Crossing one of the most dangerous areas of the world-The incredible story of a Greek in the 1880s

Excerpt from the book-The Greek presence in the Horn of Africa

Sotiris Chryseos was born in Samos and in 1880 he settled in Aden where he engaged in trade. He was the first to trade in the Ogaden region, in the southeastern of Ethiopia, where local tribes were particularly aggressive toward foreigners. Chryseos, who knew the local languages​and customs, extended his activity to Mogadishu, creating a trade route that connected eastern Ethiopia with southern Somalia. In 1885 he expanded his activities in Zeila of Somalia with great success.

 

The first bakery in Malawi

 [excerpt from the book 'The Greek community in Malawi']

In 1928, Nikos Trataris left Lemnos and went to Beira to work for his uncle who had a farm. He worked from morning till night without a payment and after eight months he left for Malawi. He decided to set up the first bakery in Blantyre but he had no funds so he borrowed some money from his friend, George Cocorozis who was in Beira. He opened the “European bakery” which was later renamed to “Associates bakery”. In the 1950s, Trataris built an ultra modern and automatic bakery which was baking 1,200 loaves per hour. In 1955, it reached 8,000 loaves an hour. It was such an accomplishment that the owner of the biggest bakery of South Africa came to see it. In 1975, Trataris’s sons who were running the business were forced to sell it at a low price. One of them, George Trataris, who refused to cooperate was imprisoned for 18 months.