By: Nyima Silla
Zeina Ballow, mother of seven children and a deportee from Germany has accused authorities of totally neglecting her and family since their arrival in the Gambia.
She is also calling for urgent assistance towards helping her family go back to Germany. Explaining her ordeal to this paper, Ms Ballow narrated how Titisee-Neustadt Police in Germany brainwashed her and told her that they would never be abandoned by the German authorities upon arrival in The Gambia.
“We were promised that we would be given money to start a new life with my children and a home to stay in.’’ “They also told me that I will have someone from the Red Cross to take care of us until they see that the children and parents are okay. I believed them but it was all a lie,’’ she complained.
‘’We arrived and we didn’t have a place to sleep. Thank God I met a family that welcomed me. The children were hungry and sleepy,’’ Zeina emotionally explained to The Voice.
Ballow expressed frustration saying she was neglected by the Gambian authorizes as she was not contacted by any official authority to confirm her situation and her family.
“Neither the migration agency, IOM, Gambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Immigration I mean none of the officials call me. I am suffering here I want to go back to Germany as soon as possible because my kids are not used to this environment.”
She further explained that upon landing in The Gambia, the situation was terrible and her husband advised them to move to one of his friend’s houses in Senegal.
According to her, the situation is even more terrible in Senegal because those people also have a family and she cannot fit in the house with her seven children because the house is tight and overcrowded.
“We currently live in a town in Senegal where conditions are extremely harsh and catastrophic. The town is called Sankagne. Life is very hard, there are no enough resources for food and we are suffering day after day,’’ she disclosed.
Meanwhile, Zeina pointed out that her seven children were born in Germany, living a good life and going to school but just overnight, the lives of the innocent children turned into a nightmare.
“My daughter was bitten by mosquitoes, her body is full of scars and marks, they returned me without my children being vaccinated and my fourth daughtersuffered from a very serious illness called meningitis, she was in a coma. Almost one month in a coma without being able to wake up. Now they bring her here without caring about the health of my children,” she cried.
Back to the day of her deportation on Wednesday 10/18/2023 Zeina explained how the police came to her house.
“When I was about to get out of the shower to dress my children, I heard the doorbell ring before I opened the door and the police were inside the house. More than ten police officers came. Some ended up in the kitchen, others at the bathroom door, and some around me and my family.’’
“I asked them what was happening. One of the police officers told me that I had to go back to The Gambia. I was surprised because I expected everything except for them telling me that they were going to deport me with all the children. At around 10 am we were taken to the Titisee-Neustadt Police,’’ she said.
From there, they were put on a plane and sent to the Gambia.
