Thousands of homes destroyed, a shortage of water and food, deaths and an island from which news trickles in… The situation is worrying in Mayotte after the passage of Cyclone Chido, December 14, 2024 .
In Tours, an association of Mahorese students has just launched a collection of food and hygiene products “to make oneself useful and try to break with this feeling of helplessness so far from Mayotte”presents Intissame Abdallah, 20 years old.
“They need everything”
The first bags were left on Friday, December 20, in a discreet location in the Sanitas district. “Many people have lost their homes: they no longer have anything, no roof, no clothes or enough to eat. My parents and my twin sister have a permanent home but there is no longer access to water, they are forced to wash in the sea because they have not been able to benefit from the distribution. They are safe, but they need everything! »
Arriving three years ago in Indre-et-Loire to study sociology, Intissame Abdallah got in touch with several Mahorese comrades from the Chababi Orléans-Tours association. Together, they decided to act on their own scale, once the shock of Chido's passage had been absorbed.
Two collection points
Calm prevails, for the moment, around this small premises on rue Raspail, lent by a neighborhood association. A second will open its doors on Sunday December 22, in Joué-lès-Tours, in La Vallée Violette.
Most donations come from word of mouth and messages relayed on social networks. “When we eat, we can't help but think of our loved ones who are now fighting to survive. There is a form of guilt, as much as we feel helpless », do not hide Intissame Abdallah.
For some, who remained without news from their families at the time of publishing these lines, organize the collection “is also a way to think about something else.”
Collection for Mayotte at 7, allée de L’Adjudant-Foiny, in Tours, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Contact: 06.23.78.76.74 or on Instagram via the Chababi account. ot
