We are in the village of Roumeli. Young people in this area, that have been greatly deprived, were able to attend the Pedagogical Academy of Heraklion, those who did not leave abroad, as was usually the case in the first postwar decades. Many children were unable to continue school because they had to contribute to their family's income very early in life:"the poor wage-maker who cannot support his children in completing the 5th and 6th grades of elementary school, once they have reached (the children) their 12th year of age, they are forced, against their will, to find any profession to occupy them" (M. Riginos, Forms of Child Labor in the Manufacturing and Crafts Industry (1870-1940), Athens, 1995). Conditions in the city were just as bad. Children worked either in large factories or in workshops or as vendors, under extremely unfavorable conditions: "... children aged 10 and 12, worn out, 12 and 14 beside their mother or grandmother, with their chins bent on their knees, with fingers damaged from the tying of knots and their bodies forever hunched... Dry bread for food ... Workshops installed in places that were previously warehouses and stables." (M. Svolos, The Carpet Workers. 41 , March, 1927)
ROUMELI TODAY
Today, in the olive fields of Roumeli and other agricultural crops, visitors are able to participate in agricultural work, pleasantly passing their free time and enjoying the traditional way of life.
