“Every time I call him, it hurts me”

“RMC engages with you” comes to the aid of a young player from FC Longjumeau (Essonne): Kafang, 12 years old, has been held in Senegal for two months.

It was his trainer, Vic, who contacted “RMC is committed to you”. Last April, the FC Longjumeau football club (Essonne) organized a humanitarian and sporting trip to Senegal for some of its young people. Departing from Paris, no problem. The stay is going wonderfully. But on the way back, nothing goes as planned. Kafang, 12 years old, remains stuck in Dakar.

“They did the check and told us that little Kafang could not board, under the pretext that his document was expired,” explains his trainer Vic.

Kafang was born in France, where his Senegalese parents have been legally settled for a long time. But his circulation card is expired. His father knew it before he let him go. And he inquired with the prefecture. We explained to him that this posed no problem, provided he had a valid exit permit.

The agent who informed Kafang’s father was wrong. Moreover, the young player should never have been able to leave the country with an expired card. For two months, this 12-year-old child has been alone, without his parents, in a country he has never set foot in, welcomed by relatives he barely knows. His father, Alioune, is desperate.

“Every time I call him, it hurts me. He’s the one who cheers me up. He was born here, in France, he has all his friends here. He does well at school. I’m proud of him. There, he doesn’t have the means to follow distance learning courses, so he misses all his classes,” says his dad. Kafang is in 5th grade and risks having to repeat a year.

A visa application was submitted to the French embassy in Dakar. The average processing time is 15 days, which is well exceeded. “RMC engages with you” went up to the Prime Minister to try to speed things up.

And it worked: Kafang’s visa was issued urgently last Friday, he took the plane alone like a grown-up and he found his parents Sunday morning, in time for Father’s Day. The best gift you could give your dad.

The sad irony of all this is that at four months, he wouldn’t have had this problem. Born in France to foreign parents, Kafang will soon celebrate his 13th birthday and will therefore be able to apply for French nationality, which should simplify his life in the future.