She has just finished her exams this Friday, December 20, 2024. But it is not the results of her exams or the university holidays that preoccupy Louftia Brahim's mind.
The president of the Mahorais Student Association of Poitiers has been living in anguish since Cyclone Chido devastated her native land and Mamoudzou where her mother and her relatives live. “The last time I spoke to my mother on the phone was the day of the cyclone, says the 22-year-old young woman in her third year of biology. We were talking about exams and my little sister. A jackfruit tree fell on the house and after that, nothing. I heard about the country from a friend who went on an internship there. She told me that currently there is no electricity, no water, nothing to eat. I have not had direct contact with my family since the disaster. The inhabitants are in a state of survival. »
For Louftia, who was invited on Thursday December 19 by the departmental council to testify about the difficult situation in Mayotte and the consequences for Poitevin students from this community, the anxiety and incomprehension are growing stronger.
“I’m holding on even if it’s complicated”
“There are many of us here and we are isolated. The only way we had with our families was to be able to call them to hear and see them. Currently, given the situation in Mayotte, communications are completely cut off. I'm holding on even though it's complicated. We are the future of Mayotte and we must succeed for Mayotte. We have many students who depend on their parents' salary and a scholarship. We find ourselves a little helpless because we wonder how we are going to pay our rent. I have the Crous scholarship, but it is not enough to meet my needs, my mother was there to supplement it to be able to finish the month. On Wednesday, we received an email from Crous who told us that they were there to help us. I took the initiative to call them to find out how. And I had a person on the phone who was unpleasant, we found no solution, the only solution was to look for work so that we could at least fill the gap and finish the month. »
Louftia Brahim, president of the Mahorais Student Association of Poitiers, expressed her dismay on Thursday before the departmental assembly.
© (Photo NR-CP, Édouard Daniel)
€5,000 is missing to finance the delivery of donations
Louftia feels like abandonment. “There are hundreds of Mahorese students here in Poitiers. We are still waiting for a gesture, an email, a word from the university…”
Place de Bretagne in Poitiers, where a Mahorais lent the premises of his driving school to store the donations collected, the anger is not always cold. “The State does nothing… Macron is there just for the photo”belches a woman beside herself while showing photos of her devastated land. The Mahorese community organized itself to try to finance the transport of a container to the archipelago.
“We’re going to do everything we can… But we can’t do it alone”
Donations arrive but the Mahorese community does not have the means to transport them to the archipelago.
© (Photo NR-CP, Mathieu Herduin)
“We were received by the mayor of Poitiers who told us that she could do nothing, says this volunteer from Solidarité Mayotte Poitiers which brings together the Ouvoimoja and AS Poitiers Gibauderie associations. Politicians tell us that we must go through charitable associations. We need €5,000 for these basic necessities to arrive in Mayotte. We're meeting this Friday evening to see how we can do it. We feel helpless. »
Faces tense. An audio message telephoned from the archipelago is broadcast on a cell phone. “We lack everything here… Don’t send just anything. No clothes. Water, dates, protein biscuits, baby diapers…” Some 8,000 kilometers away, the Mahorais of Poitiers are multiplying. “We're going to do everything we can… But we can't do it alone. »
