A baker starts a hunger strike against the expulsion from the country of his young Guinean apprentice
As we know, not everyone is born with the good fortune of having a family behind them, a home and an assured future. In many areas of the world it is already a lot to be able to be born - surviving, then, is another challenge. Laye Fodé Traoréiné comes from New Guinea and arrived in France illegally at the age of 16. Being a minor, he was able to stay in the country trying to integrate, studying and working. When he turned 18, however, it didn't matter that the young man had managed to get a job and a house, because he was legally forced to leave the country. His employer, a baker from Besançon, decided to stand up for him by going on a hunger strike.
via Change.org
There are many signatures that continue to arrive for Laye Fodé Traoréiné on Change.org: a way to support the young man, and the many like him who come to try to have a better future, and to convince the authorities to let him stay in France, his new home. Young Laye comes from New Guinea, from a desperate family and economic situation, so desperate that he traveled through Libya and Italy before arriving in France. When he landed in Nimes, on a train taken by chance, he was only 16 years old. Laye immediately worked hard to integrate: he learned French, graduated and works as an apprentice baker in Besançon. His 18th birthday, however, marks an inevitable, as well as unfair, milestone: with the age of majority, the young man will be forced to return to his country of origin. His employer, Stéphane Ravacley, owner of the "La Huche à Pain" bakery, took action personally to help his best worker.
Stéphane Ravacley is on hunger strike and wants to defend his employee at all costs: "We open the doors to a child and tell him 'don't worry, we protect you, you risk nothing'. We give him money, we host him and then 2 years later we tell him 'no, this beautiful dream you were living no longer exists, you have to go home!" the baker commented angrily.
Laye gets up at 3 in the morning to go to work with Stéphane, where he has become a model apprentice, with a willpower that is lacking in many of today's young people who study or work. Stéphane, as a good boss, recognizes the young man's extraordinary qualities: "he is really a good boy and he speaks French better than me. He has learned a lot and very quickly. He works beautifully".
Youtube / France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
On its part, the prefecture believes that the civil status documents provided by Laye are not in compliance with the law. The young man's lawyer, Amandine Dravigny, said the documents sent by the Guinean authorities cannot be classified as fake. Currently, an administrative appeal has been requested but refused.
We just have to wish this young man good luck, hoping that his situation will be resolved as soon as possible.
