Written by Angélique Le Bouter
While in France, around 530,000 people suffer from extreme isolation, the Little Brothers of the Poor are increasing their events during the end-of-year holidays. Example near Montpellier, where Claude, Hélène and others agreed to talk during a Christmas meal.
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For Hélène, it's a bit of a special day. Volunteers from the Little Brothers of the Poor take him to the restaurant. Sick and disabled, she has not left her home for three and a half years. “I went through terrible times”she confided to Olivier Brachard and Daniel de Barros, journalists at France 3 Occitanie who accompanied her to the meeting place.
Every year at Christmas, the association of Little Brothers of the Poor pulls out all the stops to offer a moment that is out of the ordinary to its beneficiaries. “We are here to try to break this isolation, this social death in which certain elderly people find themselvesexplains Florence Cassar, a volunteer for 12 years and now responsible for activities. We are here to bring them a little happiness, a little life.”
The volunteers of the Little Brothers of the Poor strive to bring a smile back to the beneficiary of the association.
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© FTV
Around Montpellier, 70 volunteers from the Little Brothers of the Poor work with isolated people. Throughout the year, volunteers like Florence visit them. “But the main event is Christmas. We have a party, we are with family, we bring them a good meal, entertainment, smiles and moments that they will take home afterwards.”
They do not talk more than five minutes a week with another living being.
Florence Cassar, volunteer
Get out of the ordinary, discuss everything and nothing and forget a monotonous daily life for a few hours. “Many don’t see anyone all weekFlorence despairs. They only see volunteers or their health professionals when there are any. There, we're really talking about social death because they don't talk more than five minutes a week with another living being.”
Claude has lived alone “in a big house” since the death of his wife.
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© FTV
Claude lost his wife to Alzheimer's three months ago. “For a year, I have been all alone in my house, a big house.” So this Christmas meal at the restaurant, surrounded, allows you to break away “the blues” of everyday life. “It’s been a long time since I last ate with anyoneconfides the retiree. I lose my appetite and I talk to the walls.”
I don't wish anyone to suffer what I suffered. Loneliness is terrible. We don't realize it. I tried to get past it and I couldn't.
Chantal is ch'ti. “My family is in the North but we don’t speak to each other anymore.” She settled “in the South” in 1996. “I live alone with my dog and a cat wandering”, describes the one who nevertheless calls herself “very sociable”. Delighted in eating roast beef, she likes the association's initiative for the holidays: “I’m very sociable, I love people, I make them laugh, that’s how I am!”
To hear Marie sitting on the other side of the table, the initiative is unanimous. “We all have personal problems, this is really a day outside of ordinary time.” Created in 1946, the association Les Petits Frères des Poors today has 12,000 volunteers across France.
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