“I’m telling you straight out, I thought I wasn’t going to come back. When 72-year-old Covid-19 hit this (grand) grandmother believed that death struck with the same impulse. “I found myself in the hospital for a fortnight, all alone, it was horrible. “
Yet Mrs. K. is here to tell us about it today. His daughter, Tanoue, too. Falling ill in stride. “But I didn’t have the same symptoms as my mother at all,” said the young woman in her 50s. “My home was migraines. But violent! I thought the brain was going to come out of my head! “
Unharmed today, mother and daughter would almost speak of a miracle. The miracle in reality is that the whole family was not infected. Because in the community of Travelers, the question of confinement focuses on a singular entity: the caravan. A caravan can be shared…
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Our only weapon
When the head of the family has fallen ill, first reflex: evacuate his nonagenarian companion. Which combines heart and respiratory problems. “So I left him the caravan of my three children and took them in mine with me,” says Jeanne, another daughter of Mrs. K. “And he could live isolated from mom. »A troubleshooting solution.
“At the same time we have nothing else! », The matriarch revolts, camouflaging herself as best she can the lower face in a scarf. “No masks, no gloves, nothing. Even with a hospital prescription for a dozen masks, I managed to have only two in a Saint-Max pharmacy … How do you want to protect yourself? So we wash our hands. It’s our only weapon. “
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Boil the pot?
In Manitas de Plata’s reception area, 60 places on the edge of the Haye plateau, a dozen children form a cluster near the entrance, playing with the sun and games of their age. In this stopped time, they are not about to find their way back to school. “He can say what he wants, the minister, even after May 11, I keep my kids with me,” moved Jeanne, notifying pretty Kismy, her youngest child, 5 years old. “We are not stupid, we have understood that as long as we have not found a vaccine, the danger will always be there. ”
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And meanwhile, with the exception of the two racing expeditions in the month, there is no question of leaving the premises. With the exception of the father, a mason, who has just returned from a construction site, picked up door to door just before March 17. This is now prohibited for him. “So after this house, I have nothing. “And if our men can’t find a place to work anymore, how are we going to boil the pot?” Asks the grandmother.
The interrogation hangs over the caravan. On the family. On the whole community. And what will happen, too, to the great ritual journeys of summer? “But you know, we are aware that there are more unhappy people than us”, moderates Jeanne. “At least we are in the open air. And look at this beautiful sun! “
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