Salif is an 18-year-old Malian who arrived in France by boat a few years ago. While he was in apprenticeship in Mehdi Martin’s restaurant since September 2020 in Cormontreuil, he lost his employment contract when he came of age in August 2021 and will no longer have a home within two weeks. His boss, Mehdi, is moving heaven and earth to find a solution.
Like many restaurateurs, Mehdi Martin is looking for staff. In September 2020, after posting an apprenticeship offer, he receives a call from the CFA of Châlons-en-Champagne. “They suggested Salif to me and told me that he didn’t speak French very well. It didn’t bother me so I took it for a week on internship, rewind Mehdi this Tuesday, October 19. As he did the trick, we took him on as an apprenticeship.“And here is Salif on the right track. In the kitchen, he is unanimous among his colleagues: “it often happens before us to train”, “I have never seen such a good apprentice”, “he is a very dedicated person, he is always there for us” …
No valid birth certificate so no visa and no work
But this summer, when Salif arrives at the CFA in Châlons-en-Champagne after an hour by bus for the “school” part of his work-study program, he is sent home. “Around 9am, I was called and I was told ‘Go home’. I asked ‘Why?’ And I was just told Go home” “, remembers Salif. And while he finds a friend to bring him back to his home in Reims, his boss Mehdi is informed by phone of this dismissal. Blame it on Salif’s age : having reached the age of majority a few days previously, he no longer has the work permit he enjoyed with the status of “unaccompanied minor”. For the restaurateur, it is incomprehension.
By plunging back into the papers that he signed when Salif was hired, he realizes that he had to renew this work permit. “I still called the school to arrange with them and find a solution, Mehdi explains. Finally, they allowed me to keep him until the end of his contract, in October. Whatever happens, we could have organized ourselves differently and saved Salif from taking an hour’s bus ride for nothing.”
I consider him my little brother – Medhi, the restaurateur
Neither one nor two, Mehdi and Salif begin the process to extend the young man’s contract. They will quickly fall on a bone: Salif’s birth certificate is invalidated by the prefecture. Problem, to have a work permit, you need a visa, and to have a visa, you need a valid birth certificate. Having run out of solutions, Mehdi decides to write a post on Facebook to be helped by his contacts. “It was a message of hope, or despair, I don’t know“he admits.
One last chance with the local mission
He receives many messages from associations and restaurateurs who have been in the same situation as him. Mehdi and Salif are now counting on the Local Mission to help them. This is their last chance. The answer should arrive in the next few days. Especially since Salif will no longer have a home within a fortnight, the Social Assistance to Childhood (ASE) no longer having any subsidies to accommodate him in the home he occupied until now.
They put kids in our paws and as soon as they come of age, they tear them away
In question: his age, but also his behavior. Salif is said to have been aggressive on two occasions towards ASE professionals. “I had had a feedback on one of these incidents from his tutor, but there was no follow-up, remembers Mehdi. I think this is an excuse. Salif doesn’t have an ounce of aggression in him!“. More than an administrative story, it is a real human story that has developed between the two men. “I consider him my little brother, Mehdi confides. On weekends, we go mountain biking together, my kid loves him, we often invite him to eat at home … I really don’t understand: we get kids in our paws and as soon as they are major, they are torn from us. “