February 10, 2012
Four years ago, Sotiria and Vangeli, a couple in their mid-60s, helped their son pack up his possessions and move out of the family apartment in Kypseli, a middle-class Athens neighbourhood.
“He changed jobs, he got married and started a family. We thought our role as parents was pretty much over,” says Sotiria, a retired local government worker. “Then the crisis started and we had to help out.”
So now the couple’s apartment, filled with mementoes of trips abroad and silver-framed family photos, is strewn with a toddler’s toys.
“Our son and his wife both lost their jobs, so they came to live with us. Our two small pensions support all five of us,” says Vangeli, who closed his vehicle repair business when he retired.
For some, having a family member with a pension has become a financial lifeline.
Aspasia and her husband Tassos, both jobless and in their 50s, decided to take over caring for her 80-year-old mother, a former schoolteacher who was in a residential home for the elderly.
“The way things are, neither of us are likely to work again,” says Aspasia. “We have a comfortable spare room and plenty of time on our hands – and my mother’s pension gives us a secure regular income.”
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