Taufiki, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Taufiki came to Denmark with his mother Shakira when he was only 2 years old. He ended up spending more than 10 years in asylum centres before he was finally granted residence in Denmark. 

His parents are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but he was born in a refugee camp in Uganda. His father and two older siblings are presumed dead. His mother Shakira suffered psychological trauma after witnessing distressing events and many years of uncertainty in the Danish asylum system; she was no longer the strong, well-functioning mother she once was.

"I'm afraid of spiders and also that my mother will die. I'm afraid of the police. I'm afraid they'll see me and send me to Africa, because then I'll die. It's very dangerous." 

This is what Taufiki told Olav Hergel from Politiken when he was 10 years old. He slept with a knife under his pillow until his mother found it. It was to threaten the police if they came to take him. He wet his pants both day and night and wore a nappy for a period.

Taufiki lived in many different asylum centres, and spent the last few years in the departure centre Sjælsmark. In 2015, he started at a special school in Copenhagen because he needed extra support due to restlessness, anxiety and difficulty concentrating.

In Sjælsmark, Taufiki refused to eat the food from the canteen, which resembled food served in a nursing home. Eventually the Danish Immigration Service had to grant his mother an allowance so she could buy food for him, although they were not allowed a refrigerator in their room and there was no kitchen.

The small family had a strong social network at Trampoline House in Copenhagen where Shakira was active for several years. Taufiki was also a regular part of the House’s children’s club and daily life. This network could only be maintained because Trampoline House paid for their transport from Sjælsmark to Copenhagen. The house had to close in 2020 due to a lack of funding.

Over the years, there were two failed attempts to forcefully deport Taufiki and his mother — in 2011 and 2012. The first time, they were flown all the way to Kinshasa but were denied entry and had to be escorted back to Denmark. The second time, the authorities gave up before they were removed from the country and they were released from prison after one day. In both cases, Taufiki was placed in Ellebæk prison together with his mother. Shakira requested both times to be presented to a representative of DRC’s consulate, but the police refused.
 
Refugees Welcome reviewed the many piles of documents in the case and applied in 2018 for residence on the grounds of the best interest of the child (paragraph 9 (c), section 1) for Taufiki. When the application was rejected, we appealed to the Immigration Appeals Board, with the same result. We also wrote to the Danish Parliament’s Immigration Committee about the case. The authorities maintained that the child was the mother’s responsibility and that there was nothing preventing her from returning to DRC with him.

But in 2020, a young lawyer (not from Refugees Welcome) succeeded in getting the case reopened in the Refugee Appeals Board, and Taufiki was finally granted asylum due to the risk of being forcibly recruited as a child soldier in DRC. At last, mother and son could move out and begin a real life in the country that had become Taufiki’s true homeland.

In the photos, he is playing table football at Trampoline House in 2014 and attending the parliamentary debate on the citizens’ proposal about the children in Sjælsmark in 2019.