Faced with the epidemic in Overseas France, they have launched solidarity projects - 20 Minutes

  • More than 1,200 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in nine overseas territories and around thirty deaths recorded in four overseas departments.
  • Guyana, Reunion and Mayotte are in stage 2 of the epidemic, while Martinique and Guadeloupe are in stage 3 like France.
  • Lack of materials, feared health and economic crisis, island issues, confinement ... Citizens are mobilizing to carry out solidarity actions.

"I saw a lot of funny videos on containment on WhatsApp, but not a lot of info," says Aurélie. The young Martiniquaise launched on March 28, 2020 the Instagram page, Martinique Confinement, on which successive "information in the form of short and brief practical sheets to share" concerning employment, health, the food sector or even well- to be, details this intermittent performance. The idea came to him after realizing that several of his "contacts did not know how to reach partial unemployment".

Since then, she has been crumbling under the demands of the Martinique prefecture, municipalities, local market gardeners as well as associations on the island like Love Challenge, which distributes packed lunches to the homeless. “We check all the information, that the measures are well eligible in Overseas. We are also making changes to the situation related to the Covid-19. We also relay posts against fake news ", explains Aurélie.

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"Give hope, show that we know how to organize"

In Guadeloupe, Fiona Roche has also given itself the mission of informing its fellow citizens. She joined forces with the founders of Spot Coworking (the first coworking space in Guadeloupe) to set up the “Covid Gwada” database on a voluntary basis, which groups all the market gardeners in Guadeloupe, as well as the Facebook and WhatsApp groups, in the same place. are created across the island and positive initiatives launched in the department. "We wanted to respond to the needs generated by the crisis, also to give hope and show that we can organize, go towards resilience", explains the president of the association Rézilyans 971.

Social networks play an important role in the development of the initiatives developed. On Facebook, a large number of pages and self-help groups have flourished since the start of the coronavirus crisis: "Martinique Solidarité", a group for caregivers in Reunion, "Small Gestures" in Guadeloupe to encourage eco-citizenship etc.

It is also a Facebook publication that prompted William Garcia, then DJ Willer, to mobilize for his fellow Guadeloupeans. He first joined forces with Charles Desvarieux, a restaurateur from the commune of Saint-François, who quickly noticed the lack of equipment for carers.

“I bought visors from a local company for liberal Franciscan caregivers, firefighters, small local businesses and part of the services of the CHU de Guadeloupe. It was important to me to help, ”explains Charles Desvarieux. The one who originally ordered 450 visors finally delivered between 950 and 1,000. "It is our guardian angels who are in combat and who call for help," is moved by the head of the establishment, evoking the tears of the nurses during the delivery of the long-awaited pieces. "The goal is for consciences to wake up and I realized this by being close to the staff," he adds. He received positive feedback from the head of the SAMU, the deputy director of the CHU or one of the vice-presidents of the Region.

Give your time and money

An observation shared by William Garcia who received an avalanche of requests just after relaying the initiative of "his friend Charles". However, he embarked on a second project to supply equipment via the Facebook page "Action for Our Caregivers - Guadeloupe Islands" and an online Leetchi kitty. “There is a big problem with equipment. Caregivers lack overalls, charlottes, overshoes, "lists the DJ. He hopes that his approach will allow him "to coordinate with the bodies that represent the various trades to have a real vision of needs and thus distribute the equipment as well as possible". It was by helping her elderly neighbors that Audrey, a seamstress in Martinique, was able to bring her piece to the building of solidarity initiatives. "They asked me to make them masks so that they could go shopping, look for medicines at the pharmacy," she says. Since then, she has been asked for an order for 200 masks, "exclusively in cotton, fitted with filter, washable at 60 ° C", at a price of 2.50 euros, for the north of the island. These masks are made from patterns put online by the Bordeaux University Hospital.

This type of projects for the creation and distribution of visors and masks has multiplied in the overseas departments, as in Martinique with Les petits masques solidaires, in Mayotte with the collective Impression3D Urgence (MIU) - Makers against the Covid 976 edited by Jérôme Mathey, the solidarity 3D printers of 974 or Support for caregivers: Creation of masks in Reunion, the Tilt association in Saint-Martin or even in Guadeloupe, A mask for all in Gwadeloup, Action Masque Guadeloupe and the FabLab de Jarry (who also works on respirators, reveals its director Ludovic Daubin).

And if the workload does not seem to frighten the various actors who are mobilizing to face the epidemic, some have not hesitated to use in addition to their know-how their own funds. Charles Desvarieux has committed 10,000 euros, Aurélie is sponsoring Martinique Confinement content from his pocket. This is also the case of Marine, who runs with her Italian-born spouse, the Hema Supports digital printer in Rivière Salée (Martinique). "It was more than natural, it is a duty," she says modestly about their donation of 300 visors.

"All of these efforts must not go away after confinement"

But what will happen after May 11? For Tricia Evy and Gaëlle Gimer, once launched the movement must continue. The first, a professional singer and the second, a professional make-up artist, both found themselves without activity during confinement. After noticing several announcements from local producers who were struggling to sell their stocks, they decided to create on March 22 the Facebook group Loka-Lité to put them in touch with consumers and thus promote "local food". In 24 hours, they count 3,000 members and today have more than 19,000. “When you are a farmer and get up at 3 am, you rarely have time to go and promote your products. And we act as community managers, ”explains Tricia Evy. The management of the group is time consuming and energy consuming, "we are demanding on kindness", underlines Gaëlle Gimer.

Over time, the volunteer duo learned to structure themselves, take breaks and also recruited two moderators. And Loka-Lité gave birth to other groups managed by female teams [of which Tricia is still one of the administrators] like Manjé An Loka-Lité (sharing of recipes made from fresh products), Resto-Aktè ( restaurateurs involved in take-out and delivery). "After confinement, it has to continue. People have to realize that we are privileged compared to others with our products, ”hopes Gaëlle Gimer. "All these efforts must not be in vain, must not disappear after we have resumed our activities," she adds. An analysis shared by Teva, creator of the Katoury e-commerce site, which hopes to streamline sales between consumers and market gardeners. For her part, Aurélie has already thought of another name for Martinique Containment after the health crisis, Martinique Réseau.

Our file on the coronavirus

And some of these local actions have already crossed the borders of their department. Tricia Evy has launched a Loka-Lité branch in Martinique, Mada Loka-Lité. In Reunion, Nicolas Bonin, creator of audio series and former education journalist, used his network to create a group of educational resources Sharing group for parents, teachers and students - Covid19. "I know teachers in Hong Kong who had been confined before us and who gave me their point of view to help anticipate the situation," he says. On the group, teachers share their knowledge and provide advice to parents, talented IT entrepreneurs give tips to teachers like "How to generate PDFs that are not too heavy?" " Nicolas Bonin experienced the reach and strength of Facebook groups during the "yellow vests" in Reunion. “As we are islanders, solidarity quickly takes shape. In addition, we have a risk culture, with the fact of being confronted with hurricanes, so we have more easily networks of organization and mutual aid, ”he observes. "We have this experience to bring to France," he notes.

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