I went into my mums bed room to tell her I had woken up. Suddenly we heard this banging on our door. At first I thought it was a fiream but the banging kept on going, that's when we realised it was the door.

My mum got up and went to see who it was, I was still in the bedroom at that time and frightened I was shaking like never before.

Once my mum had opened the door about 6-8 officer came in and they handed my mum a letter and lead us both into the living room. That letter was infact a warrant to say that they came to search our house.

They told us that we had to pack our stuff and go with them because the homeoffice had organised to get us both on a plane to go back to Ethiopia for the 1st of October.

Both me and my mum was so horrified and shocked we couldn't think straight. (…) The officers told us that they had to follow us around the house just in case we tried to do something stupid.

Once me and my my mum had gotten dressed they told us to pack all of the stuff we wanted. My mum said that she didn't want anything because she was shocked and upset.

Betty, 11. may be deported to Ethiopia

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On the other hand, the officer that was in my room with me told me to pack everything I had. I went into the wardrobe and tried to think but I couldn't. The officer was just talking at me and telling me to pack, pack, pack.

I just wanted her to be quite and for her to leave me alone. A little later we were finished packing some things and was lead to the vihcle that was down stairs, outside.

The officers drove us to Waterside House in Leeds. It is an imagration office. They lead us into some sort of small office. When we entered we saw there was two rooms, small office and another room that we had to stay in for that moment in time.

From there we were told to wait until further notice. After a while one of the officer came in and explained to us that the homeoffice had tickets to go back to Ethiopia.

My mum replied that we can't go back to Ethiopia for the reasons that my mum is Eritrina and that it is not safe because they might put her back into detention and there might also be a possibility of her being killed by them.

Also because I am not allowed to Eritria because I am Ethiopian and I can't go in Ehtiopia because I would have no one to look after me because my mum isn't allowed to go to Ehtiopia and as for my dad, I don't know where he is. But they didn't (…) to us.

But the most horrible thing was they told they were going to take both of us into a detention centre until the day of our flight. It was at moment we realised there might not be any hope for us.

After an hour or something, some people from their office came to take us to the detention centre.

We prayed to god that he would be us over this mess. 5 mins. Later we were taken to the van to go. It took us 2 hours and 45 mins to get here. Once we got inside, it felt as if we were in prison for doing an awful crime.

I am still like that today and I hope God will get rid of all this worries and all this guilt inside because I know that with all my heart both and my mum are not bad persons

Written on the 26th of September by Bethlehem after being detained in the early hours of the 25th of September at her house in Leeds with her mother.

They are currently detained at Yarlswood Removal Centre.

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