Page 200 - ILIAS ATHANASIADIS AKA RO1

From the moment I open my eyes after my birth I saw my sister she was there and she
will be every stem of my life. She was 17 years old a teenage girl like all the girls at her
age full of life, those days it was hard for teenage girls to express themselves.

There were no clubs to go out and the world was recovering from the second world war.
Hunger and unemployment made life hard to live , my sister from a very young age stop

the school at the age of 12 years old and start working in the local factory.

Our factory was making tomato sauce and summer time my hometown borders smelled
rotten tomatoes I still have the smell in my nose. To get a job there you had to apply and

you must know someone to push your application otherwise there is no chance to get the
job.

If you re lucky to get the job for the year then the following year after your contract

finish you do not have the right to apply again, you have to wait for the following year.

It was hard to survive and I remember my sister always had a job no matter the wages
she was going to be busy and to get out of the house.

My father was not kind to her he never help my sister on finance or any education, my

mother was in love with the father so what he was saying she was doing no help with
my sister at all.

She was alone and as she was the first child in the family she was responsible for
cleaning looking after the young ones that was me.

One thing I remember she was very cruel with me when it comes to school. She was a
nightmare she made me read over and over she support me with my english school by
paying the fees.

She teach me caligraphy and if she didn’t like it she was reapingthe pages and make me
do it again and again until I got it right.

One lesson from the book it was 4 pages I had to learn mty memory and after half a day