Publication in the newspaper « La Libre Belgique » In the footsteps of Tahed.
Tahed was seven years old when he left his Afghan village. When we crossed his path in the Calais « jungle », he was eight. The little round-cheeked boy had travelled through Iran, Turkey and south-eastern Europe before ending up on the English Channel with one goal in mind: to reach the UK. Why? « Because I learned English for two years, » he says.
In this village of webs, the exiles hardly mix, there is the corner of the Afghans, the Eritreans and the Sudanese, the majority in this former sandy dump – well managed by the smugglers, we are told.
Tahed lived here for a month with his « Pakistani uncle ». He has already tried to cross, but failed three times. The fourth time was the charm: on 3 July 2015, the Afghan boy jumped from a truck on English soil. © OLIVIER PAPEGNIES