A 24-year-old Kenyan woman, Stemy Yelsha, who had been living in Germany for almost a decade, was forcefully deported from the country.
Yelsha who is a photographer, vlogger and makeup artist, was deported from Germany along with her young daughter. She has been documenting her deportation journey from Germany to Nairobi with her child.
In a series of videos on her YouTube channel, Yelsha shared with her followers that she was born and raised in Kenya until the age of 12 when she was taken to Germany by her mother, against her will.
She said that she had never developed a close relationship with her mother, as she was often absent in Europe during a huge chunk of her childhood. She stayed back with relatives who subjected her to traumatic experiences.
Stemy Yelsha recounted how, upon her arrival in Germany, she was compelled to leave her mother’s home and was subsequently adopted by another family after her mother’s relationship with a German man became toxic and bitter.
She settled in with foster parents, but tensions arose due to jealousy from their biological children. At the tender age of 16, Yelsha was forced to fend for herself and live independently in her own apartment.
In this period, she was still a student. Her rent and school fees were covered by the German government. Being a young girl with all these challenges, Yelsha was greatly depressed and suicidal at this time.
She also revealed that life in Germany is not easy, as immigrants encounter difficulties in forming friendships. Living on her own only made life more challenging, more so knowing that her mother did not care for her well-being.
Additionally, her foreign resident documents were set to expire, and the renewal date she was given was distant. Without these documents, she couldn’t legally work and pay for her rent and basic needs, given that she had already come of age.
Subsequently, her landlord threw her out to face the cold. The government was not catering to her needs. Fortunately, by this time, she had met her Nigerian partner, with whom she became pregnant at the age of 20.
They moved in together, but she realized he was deceitful and extremely violent. He did not know that the Nigerian man had children in Africa. She ran away from him to live with his brother in another city.
German authorities were writing deportation letters to her old address but she could not receive them. Yelsha was given three weeks to leave the country. Her only solution to get more time was to co-parent with her Nigerian ex.
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She tried to appeal the deportation for 2 years, but her efforts proved futile. On October 18th, the dotting mother of one finally boarded a plane destined for Kenya. She shared an emotional video capturing the moment.
“I feel emotional and traumatised and will have to go for therapy. The trauma is not because of going back to Kenya but knowing that you have people, but at your worst times, they run away,” Yelsha spoke, referring to her mother who is still in Germany.
She and her daughter landed safely in Nairobi after a transit stop in Doha, Qatar. Despite the deportation and unrest, Yelsha admitted that her mother never called her to know her whereabouts even while in Germany. She admitted to breaking down numerous times.
“Somebody who gave birth to you could not come see you for the last time.”
Stemy Yelsha has already made peace with the fact that she was deported from Germany. Her next move is to prosper and build a beautiful life for her daughter in Kenya.
She told off critics who mentioned that her deportation story did not add up. Some people suggested that there was a mistake she must’ve made to get deported.
“There’s nothing I have done. Even my lawyer said that he didn’t know why I was being deported. It’s either because I moved from one state to another or because I left my mum when I was young. Now I’m an adult and they don’t see why I’m still in Germany,” Yelsha explained.
