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Georgios Lekakis, 56, Greece.I am a retired Brigadier General in the Greek police service. I served for 35 year in different posts, mainly dealing with immigration as well as border police matters and general management.
My first international mission was in Albania with the Western European Union in 1998 as an instructor on public order issues. Later, I worked for four years in total in Sarajevo, Bosnia, with the United Nations and the European Union Police Mission. My last mission before joining EUMM was in 2008-2009 in Odessa, Ukraine, as a border police adviser.
I have been married for sixteen years to my wife Iliana and have three sons, Demosthenes, Stamatis and Alexander. My main interests are traveling, athletic activities and I also like to expand my cultural and historical horizons by reading books on history. Every mission gives me an opportunity to get to know new places and cultures. Also, my family likes to visit the places I work in and thus they have also visited Georgia. It is a tremendous experience and advantage for the children to know my working environment and to meet new people from different countries. I strongly believe that, in order to be able to work successfully in missions, you need to have patience and adapt easily to the multicultural, international environment.
I joined EUMM in February 2013 as a monitor in the Gori Field Office. First, I was in the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) team and later in the Compliance Team. I really like my current position and it also suits my personal profile. My work is about keeping contact with police units along the ABL, in a human and at the same time professional approach by visiting and liaising with them. In addition, I am also the team’s Gender focal point, which gives me opportunities to see a different and extremely interesting aspect and way of implementing gender issues activities in the everyday working environment of the mission.
It has struck me that there are very poor living conditions in many villages close to the ABL. I often feel sad when seeing kids trying to play and enjoy their daily life or elderly people living in the villages, under harsh conditions. But from my two years of personal experience, I believe that for people living along the ABL, EUMM is a friend, with whom they can discuss on a daily basis and who brings them feelings of security and hope for the future.
EUMM is a challenging mission and it gives us the opportunity to be in contact with the local population and local authorities. It makes one see how everyday life is following a period of war, and it also offers a gift to the senses when visiting places of enormous beauty in the countryside, exploring local habits and the culture of a historical nation that tries to recover from the past and find its pathway towards the EU.
My first international mission was in Albania with the Western European Union in 1998 as an instructor on public order issues. Later, I worked for four years in total in Sarajevo, Bosnia, with the United Nations and the European Union Police Mission. My last mission before joining EUMM was in 2008-2009 in Odessa, Ukraine, as a border police adviser.
I have been married for sixteen years to my wife Iliana and have three sons, Demosthenes, Stamatis and Alexander. My main interests are traveling, athletic activities and I also like to expand my cultural and historical horizons by reading books on history. Every mission gives me an opportunity to get to know new places and cultures. Also, my family likes to visit the places I work in and thus they have also visited Georgia. It is a tremendous experience and advantage for the children to know my working environment and to meet new people from different countries. I strongly believe that, in order to be able to work successfully in missions, you need to have patience and adapt easily to the multicultural, international environment.
I joined EUMM in February 2013 as a monitor in the Gori Field Office. First, I was in the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) team and later in the Compliance Team. I really like my current position and it also suits my personal profile. My work is about keeping contact with police units along the ABL, in a human and at the same time professional approach by visiting and liaising with them. In addition, I am also the team’s Gender focal point, which gives me opportunities to see a different and extremely interesting aspect and way of implementing gender issues activities in the everyday working environment of the mission.
It has struck me that there are very poor living conditions in many villages close to the ABL. I often feel sad when seeing kids trying to play and enjoy their daily life or elderly people living in the villages, under harsh conditions. But from my two years of personal experience, I believe that for people living along the ABL, EUMM is a friend, with whom they can discuss on a daily basis and who brings them feelings of security and hope for the future.
EUMM is a challenging mission and it gives us the opportunity to be in contact with the local population and local authorities. It makes one see how everyday life is following a period of war, and it also offers a gift to the senses when visiting places of enormous beauty in the countryside, exploring local habits and the culture of a historical nation that tries to recover from the past and find its pathway towards the EU.