Titi’s story
My name’s Titi, i’m from Guinea, i’m 15 years old but i left when i was 14. I turned 15 y.o in Algeria.
I went through Mali, then Algeria, had a car accident in Algeria, the police dropped me off at the Tunisian border and then i went to Italy. When i arrived in Lampedusa, it was a little bit strange but everything went fine.
I passed through Palermo, then Rome; from there i took a train to Nice, where i passed the minority test, after which they placed me in a home. I didn’t last longue and ran away to Marseille
When i arrived, i spent 5 days at the St.Charles station. I wasn’t alone in the station, i was with a family ; we were hungry so we asked the passer-by where we could find a place to eat. Once at the restaurant we asked where the police station was : “Go down the street, the police is not far”.
Once in front of the Police station, a lady asked us if we were here to make a complaint or else, we replied that we had just arrived and didn’t know where to sleep. She gave us money.
We went back to the train station. That evening the mother told me to call back the police because i’m a minor and i couldn’t stay with them, like that… in the street. As i didn’t know the number, the husband called the 18 and the 17 : the first was the fire department, the other the police. The 5th day, they came to get me
Young UFM : passage at the police station, then wait for the evaluation by ADDAP
At the Police station, they asked me questions because i had papers from Italy ; in fact i didn’t have from Nice, because i arrived at the home et around 2AM and ran away the next day.
The police gave me some food and the number of ADDAP, and explained how to reach them.
In fact, when you arrive at ADDAP, they either put you in a hostel or a children’s home, then you go through the evaluation (editor’s note: this is a interview to evaluate you age)
In my case, as i was sick when i arrived, i had to wait a month, during which i was in a children home, before taking my evaluation
In the beginning, i didn’t want to stay in Marseille, because the five first day at the train station where very hard… but now it’s better and i feel fine.
At the time of our interview, Titi was staying in a hotel and attending the PAAJ day care center while waiting to enroll in school.