Dimitra Piagou, 65, selling Shedia in Greece

This week’s vendor, Dimitra Piagou, sells Shedia, a street paper in Greece. Set up as a response to the country’s devastating austerity measures in 2013, Shedia is now part of a network of more than 110 magazines and newspapers in over 35 countries. They have 300 vendors who buy the magazine for €1.50 and sell it for €3.

I was born and raised in Athens. My parents divorced when I was nine months old and I never saw my father. Our first meeting was at my 16th birthday, and our relationship lasted for only one year. He moved to Canada and since then I have no news of him.

I graduated from high school and intended to study philology. I prepared all summer but then breast cancer hit me for the first time. I was only 21 years old. My universe was overthrown.

I slept for a week on benches with my dogs. It was a terrible experience

I didn’t have courage to go on but I had to do something. I got a job in an advertising company, and over seven years got a very high salary but something ate at me. A friend of mine who owned a laundry had a serious accident and asked me to help. After six months, she told me that she met someone and would follow him abroad and that, if I wanted, I could take over the business. I decided to chance it. In three years I changed area and bought a house.

In 1997 I lost my seven-year-old niece, my grandmother and my cousin to cancer, and next year it hit me again, this time my stomach. In 2003, I lost my partner of 23 years to cancer. Since then I have been alone.

The worst year was 2011. The crisis found me and everything changed. The slide was rapid, the mortgage defaulted on the building and I had to auction off brand new machines. A month later I was evicted.

I slept for a week on benches with my dogs. It was a terrible experience. I kept looking for any job but my age has always been an inhibiting factor.

At a metro station I saw a Shedia salesman and, after I bought the magazine, I asked them about it. When I started I was very ashamed. But seeing the warmth and appreciation of the world lifts me up, even if I’m not feeling good or I’m hurting. I learned to be stoic. I would not say that I have become more optimistic. I’m afraid of tomorrow. If something happens with my health, I do not know what to do.

I love the magazine. I feel good. I feel it is mine. The magazine embraces human souls. I believe in it, whatever happens in my life.

Courtesy of Shedia / INSP.ngo

Greece Athens Tours, Pireos, Athens, Greece