” Mom I’m hungry ! “Little Inès, 6, pouts. “You will soon have cakes”, tries to temporize Leïla, her mother. Inès bites into the plastic macaron she has in her hand and is fed up. “Yes, that one is a fake! Her sister Noor burst out laughing, and the two little girls hopped away down rue Pierre-Guiral. Leïla comes for the second consecutive week to wait in this beginning of the end of the end of Marseille, where the tram stops and poverty explodes. Here, the Friday 13 association distributes food parcels every week to Marseille residents in great distress.
For several months, more and more single-parent families in Marseille, like Leïla, have been referred to Friday the 13th, the aim of which is to provide emergency food aid on an ad hoc basis. Co-founder of the association, Monique Blanc flips through the list of beneficiaries and enumerates: “here, it’s an adult with a baby. There, it’s an adult, three children, a baby, etc. “The list seems endless and the conclusion clear: “Frankly, if it’s not a majority of single-parent families, it’s not far. A year ago it wasn’t like that. It was fairly balanced between single-parent families and the others. »
“I am here because I have no resources”
Leïla has the modesty of courageous mothers who do not complain. Or at least not in front of their children. Her little girls in the distance, the mother confides in a few words: “I am here because I have no resources. “We guess that before, she did something else with her Fridays in her apartment in the 3rd arrondissement. She raised her two daughters there. Only. Leïla talks about strawberry pies and chocolate cakes. This life before, when she had a job and a salary that allowed her to fill the fridge. Today, she is waiting for her turn, at 2 p.m., to pick up a food parcel.
Two months ago, Leïla lost her job. Since then, she has been trying to “work for hours”. Here and there she finds households. In offices? The single mother laughs yellow: “The offices! You think… I go to the people. I do all ! But you don’t find work easily. In addition, with the children to pick up from school, the house to manage, it’s complicated. »
“There is a rise in homelessness”
Behind Leïla, on this Friday of school holidays, Inès and Noor are having fun with other children, who have also come with their mothers in search of support. “Before, we helped for three months. Now, the aid lasts a month, because there are too many requests and we can no longer cope,” says Monique Blanc. In a city where 25% of the population lives below the poverty line, ten points more than the national average, the series of crises have done damage… particularly among these single mothers.
“There is a rise in homelessness, we see people on the street that we did not see before, even women with children”, alarmed this Friday the director of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation for the region. Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, Francis Vernede. “Since everything has increased, those who were getting by more or less have fallen into poverty”, confirms Bernard Nos, president of Friday the 13th.
One million euros of exceptional aid
The phenomenon worries even the town hall of Marseille. Traditionally used, via the CCAS, to take care of the elderly, the City announced on Wednesday that it would release one million euros in exceptional aid for single-parent families. With this budget, the CCAS will be able to issue personalized support checks ranging from 200 to 500 euros to all households whose family quotient is less than 550. a great precariousness, reports Audrey Garino, deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of Solidarity. These single-parent families have 95% of the time a woman as head of the family, with part-time work imposed and resources that are less than the majority of households. Single-parent families appeared to us to be even more fragile than the others. »
Leïla wisely waited and filled her bag with food. While their mother piles up the cans, Noor and Inès are offered papillotes. The sisters rush for the treats. And Leïla warns: “Be careful, you must not eat everything. All right ? You have to save some for the house. »
*Names have been changed