Maria Charalambous, mother of eight children, spoke to Mesimeri and Kati about the difficulties faced by a large family in Cyprus.
She originally stated that she always wanted eight children because when she was young she watched the TV series "Our Eight Children" and was inspired by it. "I always liked children, I wanted to be a teacher. My oldest child is 28 and the youngest is 15. In 13 years I had eight children," he said. She pointed out that she had her first child at the age of 23.
Asked what it's like to have eight children in the house, she replied that "it's a great joy, it's a blessing. When you hold on to God, you never lose the balance of your life. When you're about to fall a little down, God brings you back on the road and you move forward."
He explained that “since I was 23 I wake up from 4:30 – 5:00 in the morning. Before my sleep was very little because I had babies, I had children for school so I was always in overdrive. I couldn't work because I'm alone. I managed it alone at home, with the children at school, in the private ones, in the difficulties in the eases, in the crying, in the joy. But when you have a family where the mother and father communicate with the children, then there are no difficulties."
He went on to explain that “what we are facing today in our lives, not just me but the whole world, is that everything has become more expensive. There are financial difficulties all over the world. I'm not much of an expense, let's eat classy, every day our souvlaki, our souvla. I will do my beans and my beans too. We need at least 1500 euros for food. Think about the rest. Electricity, 600-700 euros, one hundred euros for water."
He denounced that the state does not support large families and appealed to President Christodoulidis "to stand close to large families. To support them a little financially. What a large family needs today is money. Because a large family keeps the economy going. All my children live with me, no one can go rent and stay alone. Young people go out to work. How will they start a family? Since two young people, if they put their salary together, it doesn't come out more than 1500 euros. Where's the gas, the rent, the bills? They will get a life from their parents. How will they make a baby? Let alone two. We had a hard time bringing our children here. I wanted to buy a bag. And I said let her. Children come first, then myself. Maria's self was always behind. Until today. I'm not ashamed to say it."
In fact, he sent a message to young girls, wishing them "to have a family, to have children. It doesn't matter, let them cut back on something, the gym, the coffee so they can have tomorrow's family. Our years are slipping away. And we are leaving in a few years. But our children stay. And our joys remain in our children and they remember the parents. It's okay if we struggle a little."
In closing, he said that "even a rose cut from the yard and brought to me makes me happy. In the afternoon when all the children come and shout "Hey mom, where are you", do you know how happy I get? And now that I have them big around me, I always want to kiss them. This is my joy. The wealth of my life is my children.
Source: Sigmalive
