A before and an after.
The two-month confinement, in spring 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 health crisis, had a tipping effect for the most fragile households.
“For the first time, last year, I heard people say they were hungry,” says Camille Hugues, representative of Secours Catholique in Seine-Saint-Denis.
Parents told us that they were depriving themselves of meals so that their children, who they had all day at home, could eat.
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On the occasion of the publication this Thursday of the association's annual report on the state of poverty in France, Camille Hugues details the lasting consequences on the population of the department in terms of social and economic isolation.
A figure moreover sums up the repercussions of the relational cut: "86% of the people of Seine-Saint-Denis who came to see us did so as a priority for a need to listen, welcome and advise then that they are only 56.5% at the national level, ”notes the departmental delegate of Secours Catholique.
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A very clear observation confirmed by Nadia, a 41-year-old mother who has lived for three years with her husband and their three children aged 5 to 15 in a social hotel in Saint-Ouen.
“The confinement was horrible, unbearable, because we always need to exchange, to have an entourage, she sums up.
Fortunately, we had created a WhatsApp group of families at the hotel.
I was also in other support groups.
We held drawing competitions that the children came to present through the bedroom doors.
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Isolation and moral distress
"There was a very significant isolation, with the closure of many associations, the cessation of activities, distributions and workshops where people used to also come to meet", underlines Camille Hugues, whose The antenna mobilizes thirteen employees in the 93. “We have observed great moral distress,” she continues. We set up a large listening cell made up of ten volunteers and we realized that interviews which should have taken 15 or 30 minutes could exceed an hour and a quarter. People needed to talk. "
A distress which was the gateway for the first requests for food aid.
In Seine-Saint-Denis, 64% of people came to the association to find solutions for food, well above the average in France.
“At Secours Catholique, we have opted for service vouchers which allow shopping in a dignified manner,” explains the departmental delegate.
We prefer this solution, which is less visible from the outside for families, rather than packages, which are not always suitable.
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700,000 euros in service vouchers in 2020, compared to 250,000 in 2019
In 2020, with the health crisis, of the 5 million euros in service vouchers distributed by Secours Catholique in France, 700,000 euros were paid in Seine-Saint-Denis. " It's huge ! », Exclaims Camille Hugues, who confirms the extent of expectations and needs. For comparison, in 2019, the envelope allocated for the department was only 250,000 euros and a large part of the checks were used for the purchase of hygiene products.
On average, each year, 45,000 people are supported by the association throughout 93. The pandemic has had another lasting consequence in the region: the drop in the number of volunteers.
"We went from 600 volunteers before confinement to 450 currently, for 1.6 million inhabitants who live in the poorest department in France," said the delegate.
A very young population like the beneficiaries who attend the Secours Catholique: 74% of the people received are between 25 and 49 years old (only 60% nationwide).
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“I appreciate the association because it welcomes everyone regardless of religion.
The first time I entered their premises, I immediately felt good, ”recalls Nadia.
The mother was looking for a solution for the transport of her children, at the time schooled in Blanc-Mesnil, while the couple had just been taken care of in Saint-Ouen by the Samu social.
While waiting to see her situation regularize, she and her husband live on the D system.
“And when Secours Catholique offered to help me in turn, I didn't hesitate for a second.
This is my second family here, ”she sums up.
Today, she does the reception but also gives French lessons.
"We are hard workers, we never give up," she concludes, while she wants to prepare for the Bafa diploma, to become a facilitator.