When an underpopulated Greek village placed an ad asking for families with children to move there, offering free accommodation and possible work prospects, they got an immediate response.
Since the ad was placed on Facebook on August 13, a family of eight has moved to Fourna village in the Evrytania prefecture.
The ad invited families with children to move to the struggling Greek village of 118 residents which is in danger of losing its only school because of a lack of children, according to a report on ERT, Greece’s public television.
There couldn’t be a more suitable beginning for the project as the first family to respond was that of Stefanos Kostopoulos and Vassiliki Emmanouil. The couple have six children, five boys and one girl; and they are all of school age.
Head of the initiative to populate Fourna with families with children is the village priest, Father Konstantinos. Spokesperson is the village schoolteacher, Panagiota Diamanti. She is the one who placed the ad and acted as tour guide to Fourna and the surrounding area for the newcomer family.
A village surrounded by a fir forest
It would be an easy and enjoyable job to be a tour guide in Fourna. It is a typically beautiful Greek village surrounded by a forest of fir trees, built at an altitude of 840 meters near the tributary stream of the Fourniotikos river. It is in Central Greece, part of the Karpenisi municipality; the town is 40 kilometers away.
The Stefanos and Vassiliki family heard about the ad from a relative. The ad was placed on August 13, almost on the eve of August 15, the day of the feast of the Dormition of Virgin Mary, the second most important religious feast for Orthodox Greeks after Easter.
On August 16, Vasiliki communicated with the village teacher and asked for a tour of the area and the house that would be provided to them. The family loved it and decided to move to Fourna. Father Konstantinos said to the newcomers that it was God’s will for them to move because the whole procedure took place on the holy day of August 15.
The family had previously tried their luck in Germany, where they lived from 2017 to 2020. After they returned to Greece, a relative told Stefanos about a good job in Germany and that time Stefanos went alone. However, when they heard about the opportunity for a new beginning in this hospitable Greek village, they didn’t think twice.
As Stefanos said, he wanted his children to grow up in a better environment than that of the city. In Fourna they found the people very friendly and hospitable, while the landscape is wonderful and the air is clean.
As for employment prospects, Stefanos believes that there are jobs in the municipality and the region. Also, Vassiliki is a hairdresser and hopes to be the Fourna hairdresser.
More families to come
According to the Fourna teacher, 100 families have expressed interest in moving to the village. So far they are waiting for two more families to arrive to settle, one with four children and one other with seven.
Diamanti, who is a 4th generation Evrytanian, has returned from the city to become the village schoolteacher and wants to see Fourna come to life. Of course, such an effort requires funds. She said that Diaspora Greeks from the United States have contributed financially to the village school while they are expecting more donations.
Currently the Greek village lawyers are working on the legal procedures so that donations can help the families that will come to settle. Diamanti is inviting people to donate money and help in any way they can. There are sponsors who send money and food, while a tutoring school in Kifissia has offered free online foreign language lessons for the children.
