A room with a view

Sadhana, a young Indian woman of 31 marvels at the view over the Haussmannian avenues from her king size bed. She confides: “I can’t believe I live here”. “Paris is a magnificent city, it deserves its reputation as a city of light”, she smiles gently. For this former beautician, nothing or almost nothing in her room displays the vestiges of her life in India.
Two days after taking this photo, I met Sadhana again, suitcases in hand. She will be extradited urgently and with the utmost discretion to another emergency shelter. Her husband, accused of pimping, was released by the police and unfortunately found her the day before

View of the Opéra Garnier from room 501 where Henriette lives with her two twins, aged 3 and her eldest, aged 6. Two of her children have autism.
Following the closure of the palace because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the building was bought by the company Biexée Assembly. This property manager wanted to make the place available to a public of “women in great vulnerability”, for a period determined in advance: one year. Twelve months may seem short, but the owner has another real estate project in mind for the future and the future of these residents remains uncertain. The next stage is likely to be difficult for these women, who will be forced to leave the center in less than six months. Although 13% of the women have been regularized, 21% of them are still waiting for their application to be regularized and 41% have no solution for regularization.

Seble, an Ethiopian exile, fled her marriage after many years of violence. With a smile on her face, she confides that for her the day of her wedding is the most beautiful day of her life, the second, her arrival in France. Memories to destroy in order to rebuild here.

Mariama from the Comoros undertook a long journey to try to find treatment for her five-year-old son, Laithe. First, Tanzania, where her toddler had three operations for polyps. “When the doctors told me there was no way out, we went to Mayotte. There, during the crossing on a crowded kwassa kwassa (fishing boat), I thought he would die”. She pauses, tremors in her voice, before resuming. “He was not breathing. I cried a lot, and then he got better. After yet another transit through Reunion, Mariama arrived in France with her son, where he was taken care of. Today, Laithe is much better, but he has to take medication for life.

For Sabrina, a young Algerian single mother of a three-month-old girl, massage sessions are a must. She finds serenity there. On maternity leave and waiting for social housing, this young security guard with a permanent contract is learning day by day from her sisters at heart how to be a mother in her turn. The massage sessions are offered by the association Ateliers Shiatsu, which opens its clinic every Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4 pm. Émilie, the practitioner of this Japanese manual relaxation technique, is delighted with the session. I appreciate giving time to those who need it,” she says. We work on stress, for example. I like the confidence we are given. We are truly sharing, communion”.

Doriane is a young mother of 3-year-old twins and a 5-month-old daughter.
Of Cameroonian origin, she arrived in France in 2019. “I used to spend two days in one place, three days in another, and then a fortnight elsewhere. When she joined Hotel L in June 2021, she was six months pregnant. “I needed a bigger space,” she explains. Today, her baby sleeps peacefully in her pram, close to her and her two other children.
Doriane is being harassed and blackmailed by her French ex-partner who is accused of naturalizing the children of migrant women. Here at Centre L, she feels safe and supported by social and legal services.

Aissatou poses in the large living room on the first floor which is transformed on Mondays into a space dedicated to sophrology, into a yoga room on Tuesdays and into tatamis on Wednesdays for karate classes. Aissatou, a Senegalese woman, arrived in Europe in 2020 from Morocco where she did the “Boza”. In the slang of migrants, this is a difficult crossing. Her application for asylum was rejected. Living on the street in Paris, she was referred to Center L in June 2020. She uses her year of respite to attend the various activities offered by the Center.

Tina poses on her bed. A young Nigerian woman, very dynamic and full of good will, she is nevertheless going through a difficult time accompanied by CASP lawyers in long procedures to obtain her regularization.
The social workers are at the disposal of the inhabitants of the Centre L on their legal procedures for requesting asylum, leaving human trafficking networks and prostitution networks, and domestic violence.

Maimouna is preparing for a job interview at the Mac Donald on Boulevard d’Italie. Arriving in France on 10 January 2020 and unable to pay rent, the 23-year-old Guinean has been living at the Hotel L since it opened.
Radhia, a 65 year old Tunisian, is her room mate and looks after her with kindness. Since its opening, this hotel has become a theatre of sisterhood and intercultural and intergenerational dialogue.
For those who are looking for work, coaching sessions with HR managers are offered by the association La cravate solidaire, housed on the ground floor of the centre. Maimouna has just been granted refugee status. Married at 14 to a man 40 years older than her, she has suffered many assaults, excisions, rapes, and confinement by her husband and his three older wives, all of whom are more jealous than the others.
Thanks to her new status, she will resume her studies in January at the IMEEP training school and aims to become a nurse’s aide.

Night falls on the Opéra Garnier and Aisha, a young Ivorian woman, is waiting for Ange’s father to come. At the end of 2020, Aisha arrived straight from Libya. After 8 months of slavery and suffering from a disease, her attackers literally throw her into a zodiac. After a crossing with her eyes closed, she ends up in Italy where she meets Abdoul, Ange’s father. Both undocumented and homeless, the state decides to give Aisha a break in the L centre to receive her first little son, aged 2, in comfort and to start the asylum process.