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Greeks write to Santa Claus for peace, debt crisis resolution

Xinhua, December 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

As Christmas is drawing near, the Hellenic Post Office (ELTA), the state-owned postal services provider in Greece, is flooded with tens of thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus, with many asking for world peace and an end to the country's seven-year debt crisis, Sunday's "Eleftheros Typos" newspaper quoted an official with ELTA as reporting.

"Dear Santa, please bring some warm clothes and shoes for poor children," a boy named Apostolis wrote in one of the first letters that ELTA employees opened this year, Eleni Kontou, head of the ELTA's Public Relations department, told the newspaper.

ELTA receives about 100,000 such letters each year.

ELTA employees have tried to respond to each of the colorful letters addressed to Santa since 1990.

In recent years the gloom of the debt and refugee crises testing Greece has been reflected on the letters.

Official statistics show that a quarter of Greece's working force is suffering from chronic unemployment, and one in three households is earning incomes beneath or close to the poverty threshold.

And the ongoing refugee crisis worsened the financial situation of the debt-ridden country, as it is managing to provide aid to more than 62,000 refugees who have been stranded in Greece since last winter.

In this context, next to the usual wishes to Santa such as "a tablet and a blanket for my dog," demand for a job for dad or help for the thousands of refugee children started to frequently occur in the letters.

"Dear Santa Claus, although they are telling me that you are a fake invention of a multinational company, I believe in you. I want to keep believing. Please bring peace to the world," a Greek girl wrote.

And Santa Clause is appealing to children and adults alike.

"Dear Santa, bring innovation and whatever you think will help to make a difference in our future. Bring anything that can help us rebuild Greece... They are saying you can pull out miracles. I need to believe you can. You are our last hope," read the letter of a jobless woman. Enditem