Seven year old Lavendah Nyambura arrived in the UK by herself on a flight in April this year. Immigration officials at Heathrow airport detained her as an unaccompanied minor and placed her in the care of Hillingdon Borough Social Services. Lavendah was then put into foster care.

Alerted by an anonymous phone call, Lavendah’s mother, 31 year old, Joan Kinyanjui, who fled Kenya four years ago and is currently living in safety in Glasgow, made repeated attempts to find out from the Home Office where her daughter was so they could be re-united.

Despite many phone calls from Joan, her lawyer, officers from Strathclyde Police and Glasgow North-East MP Michael Martin, to inform the Home Office that Lavendah was her daughter, immigration officials removed Lavendah to Kenya on Wednesday 18th October, almost six months since she had arrived in the UK and only seven days after the Home Office had eventually confirmed that they were holding her.

Joan did not discover Lavendah had been taken out of the country until she phoned the social services holding her daughter two days later.

Solicitors from the Childrens Legal Centre at the University of Essex are now preparing the case for a judicial review of the decision to return Lavendah to Kenya. They have managed to locate where in Kenya Lavendah is currently staying. Campaigners are hoping that Lavendah will be able to come back to the UK and be re-united with her mother.

“The treatment of this young girl and her mother is simply outrageous. We have never heard of anything so inhumane” said Cat Storrie from the Unity Centre in Glasgow. “Despite Joan repeatedly telling Home Office officials that Lavendah was her daughter, they delayed telling her where Lavendah was until it was too late to unite her with her mother. I cannot imagine what this girl has been through – held by immigration officials, put into foster care and then flown back to disappear in Kenya without being reunited with her mother.”

More details below or from:
The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
Tel: 0141 427 7992


Joan’s story:
Four years ago, Joan was forced to flee Kenya after she helped her sister escape from extreme physical violence and went into hiding for about a month. She had left Lavendah in the care of her father but on returning to the family home found it had been ransacked and her daughter and husband missing. Her sister and Joan escaped to the UK. Joan’s sister has been given asylum but Joan so far has been refused it. Joan currently lives with her disabled sister as her full-time carer.

Timeline:
• From April, Joan’s lawyer repeatedly wrote to the Home Office requesting information about the whereabouts of Lavendah. Asylum Seeker Liaison Officers from Strathclyde Police also contacted the Home Office on her behalf to inform them that Joan was Lavendah’s mother.
• In June, Home Office officials visited Joan in her home in Red Road, Glasgow and asked her a number of questions about her daughter but refused to confirm whether Lavendah was in the UK.
• On Wednesday 11th October the Home Office wrote to Joan’s lawyer confirming that Lavendah was in the care of Hillingdon Borough Social Services. Joan then got in touch with Michael Martin MP who on Friday 13th October contacted the Home Office for Joan.
• Joan eventually managed to speak to someone from Hillingdon Borough Social Services on Thursday 19th October when she was informed that her daughter had been returned to Kenya the day before.