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Karim, refugee for 5 years in the Bois de Vincennes: "Life is less hard here than in the street"

2020-12-08T06:47:37.882Z


This 56-year-old homeless man has been living in the Bois de Vincennes for 5 years. For a week now, he has been able to sleep in the shelter, in a new open center.


He took some of his meager possessions with him.

Some clothes, a radio, his cell phone of course….

But Karim, 56, did not take all his stuff.

“I have not abandoned my tent.

It is still in its place, in the woods, next to the Saint-Louis road near Saint-Maurice (Val-de-Marne).

Neighbors (Editor's note: other homeless) take a look at it so that I don't get anything stolen, ”he explains.

First night in a bed ... since 2015

Seated, warm, at the "Terrace" - a disused pavilion of the Paris town hall made available to Emmaus Solidarity which has just opened an emergency accommodation center dedicated to the "inhabitants" of the Bois de Vincennes - the homeless man who has been staying there for a little over a week has spent his first nights in a real bed… since 2015. It was on this date that the fifty-something, tired of street violence, had found "refuge" in the wood.

Apart.

Five years later, and despite obtaining one of the 17 accommodation places open in the new center, he is not yet sure whether he has drawn a line on his former place of life.

"As I was hospitalized at the beginning of the year, I have more and more trouble with the incessant trips to Paris that we have to do when we are in the woods", recognizes the homeless man, stressing that the first difficulty is to have access to sanitary facilities.

“A visit to municipal showers in Paris is three hours long!

".

In the woods, "there is less violence, less theft"

"But when I was healthy, I was very well in the woods," Karim immediately continues, evoking a feeling of autonomy that is impossible to find in the collective accommodation structures where he has visited a few times.

“Big centers, I don't really like that.

Stay in town either.

Life is less hard in the woods.

It's more restful, there is less violence, less theft… ”, assures the 50-year-old, who nevertheless had his papers stolen 6 times in the woods.

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With the homeless, "shipwrecked" of the Bois de Vincennes


If he agreed to go to the new accommodation center, it is because the small structure (only a few rooms with 4 beds), where the guests make their own meals, allows him to maintain this impression of autonomy.

“This social equipment was designed for that.

The target audience is the

sedentary people

of the woods who have been there for a very long time.

Those for whom the conventional accommodation system is not suitable ”, specifies Herbert N'Doumou, head of the Emmaüs marauding who goes daily to meet the homeless in the woods.

“In our professional vocabulary, we say that these are people who are in

non-demand,

” explains the social worker.

“They don't expect anything from social organizations.

They are disconnected or broken and are in a state of absolute fragility.

They are the ones we must go looking for.

Knowing that this site must be a place of transit to more sustainable hosting solutions, ”concludes the manager of the new hosting center.

140 homeless people living in the woods

The structure, installed on the south-eastern edge of the Bois de Vincennes (4 km from the ring road but on the territory of Paris) without the inhabitants of Saint-Maurice, across the street, having been informed , organized an open house operation for residents this weekend.

“This pavilion was abandoned for a long time, then it had been squatted for two years before being walled up.

We were therefore a little worried to see what would replace him.

We are reassured.

This structure is managed and they really do an exemplary job to get the homeless out of the woods, ”noted a neighbor who suggested after her visit to donate furniture to the center opened by Emmaüs.

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According to the censuses of the social operator, the number of homeless people living in the woods stood at 140 this weekend ... or 35 less than two weeks previously.

“This decrease is not due to a decrease in precariousness.

But the recent acceleration in the opening of accommodation places, ”recalls Bruno Morel, Managing Director of Emmaüs Solidarité.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-12-08

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