the soil. It was in an agricultural area and sometimes we took cauliflowers from the field. We had [a kind of] heater and used wood. It was very cold. During the night when we slept it got so cold and when it rained it rained inside. When it rained we had to constantly move because it was raining inside so we couldn’t sleep.235 Several children told Human Rights Watch that they spent a few days sleeping in a public park until they found accommodation—typically by trusting in strangers who approached them with an offer for a place to stay. Fifteen-year-old Adisa P. from Nigeria had applied for asylum but the police had not referred him to a care center. He told us that he waited for accommodation an NGO promised to arrange for him and survived in the meantime on begging and sleeping in public parks in Athens: I still don’t have a place for me to live. The lawyers gave me an appointment to have a place to live. Now I sleep out on the streets. I don’t live anywhere. I have cold to my body. I don’t feel safe. I walk around to after 1am or 2am. Then I find a park to sleep in.236 The majority of unaccompanied children interviewed by Human Rights Watch were staying with adults in shared housing and paid for that place with their earnings from work. Such housing is not necessarily safe for children and children without income find themselves in a very vulnerable position and at risk of losing their place to stay. Fifteen-year-old Ahmad R. told us that he had no more money and paid for his accommodation through domestic work: “I work inside the house. I clean the house and wash the dishes. I always do this work…. I don’t feel free. I don’t know the language. I’m underage and this country does not give us good documents. I don’t have a future. I don’t agree with this situation.”237 235 Human Rights Watch interview with Aktar P., Athens, June 6, 2008. 236 Human Rights Watch interview with Adisa P., Athens, May 29, 2008. 237 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmad R., June 3, 2008. Children have reportedly been sexually abused in return for staying in an apartment. Fotis Parthenidis, a social worker, had come across a boy who had been sexually abused by fellow housemates. When he asked the boy what kind of work he performed, the boy reportedly told him he had been the woman of the house; Human Rights Watch interview with Fotis Parthenidis, Athens, May 29, 2008. Left to Survive 72