to kids, I think you oughta hold your morals and buy those kids
some books with the pimp's money.
What?
The Greek government is more moral?
I got it! The Troika is moral.
I'm having difficulty with this.
I guess Greeks are more moral than desperate, since they turned
down the Madame of the Hour, who came to save the local kids
from becoming illiterate, drug-addled, uhm hookers.
She's the boss
Read 'em: guardian
Greeks wary of brothel owners bearing gifts after school
donation
Parents protest after needy school in port of Patras is
forced to return madam's €3,000 cheque
Helena Smith in
Athens
Friday 9 November 2012 19.42 GMT
Soula Alevridou in one of her brothels. Greek authorities
said of her donation: 'What is legal is not necessarily moral'. Photograph:
John Kolesidis/Reuters
In a country ravaged by recession, Soula Alevridou stands
out, in more ways than one. Where other Greek entrepreneurs have fallen on hard
times, her business is booming – so much so that she has been forced to open new
premises to meet demand.
With success has come largesse, but in a nation where few
can afford to give – or are too busy stashing their ill-gotten gains abroad –
her generosity has touched a nerve.
Alevridou, owner of two brothels in the central Greek town
of Larissa, is at the centre of a furore after local officials insisted that a
primary school return her donation to cover the costs of textbooks and a
photocopier.
This is not her first brush with notoriety: she recently
bailed out her local football team, and players now proudly – if awkwardly –
wear bright pink jerseys advertising Soula's House of History and Villa
Erotica, the two brothels that have made her rich.
"I am a Greek woman, and I love my country," said
the petite 67-year-old, who has a penchant for stacked shoes and small dogs.
"If we don't help our scientists and athletes, where will we be?" she
said last month after announcing she would sponsor the cash-strapped team.
It seemed only natural, then, that when a primary school in
the western port city of Patras became insolvent – with bankrupt local
authorities making clear they were in no position to provide books or even a
photocopier for the school – the self-styled philanthropist would come to the
rescue again.
Moved by an appeal last week from the school's parents'
association, Alevridou immediately wrote a cheque for €3,000 to cover the costs
of the photocopier and a small library.
At first the school was grateful. "She was the only one
who tried to help," the town's deputy mayor, Theohari Massaras told the
Guardian.
"Schools, now, are totally under-funded. Local
municipalities are in charge of their finances and there's no money, not even
to buy aspirin for the kids," he said.
"Parents who have badly affected by all the austerity
measures are desperate. Many of them can't afford to buy textbooks for their
children."
The gesture would have been a footnote in the economic
crisis bedevilling the debt-stricken country had news of it not got out. As
soon as local media ran with the story, Alevridou found herself at the centre
of a furious row over the propriety of a brothel madam stepping into a gap
created by fiscal recklessness and state profligacy.
Although prostitution is legal in Greece – where in 2006 its
ability to spur economic activity prompted the government to revise its GDP
calculations on the basis of tax earnings from the profession – it is frowned
upon. Authorities have been quick to denounce Alevridou for using philanthropy
to promote her establishments.
"Donations reveal the depths of sensitivity of our
society … and as such schools are allowed to accept them especially when they
come through parents' associations. But we must not forget that primary school
teaches new members of our society, it dictates their value system and stance
towards life," said Giorgos Panayiotopoulos, the provincial director of
education in western Greece.
"Exploitation of a school, and by extension its
children, by different businesses is unacceptable and should be denounced in
the strongest possible way, especially when the principles of the business in
question are not in keeping with the principles of education," he said,
demanding the donation be returned to the brothel owner. "What is legal is
not necessarily moral. We must protect our children."
Alevridou admits that her brothels – run out of pastel
coloured bungalows in Larissa – have fared better than most, but vehemently
rejects accusations that her latest act of goodwill is aimed at self-promotion.
"She is very upset and very disappointed and doesn't want to talk,"
said an employee speaking on her behalf. "She has told me to tell everyone
she was only trying to help. This whole thing has been distorted."
At the Patras primary school, teachers and parents are
fuming. With the donation returned to its sender, the school remains without
books or a photocopier to get children through the term. "It would have
been much cleverer had the school simply taken the donation and not said who it
was from," said Massaras. "This way everyone has been left with
nothing. It's tragic."
