The Odyssey of a Greek in Search of Work
Tilemachos Karachalios mops floors and yearns for home
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As a pharmaceutical salesman in Greece for 17 years, Tilemachos Karachalios wore a suit, drove a company car, and had an expense account. He now mops floors in Sweden. “It was a very good job,” says Karachalios, 40, of his former life. “Now I clean Swedish s- - -.”
Karachalios, who left his six-year-old daughter behind with his parents, is one of thousands fleeing Greece and its 24 percent unemployment. Last year, 1,093 Greeks sought permission to settle in prosperous Sweden, almost double the number in 2010. “I’m trying to survive,” Karachalios says. “It’s difficult here, very difficult. I would prefer to stay in Greece. But we don’t have jobs.”