2024-04-17 08:41:42
This process had a little bit of everything: fear, humor and fun. It was not an easy task, especially for the permanent residents of the center of Athens and for those who “combed” these districts with their questionnaires. Some trembled to open the door and welcome strangers into their homes and others to ring the bell and enter unknown houses. Many did the “interviews” standing up, in the corridor of apartment buildings, while there were also some who “resigned” when they were informed about their work area – especially when their “lot” fell in a ghetto neighborhood of illegal immigrants. On the other side of the citizens, older people showed greater distrust, calling the Statistical Service to verify the identity of the person who, in vain, said over and over again “I am the enumerator of your neighborhood”.
The general census of population and housing (two days left) “brought out” funny but also more “scary” stories, which the enumerators (55,000 participated in total) will be telling their friends for some time. The process revealed before the eyes of the enumerators “images” from the “hidden” everyday life of the city. In twenty minutes (that’s how long the “interview” lasted) they could see what was “hiding” behind the half-closed shutters of dark basements or airy apartments: the young Bangla Des with two university degrees who works as a builder and the happy a couple of a Pakistani and a Polish woman with their 8-year-old child born in Greece, who offered the “guest” his croissant! The elderly Greek woman who lives alone in a 60 square meter basement, which she mops, day after day, dragging the chair she leans on so she doesn’t fall. The hairdresser and the civil engineer – with many children – who lost their jobs a month and a half apart, and the student who regretted studying in Greece and dreams of a master’s degree and a job abroad…
“Democracy” collected the (funniest) experiences of four young enumerators in different areas of Athens, from Menidi and Koliatsou Square to Plato’s Academy and Ilioupoli.
Census takers like… the Chiots
“I quit. I’m not going to Koliatsou for anything!” decided the 25-year-old unemployed enumerator candidate right after the end of the training seminar that the chosen ones attended shortly before the start of the process. A 19-year-old “colleague” of hers, equally scared, finally decided to wear the characteristic tag and list some “squares” of Ilioupoli. She didn’t overcome her fear, she just handled it somehow…differently.
“Good Evening! We are for the census.”
“Come in! Do the enumerators go two by two?’
“Oh, no! From here my daughter does the work. Me… companion, so that we can have our heads at ease, with all that we hear. How can I leave him alone little girl?’
The stubborn coffee girl
Somewhere in Plato’s Academy, in the afternoon.
“Welcome him, come. I will tell you everything. But the best, in the end.”
“What do you mean;”
“The coffee, my lad! Um, what do you think? Everything in the cup is written.”
The enumerator finally “ate” at the house of the enumerator for a full fifty minutes, while the process does not exceed twenty-five. He didn’t stay late because he sat down to… listen to the coffee, but because it was impossible to convince the… persistent coffee lady (he declared at home to the question “employment?”), who was constantly teasing him, that he must leave to get out of the way with the rest of the houses in the apartment building .
The consulate
An inventory, a… almost date! Twenty-seven-year-old enumerator in Ilioupoli.
“When is your daughter born?”
“In ’83. You;”
“In ’84.”
“A! Do you want to spend the evening, we treat you to something? It will also be my daughter, you name it.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Why not, you’re a nice lad! For… get up a bit so I can see you. What is your height;”
«1,87».
“The girl is 1.62. I’m teasing you;”.
“No way. And my ex is so!”
Polish women… in their spirits
In an alley, between Acharnon and Patisia. First floor apartment.
“There are four of us living here. Only on Sundays though. The other days to the boss.” Kind Polish women (exclusive domestic workers) were willing to register. The youngest gave the interview for the rest of the tenants.
“We, sorry, now have friends inside. Feast. Song”.
And their voices from… karaoke echoed throughout the apartment building!
The “read” 14-year-old
“Your mom, your dad? Is anyone here?’
“I will answer! I know. You are for the census.’
“Yes, but can you give me information about the whole family?”
“Of course! Don’t look down on me, he’s the best student. And don’t see the house as small. This is where I live, my mom, dad, sister and grandma and grandpa who sleep in the living room.”
“And can you tell me about your grandfather, too?”
“Ahem! My grandfather’s father was called Chrysanthos and he was a carpenter. Difficult years then. I wasn’t alive (!) but I’ve heard stories”!
A life on the go
In a block of Menidi, a gentleman opens the door. He holds his frappe in a plastic cup.
“So what?” What do you want;”
“Inventory, sir. Name, occupation, how long have you lived here, have you lived abroad…”
Laughs. “Gypsies are we, nothing is fixed but our name.”
“You don’t even have a steady job?”
“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I have it in my blood to go around the world. Together with the family, everywhere.”
As the 32-year-old enumerator says, “Gypsies were the enumerator’s joy! You talk to one and count up to… fifteen with such large families they have!” Enumerators will be paid 1.7 euros for each house they enumerated and 1.3 euros per person. The first results will be presented next June and the detailed data in about a year and a half.
“If the door closes… it locks”
Late in the afternoon, on the top floor of a small apartment building in Koliatsou Square. The name on the bell is foreign. The census taker knocks, the tenant opens. He is a husky man from Nigeria (as the enumerator later learns). His Greek immediately reveals that he has been living in Greece for years.
“Come on, sit down.”
The young enumerator enters the apartment and his eye falls on a plastic table and three plastic chairs (almost the only furniture in the living room). He hears the key… turning in the door and the man walking towards him holding the keys. He also hears his heart about to break!
“Here, if the door closes, it is already locked. Custom. That’s what I told my wife.”
The… gossip!
“What floor are you coming from?”
“I just wrote off the fourth. The master in the middle compartment.”
“A! Mr. Theodoris. Very good human! She has three children. Are you listening, Sotiri? And we should have three children.”
“Do you know if anyone lives in the third?” They don’t open to me at the extreme house.”
“You won’t get a clue. Mrs. Jenny is old, she is afraid.”
The enumerator reaches the third floor and stabs at Mrs. Jenny. The door opens.
“Ah luck, sir, to find you. I was told that your wife is afraid to open up when she is alone.’
“What did you say; Who said it; Who said my wife is afraid of me? Did the guy downstairs tell you?’
“Not you, sir. I didn’t say he’s afraid of you!’
Eleni Evangelidomou
[email protected]
ELSTAT threatens “objections” with fines
High rates of indifference or refusal to participate in the census brought threats of fines. Despite the fact that the Hellenic Statistical Authority had committed – and with statements of its representatives in the “democracy” – that it does not intend to put into force the law, which provides for fines from 1,000 to 50,000 euros in case of refusal to participate, with a new announcement it leaves the possibility of sanctions is open.
In particular, the president of ELSTAT, Andreas Georgiou, two days before the end of the census period, states in this regard: “Despite ELSTAT’s intention not to activate the provisions of the law that refer to sanctions, refusal to take a census exposes those who refuse to the possibility of sanctions” .
At the same time, despite Mr. Georgiou’s commitment that “it will end on Tuesday, May 24, without any extension”, the relatively small participation leaves open the possibility that the process will eventually last more days.
The main problems presented have to do mainly with the fear of citizens to open their doors to the enumerators.
Furthermore, there are not a few who refuse to participate, wanting to express their dissatisfaction with the general political and economic situation. Moreover, in this year’s census, the highly detailed questions that give the whole process the form of a “file” have been “alienated”. Finally, an obstacle to the whole process arises from the refusal of citizens to be registered in the place where they live and wish to declare as their permanent residence the villages where they come from.
Nektaria Stamoulis
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