” My turn ! My turn ! “. Despite having tried it “thousands of times”, the trampoline remains one of 12-year-old Grace’s favorite activities. Since July 31, she, her little sister and twenty-two other homeless children aged 3 to 13 have been coming every day to the velodrome leisure center in Lyon’s Tête d’Or park.
On the program: manual activities, swimming pool, bicycle, kart but also ventriglisse and tree climbing. “I love everything we do! says the girl. Even if I have to wake up early, I know it’s to do something fun. And I never come home disappointed! Joyce is also happy. He can’t stop smiling while jumping on the trampoline. “It changes from before when we were very bored. While rejoining his friends, he exclaims: “I can’t wait for the holidays to end! »
Before the opening of this outdoor center, these children spent their day at the Bellecombe gymnasium, in the 6th arrondissement, where the temperature can reach 40°C during heat peaks. They weren’t there to play but because, for the past two months, they’ve been living in this structure with their family.
An unprecedented measure by the city of Lyon
In total, about fifty people including thirty homeless children occupy this municipal building, for lack of housing. Some families have been evicted from squats. Others were accommodated in the schools in which the children are educated and with the approach of the school holidays, they found themselves without a solution. Faced with this situation, the collectives never homeless and Solidarité entre les femmes à la rue have called on the local authorities, in addition to accommodation, to take charge of the children so that they can benefit from “holidays”.
The city of Lyon, “faithful to its humanist values” and wanting to “guarantee the right to holidays for all”, has thus created a center “just for them” for this month of August. Thus, in fifteen days, four facilitators were recruited, additional meals for lunch were ordered and all the “health” technical sheets were completed.
Cédric Vinchon, territory coordinator and team manager, develops: “We found ourselves faced with an exceptional situation since we are devoting 20% of the places available in our infrastructures to vulnerable families. Usually, children in great precariousness are already integrated into the process. In this specific case, it was easier to set up a new place than to integrate each of the twenty-four children in the eleven different centres. »
It is therefore for this reason that the measure is “unpublished”. He adds: “We therefore hope that there will be no next times because that would mean that no solution has been found. »
A strong bond between the children of the gymnasium
For Grace, it doesn’t matter to end up with the same faces all the time, on the contrary. “It’s easier because we all already know each other,” says the young girl. With the gymnasium, we have already learned to support each other and to live together! And the facilitators can attest to that. “We feel a strong bond in the group, even between young and old, says Kaela, 19, in the animation for a year. There are siblings but they behave as if they were all part of the same family. »
And for these supervisors, the job remains the same. “Sometimes we talk to the greatest of their lives in the gymnasium, because they are sometimes worried, continues the young woman. But otherwise, our missions are similar to those of usual. We welcome them from 9:30 a.m., there is meal time and activities until 4:30 p.m. What is missing from the call of the ”classic” program is a place of reception and outings outside of Lyon. »
These children must “come back to school with a roof over their heads”
So, when it rains or when the park is closed because of the wind, the children find themselves back in the gymnasium. It is then the volunteers who take it in turns to try to occupy them while helping the parents with administrative matters.
“Every day in the gymnasium, with the heat, the noise, the crowds and the fatigue, it’s difficult for everyone. So the center is really fabulous for children. And for us! smiles Njoid, the mother of Nourredine, 8 and a half years old. Because thanks to this device, we can go to our appointments without constraint and try to get things done. »
Juliette Murtin, volunteer, confirms: “They were looking forward to it! But we would also like the local authorities to send a social operator for humanitarian management, social dialogue and finding sustainable accommodation solutions. Before concluding: “All these children are in school. Which means that in a few days, it’s their return. It is imperative that they do it with a roof over their heads. »