By Nicolas Bard

Alexander wakes up daily at 06:30 in the morning, before the sun rises well. Without wasting time, he is getting ready to come to pick him up by Van who will go to his school in the neighboring village of Chrysovitsa, Ioannina. He is the only high school student in Flambourari Zagori and is 120 kilometers on a daily basis to go and come from school. As his mother typically says on his camera where there is Greece, he has years to have a regular breakfast, as steep turns on the way to school are an extra test he has to face. And the difficulties do not stop there … as he is preparing for the Panhellenic, he was also written in a tutorial in Ioannina, who are far from his home.

As he says, he is now used to it. And of course, despite tiredness and suffering, he continues to fight for his dreams. He wants to become a teacher and work in a remote village, to convey his knowledge to those children who are far from urban centers and the modern lifestyle. “If it were up to me, I would bring the city closer to the village,” he says characteristically, so that the children would not be forced to “migrate” to go to school or tutorial. And of course, in addition to education, social life is also difficult, as if he decides to take a stroll to Ioannina, his mother must close him, he must close the shop he maintains in the village.

Flambourari of Ioannina was once full of life, but today it is measuring few permanent residents, most of whom are involved in timber due to lush vegetation in the area. At an altitude of 1,012 meters and 60 kilometers away from Ioannina, the daily lives of residents is not particularly easy and in order to have basic services or goods, they are forced to travel to the city to serve. As a result, young people in the place are leaving, and never returning. Two decades ago the village had people and in the square were playing children’s voices. Today the quietness is deafening, almost spooky, and the village looks deserted.

The difficulties that Alexander has to face and the other children from the neighboring villages in Zagori, Ioannina, are a daily routine that a child in Athens or Thessaloniki can hardly imagine. The same situation, of course, prevails in other remote and remote points of our country, where parents and children give their own struggle, and they are constantly struggling to achieve their goals and make their dreams come true. What everyone wants is to bring their place to life again, which in some cases seems utopian. The state should not forget these biopsy heroes and must immediately and in practice facilitate their daily lives.