“Fleeing an abusive relationship, Alex, a young mother becomes a housekeeper and fights to provide for her daughter Maddy, in the hope of a better future”. Here is the scenario of one of the last Netflix series, inspired by a true story. She leaves after yet another episode of violence from her partner. And ends up with nothing. A much more common situation than you might think, which can happen right next to us. “The testimonies of women who said in a circle of words” I want to leave my home but I do not have the means “, came back a lot. We decided to do something ”, says Loëtitia Mas, president of the association.
A voice for them, located in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Since March 16 and the first move, “we haven’t stopped,” she exclaims. With her team of 23 volunteers, including 5 permanent staff in the field, she helps women victims of domestic violence to flee their homes “to start from scratch”. An action called “we move” because “they have the strength and the courage to leave, and we have our hands”.
“There is a real need”
She develops: “It is logistical and material support. We make emergency moves, we act with social structures to act quickly and safely, to know the volume of what we must take to set up the intervention. Then, the woman, sometimes her children, is dropped off in an emergency hotel and her belongings in a storage place. In six months, 33 moves were carried out in the department which helped 55 women and children. And 170 interventions were carried out to emergency hotels, not to mention the thousands of hygiene kits distributed.
The president of the association takes stock. “We do not realize, but we put our finger on something. There is a real need. In 2020, 87% of the 159,400 people affected by domestic violence were women according to figures from the police and gendarmerie services released Monday by the Ministry of the Interior. And it does not count the 102 feminicides perpetrated that year.
An award from the Women’s Foundation
She adds: “We received the grand prize from the Women’s Foundation this year to start rolling out this model in other departments. She says that associations from all over France contacted her to find out how she had managed to set up this action which covers the entire department, from Mandelieu to Menton, for free. “It is necessary that the care be comprehensive, these are vulnerable women, who need full support and follow-up,” she says.
“We move” helps until the end, until the new home with “furniture support if necessary”. Loëtitia Mas explains: “We meet all socio-professional categories, sometimes they leave a real comfort and are victims of economic violence and have left everything. We have already ordered Uber eats for them to eat and they didn’t even dare to open the door. The road to reconstruction is long. “It is for this reason that the association insists on the need to be recognized and identified for” these very vulnerable people “. She adds: “Shame must change sides and show that we are there. And we are not about to let go of the case, we are really there and we are watching. “
The association works thanks to grants and donations. On November 25, 26 and 27, there will also be a collection at Cap3000, near the Monoprix, “for all these women”. “Diapers, toothpaste and milk are fast-going foods that they really need,” concludes the president of A Voice for Them.