In the construction sector, where children are often recruited on a day-to-day basis, work lasts from early morning to around 3 or 4 p.m. Wages, children told us, are around 25 Euros per day: “I worked from 7 a.m. until 4 or 5 p.m. and got 20, 25, or 30 Euros,” 16-year-old Mohammed W. told us.271 Children in agriculture and garment manufacturing regularly worked for 12 hours and more. In garment manufacturing, they were paid between two Euro fifty and three Euros per hour. In agriculture they were paid per amount of harvested fruit, around 15 Euros for one ton of harvested oranges. This meant that in plantations with less fruit, children ended up working longer hours for the same wage—a day wage could be as low as ten Euros. Children employed in agriculture additionally had to pay for the often substandard accommodation provided by their employers from their salary. Sixteen-year-old Hafez S. recalled: For one ton of oranges we got 15 Euros. We tried to collect as much as possible. We collected four persons in one group. I earned about ten to fifteen Euros [per day]. One day I managed to earn 20 Euros.… I worked for 19 days and.… after I paid food and rent I got 150 Euros.272 Children did not receive sufficient hours of rest in-between work days; breaks during the day were forbidden or very short. They got up as early as 3:30 a.m. either to travel to a distant work place or to queue for morning hygiene in overcrowded shared accommodation.273 In one case, a boy who was 17 told us that during his 12 hour work day in a garment sweatshop “I wasn’t allowed to stop for one minute, otherwise I would have been fired.”274 Without a guardian who acts in their best interest, with no regular status or work permit, children are forced to make a living without any means to protect themselves from exploitative work conditions and conditions that are akin to forced labor. Being 271 Human Rights Watch interview with Mohammed W., Amygdaleza detention center, June 3, 2008. 272 Human Rights Watch interview with Hafez S., Volos, June 11, 2008. 273 For example, Human Rights Watch interview with Aktar P., Athens, June 6, 2008 and Human Rights Watch interview with Nurullah F., Athens, May 27, 2008. 274 Human Rights Watch interview with Zahir B., Athens, May 29, 2008. Left to Survive 82