky, “because this family treated me very well. Some months passed and I was seen sad and crying when my daughter got sick. They asked me how many children I have and when I answered two they said “if you had four we would do the same”. “They gave me a ticket to Ukraine so that I could bring them,” confesses Ms. Alexandra.

“It was very difficult to get your children from Ukraine then,” she describes, “I brought them and we stayed with this family for six months.”

Cafe Bar 67

Life was not easy in Greece. In order for her children to be given every opportunity and to have a good quality of life she had to work at up to three jobs for many years. She worked in the laundry, in a cafe and as a cook until at the age of 47 she decided to open Cafe Bar 67. Her children were old enough to help her manage it.

The response of the people is great, with the inhabitants of the area “embracing” it with great love.

Entering the store one feels like one is in a familiar and warm place.

I opened the store during the financial crisis and people wanted a warmth and to feel like they were in a friendly house or “grandma’s house”. I have many items from my homeland and my grandmother. This is my style and that’s how it came out in the store and people seem to like it,” says Ms. Alexandra.

She serves dozens of people every day and tries to keep her mind busy, but she can not get rid of the horror that her relatives are living every day during the last few days in Ukraine.

“Half of my heart is in Ukraine”

“Half of my heart is here and half there,” he says, “we are all sad watching the events. My nephew is there, watching over his grandmother who has had a stroke and can’t get her out, so he decided to stay there.”

“It is not easy to leave your country, as it was not for me. At the moment, everyone is united and they do not want to leave,” said Alexandra in pain.

“All Ukrainians are united like a fist, even those who are abroad, we each help as much as we can. We are organizing and we see that there is a great response while Greece has also helped the Ukrainian people a lot. Customers come and ask us how they can help the civilian population.”

She herself hopes the war will end soon, but as she says, things are so complicated that she does not know how this can happen. “Humanity has taken many steps back, all eyes of the world are on Ukraine. It’s sad what is happening. “There must be an end to the war, there must be only peace and love.”

In the early hours of February 24, the sirens of war in Ukraine sounded. Russia had invaded the country. That morning Mrs. Alexandra watched the news with fear. She received phone calls from her relatives from Ukraine, but also from friends and acquaintances in Greece. One of them was Olga, who wanted to say only one thing to her: “sorry, we are ashamed of everything that is happening”.