My memory of Homori goes back a few years before the Second World War.
As I grow older memories of the past are recalled and I yearn to be young again.  I remember vividly how great it was to be a kid growing up in Homori.  Life then seemed so simple, happy, carefree, and full of love.

When the Second World War broke out life in the village changed drastically overnight. From everywhere, people were coming back. Homori reached out and welcomed those who long ago left the village seeking a better life elsewhere. Many of them were professionals in many fields, others just fathers and mothers, young and old wrapped up in their everyday lives who now found themselves plowing farm fields and planting gardens desperately trying to grow food to stay alive. They found themselves depending on each other and they shared whatever food they had, prayed together, and lived through it all.

In 1945 the war was over and everybody rejoiced.  Homori said farewell and goodbye to those who had come and were now leaving.  For me, the war years were an amazing growing-up experience. Going through such hardships, enduring all of the war’s devastations and privations, most of us survived it, with the exception of my mother who, in the middle of all this, died September 1941.

It is important to remember that this article focuses on how life in the village was THEN. Because of it I feel the need to remind the younger generation that life sometimes can be difficult.  Imagine leaving our village at midnight for a twelve-hour walk to Nafpaktos. The sole purpose of the trip was to buy the necessary food and staples to last us a few weeks.  When the shopping was done, we gathered at the George Hantzis Inn (Hani) to rest for a few hours before the long trip back home.  With heavy sacks on our backs we started the twelve-hour walk.  Some were lucky to have the help of their mules, and they fared a lot better.   The trip was long and tiresome, stopping many times to catch a breath was a must. THAT WAS THEN.

In November 1946, my brother Peter, sister Ita, and I left the village for The United States to join our father.  Twenty-five years later I came back to Homori, and the trip this time was much easier. It took only five hours by car to reach Homori from Nafpaktos. What an improvement!!  The road was still quite primitive, all dirt and full of potholes.  We stopped often to fill the potholes with rocks and other debris so that our little V-W Beetle could make it through.  Driving through narrow paths, creeks, and huge mountaintops, was an awesome and unforgettable experience.

Finally we reached Homori.  It took all the strength I had to hold back the tears. It was an emotional experience.   After twenty-five years I was home again. This is where my roots are, this is where I was born and was raised. I view this village as part of my family. Our former First Lady Mrs. Hillary Clinton wrote in one of her books “It takes a village to raise a child.”  Those of us who grew up here know that to be true.

In those days Homori was without electricity, without water, without paved roads. With the help of many people, the village slowly was transformed into what it is today.  Electricity replaced kerosene and oil lamps, water flowed to each and every home.  Gone are the outside toilets, and in are the healthy new bathrooms and the new washing machines.

With a lot of hard work, determination, and persistence by Homori’s late president Sotirios Drosos, Dionysios Tzoumas, and much help by the current Mayor Andrea Drosos, the potholes are replaced with paved smooth roads.  Homori now has two good roads leading into the village, one through Platanos, and the other through Eleftheriani.

The road from Eleftheriani is brand new and it is a bit shorter. Traveling this most picturesque and peaceful road rejuvenates me to no end.  Stopping at the Kormousis vrisi in the middle of the green pine forest to get a cold, drink of crystal clear water, is for me one of the highlights of our trip.

Many thanks to our good friends Tom and Zooko, the Albanian contractors, and to our own chief of all trades George Pelekis, for their many contributions to our village.  They built many new homes, and remodeled old ones, making them look new again.  Thanks are due to many Homoriites who had faith in our village, and spent their hard-earned money to build and remodel their homes.  Money well spent.

Three of our Homoriites are the backbone of our Dimo Platanou,  Adreas Drosos is the Mayor, Athanasios Chantzis, and Christos Engglezos are two administrative council  members.    We are proud of them, and I salute them for their many contributions to our town.

Many thanks also to Haralambos  (Bobby) Chantzis, and his daughter Xenia for the amazing job they did in creating an awesome website for our village. What a great technological achievement.  With the use of a computer, anyone anywhere in the world, can access it and enjoy photos, news, of our village.  It is an unbelievable task and they did it!   Job well done.

Congratulations to professor Antonions Drosos for the new treasured book he wrote “Antilaloi apo ti Xomori”. This is a well-done book with much information about our ancestors, and its many anecdotes that many of us never knew they existed.  In my view, this book belongs in each and every home in Homori.  I salute Antonion Droso and those who helped in publishing the much-needed quarterly newspaper “H Foni tis Homoris”. These, and many other accomplishments have put our village on the map, and transformed it into a beautiful showplace of Oreni Naupaktia, and I am privileged to be part of this place.

Many come to Homori to enjoy the mountain air and cool summers. Others come to witness the sheer beauty of these majestic mountains that surround this picturesque village.   In the center of Homori is Pelekis Kafenio, a place where the locals and travelers come and enjoy a freshly brewed coffee, a local  “tsipouro” or a shot of ouzo and play Diloti.  For those who prefer something to eat there is a perfect place for them too.  Homemade food is provided with a lot of specialties and music at The Platanakia Restaurant.

Year after year, Homoriites come from near and far to enjoy and take part in our festivals.  Easter Day celebration in Homori is a must for all of us.  St. Paraskevi and Panagia Cavadiotissa’s day in August is another must.  The celebration continues on to the wee hours of the morning.

Through the years I have visited Homori with my family members, and many Greek-American, friends like Dr. Dimitri Kirgiakidis (Cidis) and his wife Esther. My American friends Jack, and Dotti Crawford from North Carolina visited our village with me a couple years ago and loved it.  They, like many others, have fallen in love with Homori and want to come back.

THIS IS HOMORI, NOW MY FRIENDS. COME AND BE PART OF IT!

Many, many, thanks to my cousin and professor Panagioti Skiadas for translating this article into Greek.   Thank you again Pano.