Panagiotis Avrabos
Panagiotis Avrabos, 39, Athens:
Panagiotis Avrabos, 39, stands next to his bed in the upstairs dormitory. Since 1 May, he has had a new, decent job. Panagiotis comes from Athens. He had to leave school at 15 and help his father on the farm. But he was so ambitious that as a teenager, he attended evening classes in his spare time and obtained his secondary qualifications. He even speaks a little English. The company where he had worked for a long time closed down in January and all the employees were made redundant. He is still waiting in vain for his last four months' wages. According to Christos Skolarikos of the aid organisation Médecins du Monde, which runs the night shelter, that is nothing out of the ordinary. A lot of employers, for months a time, only pay the social security contributions but not their employees' wages. Often, a company closes down overnight and the money, as in Panagiotis's case, is gone. I ask him what people live off for such a long time. »Here in Greece, your family steps in and feeds you too. But that is getting harder and harder because fewer and fewer people have jobs,« Christos explains. Panagiotis now works for a private funeral director, but he earns no more than €300 to €400 per month. That is not enough for a flat. »If you don’t have a family, you end up in a homeless shelter.«