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Sofia comes from Albania ; she was born in 1968 at Zervat (Gjirokaster region) and came in Greece for the first time in 1991. At the time of the interview her worked as a 'Domestic helper'.
Interview date: 11/07/2005
Researcher who did the interview: Alexandra Siotou
Subfield of the interview: Historical culture
The interview was conducted in the house of Sofia´s employer. In Albania Sofia´s parents were agricultural workers. She has four siblings. In the interview Sofia talks about religion, gender relations in the past, the significance of virginity and about the strict social control over girls. She puts great emphasis on family relations and on how these changed after she came to Greece. She talks about the positive aspects of the communist regime; though, in general she was not in favor of it. She met her husband through a matchmaker when she was 19 years old. After she got married, she lived with her parents-in-law until she came to Greece. Her husband was the first to leave for Greece. Two months later, though, he returned to Albania and took Sofia with him to Greece. They first settled down in Velestino where they worked in the fields. Next they moved to Volos. Currently Sofia´s husband works as a construction worker and Sofia is a domestic helper. They have two children. She talks about racist attitudes, especially towards her daughter in school, about her friends here and how they entertain themselves. She visits Albania every August to see her parents. Her dream is to set up her own business. She does not want to return to Albania although she notes that the situation there has improved.
