From Haiti to Japan and from Afghanistan to Madagascar and Greece’s maximum security prisons, Greek non-governmental humanitarian organisation Heart Doctors have been trotting the globe, helping people in need, for nearly twenty years.

Neos Kosmos spoke with four of the organisation’s members recently, as they were waiting at Istanbul airport to catch a flight back to Athens after an aid mission in Zanzibar. The plan was to arrive home, pick up a different group of doctors and continue the mission, back to the Sub-Saharan Africa.

To some, this sounds like a big undertaking, but for the team this is business as usual.

“What we do is very rewarding. We are used to travelling on a tight schedule, otherwise we would not be able to finish the projects we plan each year,” said Mrs Eleni Sotiriou, the organisation’s vice president and a founding member.

In the last twenty years, Mrs Sotiriou, originally from the Greek island of Rhodes, has participated in more than 1200 humanitarian aid missions that vary in length from a couple of days to weeks, in 72 countries around the world.

In 2006, during a mission in Iraq, she got abducted outside a hotel in Baghdad until she managed to escape. But not even this experience was enough to keep her away from helping those in need.

Philanthropy starts at heart

Heart Doctors operate as an initiative of a group of 25 Greek families, some of them doctors, who after some leisure trips to Africa, decided that they want to go back with a different role and help tackle as many problems as they can on the ground.

And so, ‘Heart doctors’ was created in 2001, although members have been travelling to and from Africa from as early back as the 70s.

“We are lucky to be better-off financially compared to other people and we want to give back. We don’t rely on any form of governmental support but solely on our own resources. There are people who help us by donating medicines and we appreciate that,” Mrs Sotiriou said.

The Greek humanitarian aid team does not only provide medical help and medicines in remote and rural areas, but also helps by providing the resources to locals and supervise them to build schools, first aid stations and water wells.

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(middle in the left photo) Mrs Eleni Sotiriou, the organisation’s vice president

“We have faced many challenges during the years, from infectious diseases to absent infrastructure and security issues. We feel that this journey has turned us into some kind of superheroes. Our superpower hides in people’s smiles,” said Dr Ioannis Sotiriou, a founding member and one of the group’s General Practitioners.

The question that naturally arises is why as a Greek organisation, Heart Doctors, don’t focus on people in Greece who are doing it tough.

“We were literally just talking with someone from a Greek hospital who asked us to deliver cannula needles. Earlier this year we had to buy and have diesel (heating fuel) delivered to one of the prisons in the north of Greece. The temperatures were very low and the prisoners were cold.

“We also delivered clothes for the inmates of other facilities in Greece. The country’s red tape is so shocking that a simple purchase for a hospital can take months. We help everywhere we can and we will continue to do so,” said Mrs Sotiriou.

Taking the Greek flag around the world

Recently, Heart Doctors were recognised by the Sudanese Embassy in Greece and the Sudanese community, in an event that was organised, to honour Greek figures who left their mark on the social, cultural and economic life of modern Sudan.

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“Our car happened to break down in Sierra Leone, in the middle of nowhere. A local mechanic, who happened to be passing by, started fixing our car and he noticed the Greek flag on our t-shirts. He asked if he could touch us because, as he said, we are descendants of Socrates.

“We carry our flag with pride to every corner of the world we visit. Sometimes our small team makes a bigger impact than global humanitarian organisations. We are on the field and as of that able to control and make sure that our funds or supplies are distributed as intended,” said Mrs Sotiriou.

“We are not going to be in this world forever and if we want to see our species progress, we need to help improve the lives of those that are not as lucky as we are. When you see the impact you can make by giving from the heart you will not look back,” commented Mr Xenofon Gataganas, the organisation’s President.

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