03/20/2019 in Orléans
Interview by Mrs I Bocher conducted on Tuesday 19 March in the Secours Catholique offices in Orléans.
Mr. A.T. (initials changed) was interviewed by Mrs. Isabelle Bocher English teacher at the Lycée des métiers as part of the project “Sharing the world” concerning the welcome of people in difficulty in France.
He lived in Bangui, Central African Republic, until 2002 he had been a journalist and communication officer in the administration. He was born in 1955 in Bascouto Doula Mobaye in a former French overseas territory.
Having serious health problems he wanted to recover French nationality.
Moreover, he had differences with his hierarchy and no longer felt safe. He was threatened and then locked up and tortured for his differences of opinion with the party in power.
He had been admitted to follow a course on the creation of websites in France for 15 days but the day of his departure, members of the close security of the head of state stole his bag were he had put all his papers and diplomas, the birth certificate of his children. When that jostle happened he was checking his luggage so he his passport was held by the airport staff and he could get them back and get on the plane quickly. He later learned that his house had been raided, his family fled and prosecuted.
He arrived at the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport on May 12, 2002, did his 15 days training at the Greta education centre and given that emergency situation he argued his health problems but in reality he was fleeing his country. He obtained the status of “family residence permit” as a father. He made a stay in the hospital. To participate in the expenses when he left the hospital he gave small administrative services to compatriots who gave him a little money. He also worked in the agricultural world and made the harvest. The Caritas association provided him with meals.
He ended up collocating with a countryman before spending 6 months in a health center. Then the association Imanis (association specializing in social emergency) offered him accommodation for 3 months.
He then spent 1 year with a “niece”. He then appealed to the Dalo service at the prefecture (Dalo law on the right to housing). He got a small allowance that allowed him to stay with a fellow countryman. His son sent him money and he ate at the “restaurant du coeur”.
In 2006, a fellow friend left France and left him his home but he could not afford to pay the rent.
He plays the zither. He came to Orleans to play the instrument at a party at Secours Catholique. He ended up on the street.
He had an acquaintance in Boigny sur Bionne whom he met a few days before at Secours Catholique.
He then lived in the Red Cross and then got a home in 2012 in the neighborhood of Bloissière. He was elected delegate of the residence.
He is a volunteer at Secours Catholique. He made a disability recognition case and obtained a disability allowance for a disfigured hip and head trauma following the torture suffered in his country.
In 2018, he was not renewed his residence permit and the CAF (French Family allowances) cut him the housing benefits. At present he is paying his rent and his expenses with his pension and his diminishing savings.
