![\"Mamma](\"http:\/\/www.humanstories.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/IMG_20160901.jpg\")
<\/a>DOZENS OF REFUGEES HAVE FOUND LOVE AND CARE AT MARIA AND MIHALY\u2019S RESTAURANT.<\/p><\/div>\n
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\u201cTHE MORE THEY GO AGAINST ME, THE MORE I GO AGAINST THEM,\u201d SAYS MRS MARIA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Mrs Maria says, \u201cGreek people do not come to the restaurant because they are afraid of the refugees. People ask, \u2018Why do you gather refugees?\u2019 It does not bother me. The more they go against me, the more I go against them. I help out by cooking for the refugees.\u201d Mr Mihaly adds, \u201cThey do not come to our beach because it is said that refugees urinate in the sea. Where should they go? Don\u2019t Greeks do the same when they go swimming?\u201d<\/p>\n
More than six thousand refugees have been to Mama Maria\u2019s restaurant during the past year and a half. \u201cI will help as much as I can. Even when there is nothing to cook, somehow God makes it so that something can be found,\u201d she confided. She has an oil lamp and icons behind the fridge in the restaurant. \u201cYou will not believe it. Muslim refugee women come here and ask me for a candle so that they can light it in front of the icons,\u201d she adds. There is a restaurant over the building facing the beach. \u201cNobody except for Mr Mihaly helps me. He is the best. Everyone else is hostile. Recently, I have been teaching Greek to twenty refugee children. You will not believe how happy they are to come to the lessons. People say I have a secret school in my restaurant, but this does not bother me. I continue teaching. In September 2015 there were over two hundred people sleeping on the beach in front of our shop. There were women and children. Neighbours called the police. There were three police officers who I could see coming to my restaurant. I said to them: \u201cThese are women and children who have nowhere to stay. I am responsible for them.\u201d The tallest officer told me not to worry since there was no problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then raised his head towards the building and said loudly: \u201cIt would be nice if you could open the doors and let some children sleep in the building.\u201d The officers here are very kind. Sometimes they even bring us food so that we can cook for the refugees. The church also helps. However, when I wanted to baptize some children, the priest said that the parents will have to be baptized first. When some refugees at the port had problems, a man by the name of Lefteris would give them a piece of paper directing them to my restaurant. My mother and I give out meals. One day Mihaly and I loaded a farming truck with portions of chicken. Some refugees jumped onto the truck and knocked down the portions. Lots of children ran and started eating the chicken on the street. Mihaly could not stand it and forcibly stopped those who had knocked down the portions and said: \u2018Let\u2019s go back to the restaurant, cook some more chicken, and come back here.\u2019 He could not bear to watch the children eating chicken from the streets. He is more sensitive than me and he helps more than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
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