#OurStories: 3,650 fewer days of life…

Unless something drastic happens, Argyro* will probably live ten years less than she would be expected to statistically.

3,650 fewer days for a girl with the brightest eyes I’ve ever seen.

When we met Argyro for the first time, on a warm April day, I felt in two minutes what two years of confinement and restrictions had taken from us. The way she ran up to us reminded me of myself at the same age, many years ago. I can remember running up to join my friends in the same way, on the first day of our island holiday.

In the hands she stretched out to us, I saw the hands of the child I once was, after a day spent in games and adventures in nearby fields and courtyards. Even the barrel of water she showed us a little later to wash our hands in reminded me of our own makeshift shower – a small rusty tank on the roof of the house – which was also bathed in the sun of my childhood summer.

My memories are from 30 years ago.

Three decades later, Argyro washes her hands in the barrel every day, feels metal under her body when she falls onto the mattress to sleep, and loves sodas, energy drinks and dancing.

Argyro is 13 years old and lives in a Roma camp in Piri, Thebes.

It was almost noon when we finally managed to bring together six girls, along with five other young women, in a small space where we could talk. The other psychologists from the Prolepsis Institute team and our collaborators from the Intercultural Education Laboratory of Athens University had planned the process down to the last detail. Accompanying us throughout were representatives of the community – also young, if slightly older, Roma women – who were our go-betweens in all our communications with the girls in the camp. Our objective was to organise discussions and complete surveys, which would help us to gain a better understanding of the girls’ lives. We wanted to see how they thought, what their everyday life was like in the family, how they took care of themselves and their health, and what obstacles they faced in their struggle to win the fight of life.

It is no surprise that the Roma are one of the most vulnerable population groups in the country. Still, it is shocking – at least it was to me – to learn that they live ten years less than the general population. Roma women in particular are more vulnerable in terms of health, experience domestic violence more frequently, and have very limited access to education.

We already had a rough idea of most of this from our academic research, but it was now manifest in front of us, with laughter, shouts, and ceaseless noise. Not only in the personal stories of the girls from Piri, but also in the conversations we had in those April days with young Roma women from Volos, Chalkida, Zefiri and Agia Varvara.

Everything the girls shared with us has given us valuable material to take with us on the next stage of the journey. In other words, to design tools and educational materials which, correctly applied and disseminated, will help to improve these young women’s health and quality of life.

Any educational material we create will first be shared with the Roma intermediaries, who play a key role in the project. These young women will be the first to hear what we have to say and tell us what they think about the materials we are designing. Our team will then train Roma and non-Roma women who will use their individual points of access to pass on our information, messages, and all relevant material to the girls in the community.

In this way, we may achieve a lot or just a little, but in any case, it will be something very important:

Maybe we’ll give Chrysa three reasons to quit smoking.

Maybe we’ll persuade Irene, mother of three small children, to have her first Pap test.

Maybe we can convince Kiriaki, who’s pregnant with her first child, to finally see a gynaecologist.

Maybe we can encourage Argyro to give up energy drinks and start drinking something healthier – and keep dancing.

Perhaps we’ll give 16-year-old Eleni, one of the intermediaries, the extra incentive to pursue her dreams of becoming a nurse with greater determination. To give something back to her community and fill the grandmother who loves her with pride.

And finally, maybe we can convince Eleni, Argyro, Kyriaki, Irini and Chrysa that the right to health and decent living conditions absolutely applies to them as well. And that they can and should defend it.

*Names used in the text are invented.