By Anne-Sophie Hourdeaux
Published on 13 Feb 21 at 18:27
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Since February 8, 2021, the reception room restaurant of the Orchids of Wattrelos (North) has embarked on a great solidarity operation: host homeless people at night, while the cold rages on the northern part of the country.
About twenty of them benefit from this solidarity, led by a dynamic citizen collective. The experiment takes place until Monday February 15, 2021.
Atmosphere in this restaurant which has become, in these difficult times, a place of respite and extraordinary fraternity.
“Here is paradise”
By pushing the door of the Orchid Salon in this week of February, we arrive in another world. There are no longer any rich or poor, lost or lucky, just friends. We laugh, we drink coffee.
Of course, the restaurant is closed, health crisis obliges. But life is there. Mattresses on the floor, with nice sheets and new duvets. Plenty of suitcases and bags everywhere, but tidy. It’s a summer camp or weekend atmosphere with a large family.
In this isolated restaurant, in front of the cemetery, the sky seems milder, as Fatah, 53, says: “Here, it’s paradise …”
The idea was born from two cousins: Abdel Farrak and Mohammed Essaikouki. The latter remembers the genesis of this story.
“We are there, warm in front of his TV. The weather forecast announces minus 10 degrees at night. We cannot sit back and do nothing. A couple on the street showed up last Sunday for food. They explained their situation to us. We paid them for the hotel. Abdel, the restaurant owner, felt he had the space and the team to do more. “
Thus, twenty homeless people are accommodated at night, during the cold weather, for a week.
A story behind each person
How did they get there? Fatah slept in a small room in Roubaix hospital that was given to him at night. One day, a man came to see him to suggest that he come to the Orchids. “I accepted straight away! I felt that he was a good person, it feels these things… ”
For their part, Inès and Kurt, a little couple in their twenties, had the information on social networks, especially on Snapchat. They came to see, and then finally stayed.
–Sylvie and Michaël were spotted by Aïcha, a cashier in a supermarket in Tourcoing. Seeing them in the store, she asked them if they were on the street. Sylvie has a place in a hotel, but Michaël does not. They suffer from being separated so this opportunity, they could not miss it.
Care too
Nathalie was doing the round in downtown Tourcoing. “I go to the hostels sometimes, I go out on the stairs …” A person offered to drop her off at Wattrelos, she accepted immediately. “He was nice…” And she didn’t regret. She has been on the streets for 20 years, weighing less than 30 kg.
Due to a foot problem, she could hardly walk anymore. It was Hélène, a nurse’s aide, who provided her with the care. “I never wanted us to take care of this problem, I didn’t trust it. But here, I let myself be … “
–An exceptional organization
In order to organize such solidarity, everything must be planned: meals, breakfasts, clothes, hygiene products… And presence at night too. Two men from the citizen collective sleep there every night.
The whole team marvels at the ongoing solidarity. “Solidarity, I will always believe in it and even more after this experience. Imagine, a trader friend, Guven Kiraz, who sells mattresses in markets, gave us 10 new mattresses and his suppliers too! “
Bags full of almost new clothes were donated by individuals.
Major brands have donated hygiene products. Some citizens came with sacks full of food, and it was not the richest people. We collect funds via a Leetchi platform so that a lady can pay a deposit for an apartment …
Even the police participated by dropping off three cars full of food and even bringing homeless people to the scene.
Nora, from the Lambersart social center, is one of the guardian angels. She discusses their rights with them. “Many ignore them. They are entitled to RSA, free health coverage, free deposit, and have not requested it because they do not know it. When we are on the street, the priority is to eat, the rest is complicated. I took stock of their situation, their papers, we redid CVs. “
Self-esteem
Louisa has a hairdressing salon in Tourcoing and often graciously homeless people. She knows how important it is. “Some haven’t seen themselves in a mirror for months, years. It’s not much, but it contributes to self-confidence, self-esteem. It is to bring comfort. So she set up a small hairdressing space next to the shower.
The people received are no longer homeless for the time of this solidarity. Not just because they have a roof over their heads for a few days. During this parenthesis, they once again become smiling beings. Their eyes shine. Because we look at them with kindness. Because we take care of them. Because they are important.
Neither dead nor alive
And if there is only one thing to remember, it is their own words.
“In the street, at night, we’re not really alive. I would say that we are neither dead nor alive, ”says Inès. She comes out of a child welfare home in the South. At 18, the home is over.
Sylvie admits “never having seen this elsewhere”. “We are pampered here, I feel like at home. “
Here they can sleep, in complete safety. Because in the street, “we don’t really sleep” says Inès. Fatah approves. “We are always vigilant, we never know. Here, I sleep like never before! “
And after ?
This new kind of emergency accommodation, organized by citizens, also thinks of the aftermath. Because the proposal is temporary. Monday February 15, 2021, this adventure will end. Everyone knows there will be tears. Aïcha hopes that she will not “crack”. Hélène admits that she will have “the impression of abandoning them, we are worried about them”.
Fatah, Inès and the others will become “neither dead nor alive” again. But they will keep in touch with their new friends. “We will continue to give them a hand as best we can,” says Mohammed. Louisa has already offered to style them for free whenever they want in her hairdressing salon in Tourcoing.
Hélène will continue to treat Nathalie’s foot. Hosting solutions are being set up for some.
–This Sunday February 14, 2021, will be the last night offered in this restaurant. Temperatures rise again on Monday. It is difficult to offer this reception over time only with volunteers.
Abdel and his friends hope that other restaurateurs and other unoccupied places follow their example. They will have proved that with just the will and the heart, it is possible. And the Orchids in Paradise will have transformed the time of an enchanted parenthesis.
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