A letter to Greece from a child rejected, yet again

Dear Greece,

You are the land of my birth. Of my mother's birth, and of all the mothers that came before her.

She was unmarried when she became pregnant with me. She was from a small village in the Peloponnese and was therefore unable to keep me. She left, never to return.

I was born in December 1962 in Athens, and adopted from Mitera sometime in 1963/64. My adoptive mother was Greek but had lost her citizenship with her marriage to my adoptive father, a British citizen.

They adopted my brother Alex at the same time.

Both of us have applied to have our citizenship reinstated through our birth mothers who were Greek nationals when they gave birth to us.

My journey away from you was quick. My journey home has taken four years already and I've yet to clear the first hurdle. I submitted my application to the Greek Consulate in London in 2020. I...