Maria Giannaki-Kritza, who arrived from Australia with her family at the age of 9 around the mid-1970s in the Republic of Malawi, talks about her personal history and that of the Greeks in the African country from the beginning of the 20th century, their preoccupation initially with fishing in the large lake located there, the Greek community which today numbers 90 people but is shrinking and the challenges it faces, on Voice of Greece and the show “Our Global Voice” with Petros Diplas and Dimitris Kontogiannis.
Most of the Greek families in Malawi come from the village of Kontia, Lemnos, and the pioneers were able to cut through, using the fishing skills they knew from Lemnos, said Mrs. Kritza, who is now the honorary consul of Greece in Malawi. Later, they switched to tobacco, macadamia nuts and corn as the locals eat bobota, a type of cornmeal bread. The Greeks of Malawi faithfully follow the Greek customs and traditions, such as preparing lamb on the spit on Easter Sunday, she added.