This Marseillais has been homeless for 3 years despite his diploma: “I don’t always have enough to eat”

Sitting on the sidewalk bordering the Canebière at the Noailles metro station in Marseille, Farid is without a fixed address for three years.

He explains that he holds a double master in political science and international diplomacy and holds a sign: “Me Farid, homeless, gives English and Russian lessons”.

Difficult living conditions

Since his return to his hometown, Marseille, three years ago, Farid has lived on the streets. A difficult daily life, which he tells Marseille news :

Contrary to popular belief, it is more difficult for us in summer than in winter. It’s false, poverty is no less painful in the sun! During winter, people also feel cold, so they have more compassion for us. In summer, there are more people on the street, but also more problems with theft, attacks… For my part, I prefer to sleep far from the city center to avoid that.

Although he can count on the Solidarity truck to provide him with food a few times a week, he admits to passing regularly several days without eating.

“I depend on what people give me. Fortunately for me, I have no addiction to alcohol or drugs, but even without spending my euros on this, I don’t always have something to eat. It’s horrible but you get used to everything, more or less. »

A life journey abroad

At the age of 10, Farid says he was placed in a home in Marseille. His childhood dream? Go to the University. With a few euros in his pocket, he decided to leave for Manchester, England: “I knew how important it was to speak English fluently.” There, he took on odd jobs and managed to be accepted at the University of Salford, where he said he had been diploma a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in political science.

A few years later, he decided to fly to Russia, where he learned the language and began a master’s degree, at the University of Volgograd. On the side, he gives English lessons in a language academy. The beginning of the guerre between Russia and Ukraine pushed him to return to France: “It had become very difficult to live there and in England, Brexit had also complicated things.”

In Marseille, he hoped to find members of his family, but in vain. Without resources or social relations, he spends his last savings in hotels, until ending up on the streets.

English and Russian courses

To meet his most basic needs, Farid offers courses of English and of Russian in a small café, located a few steps from the Noailles metro station: “It’s 10 euros per hour with coffee included,” he proudly announces.

Without a phone after a theft that occurred two years earlier, his few students come to see him directly at the intersection between boulevard d’Athenes and la Canebière to make an appointment.

If he wants to return to Russia after the war, he knows that it will depend on many factors, including the development of the political situation and its ability to save enough money to start his life over there.

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