For more than ten days, eleven Ukrainians, including five children, are settled in the small house of Annie Calls, in Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans. This Perpignan woman has a second home in the town, which she has made available to these refugees. She has known them for several years: “Each year, we welcomed children from the Chernobyl region in foster families. And that’s why, when we saw that there were these events, we advised them to come and join us”, explains Anne. She admits not having thought about it when she asked them to come: “It’s true that at the time, I said ‘Come, come, come’. Afterwards, I won’t hide from you that I started to realize. But at the time, they were in danger and I had to ‘they are coming.”
“It’s the role of an elected official” – Louis Caseilles, mayor of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans
Once the decision was made, Annie Calls warned the mayor of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans, who immediately took matters into his own hands. “The town hall will welcome the children to school, they will be able to go to the canteen for free. The town hall has also provided me with electric heaters and they are giving us electricity as a gift”, recognizes the retiree. A perfectly logical support for the mayor, Louis Caseilles: “It is the role of an elected official. We are not in political political problems. The role of an elected official is to listen to the population, to listen to the refugees. Ukrainians to ease their pain a little.”
The mayor promises to find them jobs
And beyond the town hall, it is also the whole municipality that has mobilized to welcome these refugees as well as possible. Traders offered food, residents brought clothestoys for children. “Here, everything is fine, we thank everyone”says Taïssa, who is here with her sister-in-law and their children, “It’s very good for the children, there is no more fear. And if the children are well, we are well”. Taïssa is from a town on the outskirts of kyiv, very regularly bombarded by the Russian army.
The mayor of the town has also undertaken to find more permanent accommodation solutions for these families, and to offer jobs to these refugees.