Mayotte is a distant France. A France relegated to the Indian Ocean. A forgotten France of which we very rarely speak to evoke its poverty, its dilapidation, its delinquency and the immigration which overwhelms it. But today, first and foremost, it is a France seriously injured, bruised and devastated by a cyclone which lasted only half an hour, leaving behind populations without roofs, without water, without electricity. , without food, completely devoid of what resembles a semblance of normal life – and how many deaths under the mud and metal sheets of the shantytowns?
It was therefore necessary that during these holiday times a major climatic catastrophe finally awakened the French so that they were interested in the fate of their distant compatriots, and perhaps so that they became aware of the immeasurable effort that now demands the reconstruction of this little part of the nation 9,000 kilometers from us.
Because the paradox is like this: the inhabitants of Mayotte who, more than many others, claim to belong to France, are also used to being French people left behind.. The island’s wounds go back a long way: even before those of Cyclone Chido, the Mahorais suffered from a dizzying poverty rate (77% of the population lives below the poverty line), glaring inadequacies in essential areas such as health (only one hospital for the entire island), school (too many children out of school), or even the production of drinking water, dilapidated road connections, endemic unemployment, and, in this landscape of poverty, delinquency and uncontrolled immigration which we cannot overcome.
Of course, beyond basic compassion and solidarity, the State, through the presence of the President of the Republic, promises not only to rebuild everything that the disaster has destroyed, but also to strengthen its presence and improve hitherto deficient infrastructure. We want to believe that today’s promises will be kept, that Mayotte will benefit in the future from the efforts and concerns which will finally allow it to fully live its “French destiny”. However, we may fear that, in the political and economic context in which the metropolis is struggling, it will take far too long for this to happen.
Especially since the management of our overseas departments and territories, from Guadeloupe to New Caledonia, regularly undergoes jolts, setbacks and shocks depending on the vagaries of current events. We are undoubtedly proud of this French presence across the oceans, but we should also be indebted to the citizens who live there – and, more than anything, to the population of Mayotte, these French people who, from now on, seem a little less to us. distant.
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