"Once we got inside, it felt as if we were in prison for doing an awful crime"

Eleven year old Bethlehem Abate was arrested with her mother Elsa Imbaye during a dawn raid last Thursday. Several officers burst into their Leeds home to take them Yarls Woods where they waited to be deported to Ethiopia on Wednesday 1st October. The terrified pair have just been told they are to be released. They have been in the UK since 2004 after they fled Bethlehem's abusive father and the civil war that gripped her home country, Eritrea. Bethlemhem wrote this letter from Yarls Wood last Friday.

Yesterday was one of the worst days if my life. I woke up in the morning like I usually do to go to school. I went into my mum's bedroom to tell her I had woken up. Suddenly we heard this banging on our door. At first I thought it was a firearm 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 officers came in and they handed my mum a letter and lead us both into the living room. That letter was in fact a warrant to say that they had come to search our house. They told us that we had to pack our stuff and go with them because the Home Office had organised to get us both on a plane to go back to Ethiopia on 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 mum had 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. 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 "pack, pack, pack!". I just wanted her to be quiet and for her to leave me alone. A little later we were finished packing some things and was lead to the vehicle that was down stairs, outside.

The officers drove us to Waterside House in Leeds. It is an immigration 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 officers came in and explained to us that the Home Office had tickets to go back to Ethiopia. My mum replied that we can’t go back to Ethiopia because my mum is Eritrean and it is not safe because they might put her back into detention and there might also be a possibility of her being killed by the authorities. Also I am not allowed to go Eritrea because I am Ethiopian and I can’t go in Ethiopia because I would have no one to look after me because my mum isn’t allowed to go to Ethiopia and as for my dad, I don’t know where he is. They didn’t say anything to us. The most horrible thing was they told us they were going to take both of us to 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 form their office came to take us to the detention centre. We prayed to God that he would be us in this mess. Five minutes later we were taken to the van to go. It took us two hours and 45 minutes to get here. Once we got inside, it felt as if we were in prison for doing an awful crime. I still feel 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.