An 18-year-old Cretan said because Greece’s crushing economic crisis has made his family unable to support him that he has been left homeless and can’t attend school anymore.
His classmates said had no idea of what was happening to the boy until last November, when they saw him bleeding from the nose and took him to the hospital. He reportedly had high blood pressure affected by his bad living conditions. When school officials contacted the boy’s parents, they said they were told they didn’t care.
He was 17 at the time and when he was discharged and, with the assistance of government officials, returned to his family home in Heraklion, he said his parents tossed him out a month later when he turned 18 and legally became an adult. He said he moved in with his grandmother but later was left homeless.
The principal of the school he attended, Andreas Tsepapadakis said: “Unfortunately, there are four more children in our school dealing with similar financial problems. This year, many children dropped out of school, since they did not have money even for the bus ticket.”
Tsepapadakis added: ” Nikos is a diligent student, always attending the courses. He told us that his parents had no money to help him. What is important for the child is to find a morning job in order to attend the school courses in the evening. His dream is to become a cook. To realize how serious his problem is, Nikos considers being an army volunteer to have a shelter and food for nine months. Let’s all help this boy to make his dream come true.”
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