Fleeing Greeks bank on new Australian gold rush

The debt crisis has sent graduates desperate Greeks around the world to a place they see as a land of opportunity

several months a stream of most men and women, young, fresh off the plane from Greece, was knocked on the door of a large building in Lonsdale Street in the heart of Melbourne . 1940 block houses the headquarters of the largest Greek community in Australia. In scenes reminiscent of the great gold rush at the turn of the 20th century, men and women have traveled the world in search of a better life. Unlike the ancient Greeks, however, these new

immigrants

are remarkably open, with the hard earned titles in some of the most difficult fields.

"They are all university graduates, engineers, architects, engineers, teachers, bankers who will do anything to work," says Bill Papastergiadis, president of the community of lawyers. "It's hopeless. We are all horrified. Often they appear only with a bag. Their stories are heartbreaking and at all levels, there are more," he told the Guardian in a telephone interview. "Many come here and who lost, literally. We have taken to provide houses, five or six of them at once, here in the middle. "

The exodus is only part of the human drama taking place in Greece, where the European debt crisis began. Since June, Melbourne community leaders say they have been inundated with thousands of letters, emails and phone calls from the Greeks, desperate to emigrate to a country, away from the turmoil in global markets, is now considered the land of unprecedented opportunities.

This year alone, 2500 Greek citizens have moved to Australia, although officials in Athens say another 40 000 were also "expressed interest" to start the arduous process to settle there. An Australian Government 800 "presentation skills", held in Athens in October attracted 13,000 candidates.

With Greece preparing for a fifth year of recession, unemployment at a record level of 18% - and an unprecedented 42.5% of the young nation at work - the brain drain should grow. The Australian economy, by contrast, is expected to grow 4% in 2012.

"People often say they do not want their children to grow up," said Papastergiadis. "The other day I received a phone call a plumber said that Greek it had not worked for eight months, had three children to feed and was so desperate that he had contemplated suicide. The same day I received a letter from a professor at the University of Athens, he also said he wanted to leave with his family. "

Spiliotis Tessie is one of those already moved to Australia. A curator and talent of the artist, his gallery in the historic center of Athens, once animated the martyrs of the boom that followed the 2004 Olympic Games. But in late 2008, the global recession, found the testimony of the decline and fall of a city seized more strikes, protests and riots.

At the time of 45 years decided to move to Melbourne last summer, the art had become a luxury few could afford, with galleries, even holding yoga classes more together later this month.

"There is no place in the world such as Greece and I miss my friends and every day," said Spiliotis who grew up in Australia before moving to Athens for 27 years . "However, Australia is positive. It is a land of plenty, there is a feeling of abundance and opportunity, "he said enthusiastically. "This is totally absent in Greece. Instead people are in a panic, the feeling is bad, psychology is bad and there is a feeling of almost being in a state of siege. I never thought I would, but with the stress of the day to day survival that I knew I would be very difficult to evolve. "

Two generations should be lost due to the great economic crisis in Greece. The diaspora of more, experts say, it is almost certain to include more young Greeks who are well educated and multilingual, but are no longer able to survive in a country whose economy is in free fall, in part because austerity measures bite Greece was obliged to ask in exchange for help.

• A recent study by the University of Thessaloniki showed that the vast majority of Greeks who choose to seek work abroad with the younger generation to countries as diverse as Russia, China and Iran.
• most respondents did not even attempt to find work at home because they saw no future in an economy that is designed to withstand severe austerity for at least the next decade .

In Australia, the influx has shocked other Greeks by poverty and war to emigrate in the 1950s and 60s.

For years, the diaspora has been neglected by successive governments in Athens refusing even to give voting rights to ethnic Greeks abroad, even in places like Melbourne, which is more prosperous Greek community of 300,000 effective. Seeing the young talent of his country, now arriving en masse - with most ready to do the most menial tasks to stay ahead - was a rude awakening

"There are many broken dreams," says Litsa Georgiou, 48, who moved to Sydney with her husband and her daughter in Athens last year. "The community is in shock.
"Many had hoped to return to Greece ... instead of listening to stories every day from someone who has had only 22 hours to live here. It is terrible to think that Greece will take 10 years ago, but began to recover. "

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