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Éducation : L'envoi d'adolescents allemands en Afrique pour réinsertion

·17 min·1 clip

A 14-year-old German boy, Sven, lands in Namibia for a year of retraining, sent by a child judge after fleeing his home.

The episode opens with Sven, a 14-year-old German boy, arriving in Namibia after being sent by a child judge due to his difficult behavior and fleeing from home. He is stressed and unaware of his host family, starting a year-long retraining program in a country twice the size of Germany but sparsely populated. Uli Gross, a specialized educator, runs this structure in Namibia, leveraging its German colonial history and language to place about twenty teenagers annually at the request of authorities. These teens include delinquents, drug addicts, and those allergic to discipline whom German institutions have failed. Oscar, a 17-year-old previously ultra-violent in Germany, is shown on a farm six hours from the capital, described as a 'prison without bars,' where he has softened, bonding with farmer Nils who he calls 'dad.' The program costs Germany 150 euros per day per child, similar to domestic options, and operates in about 30 countries like Portugal and Canada. Laura, a 15-year-old rebel without legal issues, struggles on a farm where host Christo uses old military techniques and racial tensions reminiscent of apartheid create conflict. Irina, 19, returns to Germany after two years in Namibia, reflecting on her past drug addiction and burglaries, now living drug-free and reconnecting with family. A German university study cites a 70% success rate for the exile program, highlighting its impact on reintegration.

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