Difficult to pass incognito alongside him in the streets of Dinan (Côtes-d'Armor). “Sidi! So where are you at? », Calls out this woman on a bicycle near the tobacco shop. At the bistro Chez Juliette, opposite the station, he slaps the wind, as if he were part of the family. To see his bright smile, his dynamic step, we understand better why this young man of 28, unloaded from his native Algeria almost ten years ago, is one of the seven faces of “Happy End” (“happy ending”). in English), the Secours populaire miniseries which evokes the "beautiful stories" of its beneficiaries broadcast on social networks on the occasion of the Day of the rejection of poverty this Sunday.
“It's astonishing how comfortable Sidi is with everyone here, whatever their social background and people's origins,” remarks Juliette, the manager of the bistro.
An example of successful integration, it seems.
It would be to forget a little quickly the dark hours of his career in France including his long months of homelessness in Paris, for which he finds himself today on social networks to tell his life.
Attracted to France by a rogue "agent"
This year of wandering, of squats in makeshift shelters, the young man modestly calls him his "galley". He was then 20 years old, hoping, when he landed at Roissy, to become a professional footballer, and a tourist visa which quickly expired. “Near Oran, where I grew up in a large family, I had a ball in my backpack all the time. From 4 pm, with my friends, we went to the field. "
Sidi, whose father is a senior executive, was the best then. Fast, observant, clever, so much so that he quickly attracts the attention of the local press, and of a friend of his parents who puts him in contact with an "agent" in Paris. The latter makes him sparkle mountains and wonders. Except that by setting foot in the Parisian suburbs at the age of 22, Sidi signs a contract but does not see the start of his salary appear, hijacked by the “agent” who turns out to be a swindler.
In the meantime, to ensure the training of RC Gonesse (Val-d'Oise), the young man, now undocumented, goes on odd jobs paid illegally as at the Rungis market (Val-de-Marne) and crisscrosses the capital to sleep "here and there", he slips, the better to put on his crampons during the day. “My mother wanted me to come back warm in Algeria. He persists, but then lives his most difficult hours. "I told myself that I was going to explode," he blurted out, without wanting to dwell on his fate.
He recounts "some assaults", sleepless nights for fear of the police and lies.
“At the time, to reassure my mother, I called her in bars.
I found a nice frame and I put the camera saying I was in my living room.
»Sidi is scared a few times.
“I looked at the homeless, the people in the metro, I felt myself slipping.
I was lucky not to drink, not to take drugs.
"
He falls in love and follows his sweetheart to Dinan
Resourceful, sociable, optimistic, he bangs on all doors, makes friendships, and one day arrives at the Secours populaire in the north of Paris (18th century) which quickly becomes “his family”.
“It was where I took refuge when I felt I was too stressed out by the street.
There, he lends a helping hand, receives some important ones like that of this woman who finds him a studio and pays him six months' rent, puts his foot back in the stirrup.
“He's a positive, bright kid who has values of commitment and responsibility.
And he really wants to adapt to France, ”confirms Nicole Daniel, one of his“ benefactresses ”who has known him for years.
Sidi has rebuilt his life in Dinan (Côtes-d'Armor).
LP / Olivier Arandel
This slender brunette then resumed his studies in educational sciences at Paris-13 Villetaneuse. The rest looks like a "happy end", worthy of romantic comedies. One summer, while leaving for a few weeks in Brittany with the lay scouts, where he is very active, Sidi falls in love with Priscilla, a Breton from Dinan. His sweetheart cannot stand Parisian life, Sidi folds his bags again to put them down in the Côtes-d'Armor, in the middle of the fields.
“At first it was difficult.
From 7 pm, you found yourself with your blanket, on your sofa, ”he laughs.
The years have passed and Sidi, his papers and his sports educator diploma in hand, got used to it.
Today, while he cherishes the dream of becoming a coach, what he prefers is "talking to young people".
To college students with complicated school paths he meets, he tells the story of his year in the street.
“I tell them that we must dare to break the fear, that it is possible.
My story today is my power.
"
"Happy End", a campaign to give hope to the most disadvantaged
There is this little boy, raised among his brothers and sisters in a 15 square meter concierge in Lyon (Rhône) and who has now become a famous author and YouTuber followed by 1.4 million people. This television presenter who says that as a child, there were certain months when he could not eat without the help of associations. Or this elegant woman, now a model and receptionist in a hotel who knew the street, stripped of everything when she arrived in France from her native Congo. All these successful journeys of anonymous people or personalities emerging from poverty, those of Raphaël, Sidi-Mohammed, Jhon-Rachid or even Rama are part of the mini-series "Happy End" produced by Caroline Péricard and put forward by the Popular relief from this Sunday on the occasion of the Refusal of poverty day.
While the number of beneficiaries of the association continues to increase (+ 45% in 2020) with the appearance, in recent years, of a new public of precarious workers, the association has chosen this year to target the spotlight on "beautiful stories", dixit Houria Tareb, national secretary of Secours populaire. "We want to show that people do not choose to find themselves in precariousness and that it is not inexorable," she continues. That all these people in misery, who dreamed of a better life, managed to get out of it, in particular by making the right meetings ”.
This is particularly the case of Jhon Rachid, comic book author and famous youtubeur known for his humorous videos who testifies in the mini-series.
"I started from much further than many authors," he testifies.
I had to fight a thousand times harder than others to get there in life.
It gave me great strength to be a self-made man ”, continues the man who recounted his difficult childhood in the comic strip“ Comme on can - Grandir en foyer ”(Éditions Michel Lafon).
