Christiane is a former midwife. She is 75 years old. At the time of retirement, she wanted to remain active and above all useful. She therefore offered her help to Secours Catholique. Since then, several mornings a week, Christiane serves breakfast for the less fortunate who push the door of the association on the boulevard Alsace-Lorraine in Pau. “It was inconceivable that my retirement should take place like a stay at Club Méditerranée. Those who come here are very modest but the little they tell us, I consider that enriches me. The confidence they give me enriches me. There is not the one who gives and the one who receives. When I come home, I feel like I’ve received a gift.”
During the 2017 presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron announced that he no longer wanted homeless people on the streets. Christiane continues to see homeless people. “Some people sleep in Lawrence Park. They say it’s better cold than rain. There they are. Housing is the priority. Working means first of all a roof. Knowing where we sleep, that we will be safe at night, that changes everything. That stimulates and it makes you want to move forward.”
On April 10, Christiane will not vote. She hasn’t voted for a long time. “Politicians, we never see them here” she says. She still has great admiration for Simone Veil, “but now the politicians what do they know about precariousness, people living with an RSA?” asks Christiane who explains that she no longer wants to listen to the candidates. “I no longer believe in their speech. I have no no more political ideal … that doesn’t interest me anymore.”