Carry-le-Rouet (France) (AFP)
One took back his hairdressing scissors, others their teacher's books in an improvised class: confined for ten days near Marseille, the returnees from Wuhan, the Chinese epicenter of the coronavirus, are trying to resume a semblance of normal life.
At the end of the afternoon, facing the Mediterranean which borders the Carry-le-Rouet holiday center where they are in quarantine, some meet up to practice tai chi, a form of Chinese gymnastics, outdoors.
Inside, in a room decorated with blue curtains usually hosting shows, one of the returnees, Vincent Lemarié, explains to six non-French speakers the grammatical bases of the language of Molière.
In front of a flipchart, adult students from China and some from South America repeat aloud in front of this teacher standard sentences to introduce themselves.
All left the city of Wuhan (central China) at the end of January in the face of the advance of the new coronavirus. Like their teacher, they are preparing to spend weeks in France, without knowing when they will be able to return to China - where they were established - due to the advancement of the epidemic which has left hundreds of people dead.
Mr. Lemarié, 48, devotes two hours of his free time every morning to "render service" to these "people who will find themselves in France" unexpectedly. In the afternoon, he becomes a student and follows a Chinese course.
A few meters from adults, small children write while applying themselves under the watchful eye of their teacher who is trying to continue the school program, AFP journalists have also found themselves confined since their departure from Wuhan.
More than 200 people are in solitary confinement for 14 days, the virus's incubation period, in Carry-le-Rouet. Most arrived on January 31 in a first plane, others on February 2. No one has symptoms of coronavirus, according to the latest tests.
Faced with the strict conditions of confinement - wearing a mandatory mask, taking a temperature twice a day and prohibiting any physical contact with the outside -, these workshops offer a breath of fresh air.
- "Not chosen to be there" -
"People get up and know how to spend their day," said Charles Germain, 38, on the initiative of a messaging group to disseminate practical information to the returnees about the life of the center.
Before his confinement, this native of New Caledonia separated from his wife who stayed in Wuhan, did not know what to expect. At the start, "we no longer think of doctors who will follow us permanently".
"We could spend two weeks in a room (in quarantine) and we would not die, but I think people would get depressed," explains this follower of tai chi.
These activities make it possible to "rediscover the social bond that we lost while being quarantined in China," he says. Since January 23, Wuhan and its 11 million inhabitants have been de facto cut off from the world by the authorities in the hope of stopping the epidemic. The returnees have therefore already experienced confinement there.
In Wuhan, "we had our family ties at home but nothing more. We no longer had any contact with the outside world," recalls Charles Germain.
In Carry-le-Rouet, this social bond is recreated. But Charles Germain refuses to be considered a vacationer. "We did not choose to be there," he said, noting that the majority of people had built a life in China.
Like Yann, 55, who had had a hair salon in Wuhan for four years, where he received a clientele made up "of 70% expatriates". Suddenly his life changed.
He recalls the boredom and isolation in his apartment in Wuhan the days before his repatriation. A traumatic period which resulted in hypertension upon his arrival in France: "When I was in China, I did not realize the stress in relation to everything that was going on".
- "To please" -
Today, quarantine "makes things go down," he says.
On the second floor of the main building where the returnees live, Yann even feels "revived" since he transformed a small room into a makeshift hair salon.
Initially, he did a "simple troubleshooting" by cutting the hair of a regular customer, also in quarantine. Then word of mouth did the rest among the returnees: four clients on Wednesday, double on Thursday. We must now make an appointment. Everyone is free to give what they want.
Admittedly, the space is reduced and the rudimentary equipment, a mirror but no water point for shampoos. Quarantine requires, the hygiene conditions are also strict: no hair washing, each client brings his brush and Yann systematically disinfects his tools.
But styling, "gives me a lot of morale, I need this contact with people and to please people around me through my work," he says.
This experience of solidarity, based on the know-how of each other, will end on Friday. The returnees will disperse and will have to rebuild their lives, without knowing when they can return to China.
Many find it hard to project themselves into the future. The professor wonders about his next base and the hairdresser could temporarily practice with a friend in the North of France.
Charles Germain has one wish: to see everyone in Wuhan over a drink when the situation allows.
© 2020 AFP