Abdi was 9 years old and living on the streets in South Africa. He was detained, but was then released into community care as part of an alternatives to detention program.
Abdi's story - Artwork by Nani Puspasari
Abdi was nine and living on the streets in Gauteng when police stopped him and asked for his papers. He didn’t have any. They took him to Benoni police station and held him alone in a very small cell.
People in the community noticed he was missing and sent a lawyer who supports people without South African papers to check the police station. Police said the lawyer couldn’t see Abdi because immigration hadn’t registered his case. As it was a public holiday, immigration couldn’t come until the following week.
Abdi waited in the small cell through the long weekend. On Tuesday, immigration still hadn’t arrived due to limited resources. He waited another day without seeing a lawyer or social worker and only saw police, who he was very afraid of.
On Wednesday an immigration officer came. Abdi was referred to the child referral network. Two days later, the network secured his release and a safe place to live. Since then, Abdi has kept a toy bear with him, given at the time of his release.
Abdi spent several days in immigration detention. Those days are difficult to forget.
