This is the extraordinary life story, of Anna Fasolas, an extraordinary woman, who was born on the 9 December 1915 in the northern village of Leptopoda on the island of Chios.

Anna was the youngest child in a family of twelve children, and like most young girls in the region, she was uneducated and illiterate.

Aged just 8, she was sent to work in the main town of Chios as a child maid for a prominent Chian family. There, she worked long hours in exchange for some food and a meagre wage while she was often abused by the lady of the house.

At the age of 15, the young girl’s life took a dramatic turn as she was forced into an arranged marriage with a man a few years older.

During that time, it was common for young girls from poor families to be married off at a young age with the hope that they would then enjoy a better life.

Anna’s husband, Mihalis was a kind and good man, who loved the young girl deeply. Anna, on the other hand, was not in love with Mihalis but did her best to accept him as her husband and make a life with him at his village Agrelopo. Sadly, the couple couldn’t have children.

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Life in Agrelopo

Agrelopo was a fateful decision that changed Anna’s life forever, for it was in this village that she first met and fell in love with a handsome young man, by the name of Dimitrios Markou. Their forbidden love was undeniable, and their fateful meeting was meant to be.

Despite her feelings for Dimitrios, Anna tried to make her marriage with Mihalis work, but her husband lacked motivation and struggled to provide the basics therefore Anna continued to work as a servant so that they could both survive.

In 1936, aged 21 she started working as a maid for a French family in Smyrna.

Anna worked hard, to support both her husband and her own family back in Chios.

With the outbreak of WWII, the suffering of the inhabitants of Chios intensified greatly, so Anna and her husband, along with thousands of other locals, decided to escape in early April 1942, bound for Turkey.

They left in the dead of night on an overcrowded boat.

The journey across the Aegean was precarious and in the dark treacherous waters near Cesme on the westernmost Turkish coast, the boat suddenly hit a reef and capsized. Most of the refugees fell into the water and drowned.

Miraculously, Anna (who could not swim) stayed afloat by clinging onto a piece of wood that had broken off the boat. Mihalis, swam over to his wife, rescued her by placing her safely onto a nearby reef with the other survivors.

He told his wife to stay there until help arrived from nearby Cesme while he stayed in the water, but not long after he was swept away by a strong current and his body sank beneath the water, never to be found. His selfless act of bravery had saved Anna’s life and perhaps others as well.

From Turkey to Cyprus

Anna remained in Cesme for three months where she found work with a Turkish family.

During that time, many local Turks propositioned her and made advances towards her but all she could think about was the love of her life, Dimitrios, who at the time (1942) was serving with the Greek army in Palestine.

“Upon hearing the news of Anna’s shipwreck and tragedy, my dad immediately took leave claiming he needed to visit his sister and made his way to Cesme to be by my mother’s side. Reunited, their love grew stronger, and they knew they were meant to be together,” Maria Rologas, the couples daughter, told Neos Kosmos.

After three months in Turkey Anna was sent to Cyprus and Dimitrios went back to his camp in Palestine but vowed he would return to marry Anna.

Anna was sent to the mountainous village of Prodromos where she found work at the magnificent ‘Hotel of Kings’ known as Berengaria (Verengaria).

The Berengaria hotel, a summer and winter retreat, stood majestically at the top of the Troodos Range near the village of Prodromos. Exclusive to a select group of very wealthy guests, the prestigious hotel was designed to be nothing but the best, not only in Cyprus, but also in the Middle East.

The hotel owner, Mr Kokkalos was so impressed with Anna, that he entrusted her with not only the role of Head Housekeeper, but more importantly to be nanny to his third and youngest son Taso (Anastasios).
In the meantime, while still in his active duty in Palestine, Dimitrios visited Cyprus on a number of occasions to be by Anna’s side.

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When the war ended in 1945, most of the refugees, including Anna’s relatives and friends went back to Chios. The young widow, on the other hand, decided to stay on in Cyprus.

The opportunity afforded to Anna whilst in Cyprus is one that is difficult to comprehend. Despite her inability to read and write Greek, let alone learn and converse in English, she was able to work in what may be described as a managerial position, purely because of her integrity, hard work ethic and determination. The many dignitaries such as King Farouk of Egypt, the Israeli prime minister Ezer Vaisman, Winston Churchill and various aristocratic English tourists and other important official war time dignitaries who frequented the hotel during her time there also noted these qualities in Anna.

In 1948, after almost seven years in Cyprus Anna decided to return home to Chios. A year later, she finally married her true love, Dimitrios Markou on 13 February, 1949 almost twenty years after they first met.

“She had told my dad that she wanted to wait seven years before remarrying as a way to honor her first husband and his sacrifice to save her life,” Ms Rologas said.
Migration to Australia

In 1960, Anna and Dimitrios and their three young children made the agonising decision to leave Chios and immigrate to Australia. They settled in the Virginia market garden areas, north of Adelaide where they endured a lot of hardship and overall a difficult life.

“My mum was 45 years old when we came out and together with dad and my uncle Theodore she worked hard at the farm but didn’t really know anything about farming, floods and dust storms and neither did my dad. My mother had a nervous breakdown not long after whilst my father worked at a factory. He became injured and unable to work after saving a co-worker from a work accident.”

Never forgetting Cyprus, or the Berengaria, in 1981 Anna made contact with Taso, the young boy she looked after in the 1940s.

Their reunion in 1985 was indeed emotional.

Ms Rologas, a retired school teacher, recalls that the most heart-warming moment was witnessing Taso’s overwhelming love and devotion to her mother Anna.

“He constantly held her tight, acknowledging her role in his young life, affirming his love and admiration for the care that she had given him as a young boy so many years ago.”

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Anna never returned to Cyprus, but she maintained contact with Taso. She lived long enough to see all her children and grandchildren get educated and develop successful careers.

She was proud to see them get married and raise children of their own.

Anna and Dimitrios were married for 48 years. To them success was about having a loving family and being well respected in the community.

Until the day of her passing in 2013, 97-year-old Anna kept encouraging her children to live a life of honesty and integrity without ever forgetting where they came from.

Dimitrios passed away in 1997 at the age of 86.

“My mother was a resilient and hard-working woman. She lived a life of sacrifice and instilled in us the importance of family and education. We never suffered like she did. We got an education and continue to live an honest humble life with the values she instilled in us.

“We all hope she is now looking over us feeling proud of everything we have achieved,” Ms Rologas concluded.