Just before our call, finally, Marine Bourguignon Trombini received the long-awaited SMS. That of Onzardine, recently 18 years old, her young protégé from the other side of the world. “Don't worry, it's okay. We're not hurt. But the house is destroyed…”
Marine Bourguignon Trombini, 32, is experiencing the tragedy of Mayotte from the Côte d'Azur. But this Nice resident, a teacher in Cannes, feels intimately linked to this archipelago where she worked for three years, just before the pandemic. She was still in Mamoudzou in April, maintaining strong friendships there. Notably with Onzardine, a “little brother” of heart that she has helped since childhood, and her family, who lost everything.
“His neighborhood was razed”
“I was terrified for two days because I couldn't contact Onzardine. He comes from the slums, and his neighborhood was completely razed, Marine shuddered. I just received a message that he is fine. He was with his dad and his little brother. They must have been under enormous stress.”
The young Nice girl can breathe easy. “Before the cyclone, I told him to leave the bangas [petites cases mahoraises, Ndlr]. I pointed out the hard shelters to him. I called him back several times that evening. But the population of the slums is afraid to leave their homes because they fear looting, or being counted and then expelled…”
“More water, more food”
Before Chido, Marine herself experienced a cyclone in Mayotte in 2019. “They had come to take refuge at my house. I had to insist.” This cyclone had finally deviated from its trajectory. Enough to put their intensity into perspective. This time, the alert changed from red to purple. And the winds at 220km/h “ravaged the entire neighborhood. There is no more water, no more food. I have been helping them for years to buy a piece of sheet metal, a mattress… And everything is gone. They have nothing left”, sighs Marine.
“Fate persists”
The teacher thinks of her former students in mainland France or in Reunion, “who have no news from their families and are extremely worried. I am really afraid of the human toll, which is likely to increase considerably in the days to come. Families will be decimated.”
Marine fears “even harder times ahead” for Mayotte. “This island is already in such a precarious situation… We have the impression that fate is continuing! I admired their resilience. Looting risks taking place, and social tensions, already very strong, to worsen. And the deterioration of the health emergency – there is already cholera – will not help…”
“Our best to help them”
Marine Bourguignon Trombini teaches at Les Mûriers, a college classified as REP (Priority Education Network) in Cannes-La Bocca. She was preparing a joint project with a college in Mayotte. Objective: take their students hiking together in Reunion Island. Before Chido, she had already made her people aware of Mayotte and its torments. “I think we are going to put in place actions to raise funds, do our best to help. And friends have registered on lists of volunteers to go there.”
