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When you walk in its steep streets or at the foot of its medieval castle, the last thing to do is to an Eritrean or a Chechen. And yet, in Ferrette, a city in the east of France, Asylum seekers make up more than 10% of the population.
While throughout Europe the issue of welcoming immigrants aroused a lively debate, one month before the European elections, the mayor (independent) of Ferrette, François Cohendet, wishes that his presence "is not an event but something good in the normal life of the municipality ".
The (independent) mayor of Ferrette, François Cohendet, wishes that the presence of immigrants "is not an event, but an event specific to the normal life of the municipality" (AFP).
A challenge for this small town of 740 inhabitants located on the border with Switzerland, in the south of Alsace, a region in which the far right has many followers.
Since 2016, Ferrette welcomes permanently about 80 asylum seekers, Sudanese, Afghans or Kosovars, half of whom are children. They live there while waiting for refugee status or the protection of France.
Since 2016, Ferrette has been permanently welcoming some 80 asylum seekers, Sudanese, Afghans and Kosovars, half of whom are children (AFP).
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"It was said that Alsace was a country where racism existed but I did not suffer," said Djoe Kabuka, a Congolese, smiling. Ferrette's only drawbacks, according to him, are the lack of transport and the need to go to Mulhouse (about 40 km north) to find food to which asylum seekers are accustomed.
"It's very cold and hot here!" Adds Abundance, a Nigerian teenager.
The badociation "Vecinos de otra parte", which organizes French clbades, a games room, cooking workshops or even transfers to the hospital (AFP).
However, about four years ago, the mayor was strongly rejected by his neighbors when He agreed to convert a disused barracks of the gendarmerie into a temporary care center.
In one file, Cohendet keeps several letters and pamphlets, some very violent, distributed in the locality, with slogans like "Zero migrating to Ferrette", "we are at home" or "migratory submersion".
The children attend a clbad in which they speak different languages, specially created at the school of Ferrette (AFP).
"The population, very refractory at the beginning, found that things were going well, that it was about discreet people who, instead of being virulent, hid themselves", said the mayor, three years after the arrival of the first users of the center, "Two Sudanese, black skin, in thongs, under the snow".
But alongside the protests of some inhabitants, a wave of solidarity was generated, with the birth of the badociation "Neighbors of another party"What? He organizes French clbades, a games room, cooking workshops or even transfers to the hospital.
The adults are divided between the sewing workshop and the French lessons given by a volunteer (AFP).
"The volunteers were able to resist the initial fears, there were preconceived ideas, but they turned the page," explains, satisfied, Samir Beldi, director of the management company of the residence.
"They are not" poor ", they were not necessarily poor in their city of origin, some have important degrees. There is also a mix of asylum seekers, "insists Deputy Director Martine Kaufmann.
The large apartments formerly occupied by gendarmes now serve large families (AFP).
The large apartments formerly occupied by gendarmes now serve large families. Children attend a clbad in which they speak different languages, specially created at the school of Ferrette.
A Sri Lankan couple has just moved into a yellow-walled duplex with three-year-old twins and a 14-year-old teenager. They share the kitchen with an Armenian and her 17 year old son.
The green spaces of the old poster are brimming with life (AFP).
The green spaces of the old poster are full of life. Two children, an Afghan and a Nigerian, walk arm in arm while a group of girls play in the recreation area. Adults are divided Between the sewing workshop and French clbades taught by a volunteer.
"We integrate them into local life on the 14th of July, at the beginning of the New Year … whenever they can mingle with the local population, we do it," said Elisabeth Schulthess, President from "Neighbors of another party".
A volunteer distributes sandwiches among refugee children (AFP).
For volunteers, the most frustrating thing about this reception is that the candidates' stay is usually short. Since they receive an answer to their asylum application, they have three months (which can extend three others) to leave the center.
Those who get the right to stay in France often settle in Mulhouse, where there are more jobs but where they have little social support, "laments Schulthess.
AFP Agency.
GML
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