SOUTH AFRICAN Cypriots have been returning to the island in their hundreds over the last decade as the crime rate and cost of living back home rises. Many have settled in Paphos, exchanging a fast-paced lifestyle for a more relaxed approach.
Panayiotis (Pana) Lenos is one such example. He was born in Kimberly in South Africa to Cypriot parents. His father Nicos left the island in 1968 in search of a better life.
Many Cypriots were trying their luck in England and Australia at the time, but Lenos’ uncle had started a new life in South Africa, and his father joined him. On a visit to Cyprus in 1970, Nicos Lenos met and married his wife, Georgia, who he took back to South Africa with him.
Pana Lenos said a return was always on the cards.
“We had always wanted to come back to Cyprus. There were good opportunities in SA, and my dad wanted us to have a good schooling, but we had family here and dad always said we would return.”
Lenos was 20 when first visited Cyprus. He arrived as a holidaymaker and decided to stay. He has now been here for a decade and says he loves here. But he believes not all repatriated South African Cypriots feel the same.
“They miss the big cities, the rat race, nice clubs and big shopping centres,” he said. Now married with a young daughter, he believes Cyprus is better than most places to raise a family, and rates it as his first choice.
“I went back to SA in 2003 for a two-week holiday and on the first day I wanted to come straight back home,” he said.
“Crime is rife and the prices have been hiked ten times in ten years but wages have stayed the same. It used to be cheap there. Crime is so bad and such an everyday occurrence that the media don’t even bother to report it.”
Lenos runs the Keg and Barrel pub in Kato Paphos with his brother Theo.
“We’ve always wanted to have something of our own. My brother saw the opportunity and he bought the business, it’s been going about eight years now,” he added.
Six years ago, Lenos was the food and beverage manager of Crown resorts and thought he should take the opportunity to do something for himself before he became stuck in a rut.
When his brother said he needed help, Lenos joined him.”
“Many people have the misconception that the ‘Keg’ is a South African pub because its owned by two South Africans, but this isn’t the case.
“We’re a sports bar, and all different nationalities use us. South Africans do come and watch the rugby, but we get all sorts.”
Lenos believes there is a big South African community in Paphos. When he arrived a decade ago there were 5,500 registered.
“It must be triple that now,” he said. “I think most people leave South Africa because of the high crime rate. But for us it was different. We always had the thought we would leave.”
He continued, “As a returning Cypriot I haven’t really come across much ‘ribbing’, my parents always spoke Greek to us at home, and I went to Greek school. I speak the language like a Cypriot.
Lenos thinks he’s fortunate that he doesn’t speak broken Greek with a South African accent.
“I’ve never felt alienated, but I also think being polite helps.”
He says he has always felt in touch with his Cypriot roots.
He underlined that he grew up as ‘a Greek in South Africa’, and was surrounded by Cypriot culture, food, dance and school. In addition, most of his friends were South African Cypriots.
“My wife Emily is an English Cypriot, and I met here in Paphos,” he said.
“She would like me to teach our daughter Afrikaans, as this would really help her if she wanted to speak Dutch or German. I want to expand my daughters’ horizons, and I think it’s an asset for her to grow up being trilingual.”
Lenos doesn’t regard himself as a typical South African Cypriot and lamented that many repats complain about live in Cyprus – a phenomenon he believes gives them a common spirit with some of the British expats here.
Lenos said making the move to Cyprus was the biggest step he’s ever taken.
“I came from a secure family-oriented home life and my parents brought me up the right way. I believe if you have that, you can achieve anything.”
Georgia Lenou, Pana’s mother, is 57 and originally from Karavas.
“I went to South Africa in 1972 with my husband who I met through an arranged marriage.
“Most of the people in his village of Rizokarpaso had moved over there. In those days, times were hard in Cyprus – especially in the small villages – and people went in search of more money and a better life. That’s why we went.”
Lenou says South Africa is a beautiful country, “I’m not sorry I went, but I’m sorry I came back.
“I spent thirty years of my life there. But the crime rate was so high, with rapes and murders, that we had to repatriate.”
She returned with her husband in 1998, and said although it’s nice to be back, it’s a very different life.
“I’m from the other side of Cyprus and not from Paphos, where we now live. We lost everything during the war and my family are refugees, they had to start again. But I’m happy here because now I’m safe.”
CONSTANTINA Athinakis is in her 30s and was born in Johannesburg. Her father was born in Cyprus and her mother, although born in South Africa, had Cypriot parents.
“I visited Cyprus when I was 14,” she said, “and the whole experience was surreal.”
“It was all beach and sand, meeting new family and eating ice cream every day. I came with my dad for the first time. I visited again when I was 18 and then in my 20s for a friend’s wedding.”
Athinakis believes the way in which you view things as a child, a teenager and an adult are very different, but during the later visits to Cyprus she noticed there was a lot more going on in Paphos, and that it was so much more than just a seaside resort.
“I was a victim of a robbery in South Africa and my home was burgled. They took everything I owned – literally. They even took the food from my freezer and my clothes, that was in 2001.”
This prompted her to rethink the future.
“I was single, in my late twenties and I had a fantastic career but I wanted to think long term. AIDS, HIV and crime were all big issues for me and were getting worse. I also wanted a break from the fast-paced life of professional advertising.”
She decided to come to Cyprus with the option of staying, or using it as a springboard for another place.
“I moved to Nicosia in August 2001. I already had a job lined up and lived there for just under two years. But my family had also moved to Cyprus and were based in Paphos, so I decided to move here, too.”
Athinakis prefers the pace and quality of life here.
“I met my husband in Paphos, and we now have a baby girl. I made the right move, but I do think it depends on what you want. If you want an established career, Paphos is not the place to be, but it’s great for stability and quality of life.”
She also believes that since joining the European Union, Cyprus is a vessel for a multitude of opportunities.
“I think that its important to be safe, and with Cyprus now an EU member, I am affording my child a safe environment and better opportunities and education; there is a whole spectrum of possibilities for her future, she will have the whole of Europe to chose from.”
25,000 and counting
According to Renos Antoniades, the honorary South African Consul General in Nicosia, there are no official figures available as to how many South African Cypriots are residing in Cyprus.
“We don’t have an official registry in our offices and nei
ther do the Cypriot authorities. But through certain methods we employ, such as passport renewals and so on, we believe there are around 25,000 South Africans and South Africans Cypriots residing in Cyprus.
“The largest percentage of this figure consists of repatriated, with only a few South African nationals making up the numbers.”
N If you are a returning South African Cypriot and would like to meet other repats, visit www.cy4za.com
