Ali & the Ball
A story about life behind razor wire, told through the eyes of a child
Ali, a spirited 8-year-old boy, lives in a detention centre with his mother and little sister, Fatima. The grim reality of their life is taking its toll; Fatima just sits staring through the fence, and his mother's only comfort is the small red jumper she knits over and over again. Ali tries to make the best of life - playing ball with the other kids and drawing pictures. His only distraction is the car that parks every day outside the fence - a family picking up one of the guards. A young girl peers out at him from the back window. One day, when the guards confiscate his mother's precious knitting needles, Ali is forced to take action. After a failed attempt to replace the knitting needles with sharpened sticks, Ali realises the girl on the other side of the fence may be able to help him. He draws her a message and throws it, wrapped around a ball, over the fence. The girl returns the next day and with a hop and a skip she hurls a new set of knitting needles over the fence. Ali can hardly believe his plan has worked and even little Fatima manages a smile. Ali and Fatima run as fast as they can to deliver the gift to their mother. But, just before they get there, a guard confiscates their mother's remaining red yarn.
