For the first time in Nice, and in the region, a day center for women opened its doors at the end of October.
It has a capacity of nineteen places.
It welcomes homeless women from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., offering them all kinds of activities as well as “personalized help”.
This project was born out of a collaboration between the association Solidarité 06 and the Secours populaire 06.
“Security”, spontaneously blurts out Alice, 42, when asked what the “Oasis” structure adds to her daily life.
This day center, exclusively for homeless women, opened its doors at the end of October in Nice.
“I was lucky, continues this woman, I called 115 to get coverage and they finally took me to the night stop.
Over there, I was told that there was this place that had just been inaugurated.
In the street, when you're a woman, it's very dangerous, night and day.
»
It is with this kind of testimony that Tania Jakic, president of the Solidarité 06 association, wanted to create this place.
"I don't even understand how it's possible that it's the first in the region," she says.
It is even the only one in France, which offers the kind of complete reception that we have put in place.
The other five day centers for women in the country are, according to the instigator of the project, “just a room where you can sit down”.
Meals, hygiene kits but also workshops
"It looks like a hip
, trendy brasserie
," describes Alice with a smile.
We are received in conditions that are more than we could imagine asking for.
Within this oasis, open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., it is possible to have "personalized help" with social workers on site, but also access to a psychologist consultation, legal, professional and also gynecological.
“Our goal is to get them off the streets,” says the president of the association.
Every afternoon, workshops of all kinds are also offered for those who wish.
That day, it was Mounira who hosted the “makeover”.
This volunteer knows how to do hair and, at the instigation of the president of the association, offered her services to “offer a moment of well-being” to these women once a week.
“It was essential, insists Tania Jakic.
Here, we don't just offer breakfast, lunch, we even do it together.
There are toilets, hygiene kits with free access, clothes and a washing machine, wifi and the possibility of using a computer but also simply resting on a sofa and watching TV.
»
"It's their home, our home"
Currently, even if it is "difficult to quantify", the president of the association estimates that between 70 and 100 women are in need in Nice.
It was through their testimonies that she considered it "urgent" to open this place.
And for the project to see the light of day, she approached Secours populaire a year and a half ago.
“For years, I have traveled the city for marauding, I know the homeless people well, she explains.
Many women told me that they suffered violence by remaining in the street.
There are night stops but this is not enough to protect them from attacks.
Once, one of them was found in a state that is indescribable because a man she had met in a mixed foster followed her.
When she refused his advances, he broke her ribs and collarbone.
Men take advantage of women who are vulnerable to hurt them.
This is also why all the volunteers are women.
We want to establish a climate of trust and not awaken trauma.
»
In addition to having (finally) simply a place for them, these women who are between 18 and 77 years old can find themselves in a “warm” place.
For Alice, it is “the first time” where she feels comfortable enough to “leave [her] things without having to watch them”.
"It's at home, it's at home, we're like a family," says the co-founder of the place.
It means that we want the good of each other.
Bonds are created, which was not necessarily the case when they crossed paths in the accommodation centre.
“To the point where” 19 places, it becomes small “.
Tania Jakic is already thinking about opening another establishment “in the near future”.
In the meantime, this day care needs financial but also material donations such as "new underwear, leggings, makeup", she quotes.
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Nice
Paca
People Relief
homeless
Violence against women
women's health