Emilia Kambysi, one of the three grandmothers of Sykamnia, passed away at the age of 93 today. A viral photo in the summer of 2015 shows her caring for a baby, the child of a refugee woman from Syria who had just landed on the shore. The photo was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
As Proto Thema noted, it should be stressed that the three women continued to do the same for a long time, offering everything they could to the refugees.
Of the three grandmothers, first Maritsa Mavrapidou died in 2019 at the age of 92, followed by Efstratia Mavrapidou in 2022 at the age of 96.
All three were themselves refugee children from Moshonisi in Ekatonesoi (Ἑκατόννησοι, Turkish: Ayvalık Islands) in today's Turkey and became a symbol of the solidarity of the people of Lesvos for the hundreds of thousands of migrants.
The "grandmothers of Lesvos" were visited and honoured in November 2015 by the then President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and on the 15th of August 2020 by the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
“Why do you say bravo my son? What have we done?" they told AMNA on the day their nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, in January 2016.
When asked why they help the refugees, Emilia Kambyssi answered:" They are good children. Sometimes tired from the journey, they help me carry the wood for my stove."
Emilia Kambysi's funeral will take place on Monday, March 13 at 2:30 in the afternoon, at the Sykamnia cemetery. The funeral service will be chanted at Panagia the Mermaid, in the port of Skala.
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