Greek grandmother famed for helping Syrian refugees dies
- Emilia Kamvysi and 2 other elderly ladies, Maritsa Mavrapidou and Efstratia Mavrapidou, shot to fame in 2015 after feeding refugee baby
- The women, children of ethnic Greek refugees from Turkey, became symbol of solidarity of people of Lesbos with huge numbers of arriving Syrians
A 93-year-old Greek grandmother, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price for helping refugees flooding into Europe, died on Sunday, the state news agency reported.
Emilia Kamvysi and two other elderly women became instant celebrities in 2015 when they were pictured bottle-feeding a refugee baby whose parents had just landed on Greece’s Lesbos island after a perilous sea crossing.
The arrivals were among more than a million refugees and migrants, many fleeing the Syrian civil war, who reached EU shores during the influx.
The three elderly women were children of ethnic Greek refugees from Turkey, and became a symbol of the solidarity of the people of Lesbos with the huge numbers of arriving Syrians.
Greek state news agency ANA reported Kamvysi’s death and said her funeral would take place in her village on Lesbos on Monday.
The other two grandmothers had already passed away – Maritsa Mavrapidou in 2019 at the age of 92, and Efstratia Mavrapidou in 2022, aged 96.