Elisa was a little Puerto Rican–Cuban-American girl who lived in New York. I was in charge of her studies. She was murdered by her mother and her mother’s lover in a manner that shocked the whole country. The innocent victim was featured on the cover of the New York Times and laws were changed because of her.

Since then, Marina and I have sought to do something, to act in favour of abused children, in our own country, obviously. We have therefore created an organisation that we have called ELIZA (www.eliza.org.gr). Our concern is to raise awareness, to open peoples’ eyes and ears and minds to the problem, because many people are faced with cases of child abuse but, in general, nobody knows what to do. And so we have created programmes to instruct and guide those who are immediately concerned : physicians, nurses, teachers, policemen, social workers … In this way, they may be able to recognise a case of child abuse and know how to act accordingly.

At the same time, we are taking part in programmes to help parents in need, to help prevent their problems from worsening and leading to child abuse.

 

We are just beginning, but have already managed to sound the alert in a country where 5 children in every 10 are mistreated.

Eliza running team at the 34thAthens classic Marathon

Eliza running team at the 34thAthens classic Marathon (Athens, November 13th, 2016)

World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse

World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse (November 19th, 2015) ELIZA

Training course designed for physicians

Training course designed for physicians

 

You can lear more about Eliza on Eliza’s website.