After Nights on the Pavement in Ceuta, 3-Year-Old Moundir Finally Has a Roof Over His Head
Moundir, 3, who has cerebral palsy, no longer has to sleep on a blanket laid directly on the pavement in Ceuta. After spending several days looking for somewhere to sleep with his parents, accommodation has finally been found for the family.
The child and his parents were taken in at accommodation located in the San Antonio area, thanks to the intervention of Caritas Ceuta, the Cardijn association and the Red Cross. Just a few hours earlier, Moundir had still been spending his nights outdoors beside his mother, who is six months pregnant.
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The family had left Larache before reaching Ceuta during the mass crossings of 30 July. The parents say they swam into the city with their son, despite his disability, hoping to enable him to access medical care.
Upon his arrival, Moundir was taken by ambulance to the hospital, while his parents were taken to the temporary stay centre for migrants. The family nevertheless subsequently found themselves without accommodation and moved repeatedly between the hospital, a police station, the Red Cross and the Tarajal area.
A Blanket Laid Directly on the Ground
Their journey finally came to a halt in an improvised camp in Sidi Embarek. Moundir had neither a bed nor a room there: the child slept on a thick blanket spread directly on the ground, under his mother’s watch.
Media coverage of his situation accelerated the search for a solution. After learning that this disabled child and his pregnant mother were living on the streets, Caritas Ceuta looked for a facility that could take them in. The Cardijn association was ultimately able to find them a place in San Antonio, with the support of the Red Cross.
This shelter remains temporary, but at least for now, it brings an end to several particularly gruelling nights for the child and his parents.
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Moundir’s story is part of a much broader humanitarian situation in Ceuta, where thousands of people were left without accommodation after the mass arrivals at the end of July. Families and minors in particular had to sleep in the streets, on beaches and, for some, in cemeteries, relying heavily on help from residents and associations.
