Having experienced the fiery havoc, destruction, death and intense smell of their burned houses back on July 23, the young people of Mati, Athens sent a touching message to California, which is being devastated by deadly fires, that cost the lives to 76 people while more than 1.200 people are still missing.

The young people from Mati, Neo Voutzas and all the fire-stricken areas of Attica with four black and white photographs formed the sentence “We feel you California”.

This is how they chose to express their solidarity to the people of California who lost loved ones and their houses from the fire on the other side of the Atlantic.

Young people from #Mati, Attiki in #Greece where during last summer 100 people died from horrific wildfires, reach out to the people of #California, #USA during their time of grief and pain. Once again the long enduring ties between #Greece and the #US are emphatically revealed pic.twitter.com/pcQEOEuV07

— Spyros Litsas (@Spyros_Litsas) November 18, 2018

Their message is:

I feel you California!

I have gone through the loss of my hometown, a place where I created my memories and lived my dreams.

I have felt what it’s like to look around me and not recognize surroundings that were once familiar.

I have felt how it is to be wondering “why?”. “And now what?”. To wonder what the future will hold…or if I can ever even start again…

I have experienced losing everything I took for granted!

But let me tell you , you have to stay strong California!

Because even though you will be feeling, disappointment, bitterness, sorrow and anger -you will find something; and that something will keep you upright… You will realize that you are not alone, cause many are there to support you.

You will succeed… And by working together, your “Paradise” will rise again.

I feel you California!

The US Ambassador to Athens, Geoffrey Pyatt, retweet the post of the Associate Professor of the University of Macedonia, Spyros Litsa, writing: “Thanks Mati.”

Thank you #Mati https://t.co/p4WAZlHPdy

— Geoffrey Pyatt (@USAmbPyatt) November 18, 2018