For 42 years, she handed out smiles along with the groceries

Laskarina Mormani, a woman who learned the value of perseverance and hard work from a young age, hails from Imbros. She spent ten years working as a cleaner and domestic helper in Constantinople. Ten years filled with toil, but also with valuable life lessons. At the age of 22, she was married through an arranged match, and a year later, at 23, she boarded a plane bound for a distant land full of promise: Australia. There, for 42 whole years, she worked tirelessly alongside her husband, behind the counter of the shop they ran together. With determination, patience, and dignity, she proved that no new beginning is impossible, no matter how difficult it may seem.