"Get in line and don’t cut. We have to put you on the list before letting you in." It is 2 pm and Sister Marie-Jo has just opened the doors for the waiting migrants. Like every Monday, dozens of people have flocked to the basement of Notre-Dame des Foyers church in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.

The Cameroonian nun has been receiving migrants in need here since 2015. Today, about 130 people have shown up at the office, which won’t close until the early evening. "It's madness today," sighs Marie-Jo, who juggles multiple requests from volunteers and migrants, who have affectionately nicknamed her "Mama". This afternoon, swarms of people are amassed in the corridors. The adults and children who are here with their parents wait more or less patiently. "In general on Mondays, we receive a maximum of 90 people," Sister Mary-Jo says. "I do not know why there are so many people today."

"I don’t have enough money to feed my children"

All afternoon, Marie-Jo and about ten volunteers from the association Notre-Dame de Tangier - which is dedicated to helping exiles in need - will try to "give back a little humanity" to the migrants, who are "more and more helpless and desperate." Most are from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and West Africa. "We help them to rebuild," says the nun.

At the end of a corridor, in a corner, a group of young Sudanese are sitting on the ground playing on a mobile phone. "We play because we have nothing to do all day," said one of them. "We come to get warm clothes and recharge our phones," they say without glancing up from their screens.

Others come to get food. That’s the case for Safiollah, a 52-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who says he is being threatened by the Taliban in his country because of his work with the Afghan Red Crescent. He says he struggles to provide for his two children, aged 11 and 13. "I get about 400 euros a month, but what can I do with that money? I do not have enough to feed my children," he says. Safiollah is being housed in a hotel in the Paris region, and this is his second time coming here.

Caring for women

A few seats away, in a hubbub of several crying young children, a group of women from sub-Saharan Africa drink free coffee while waiting for their turn. Many of them come to pick up basic necessities: diapers, sanitary napkins, children's clothing, soap and milk powder are the most popular goods for mothers.

"Many of these women got pregnant after being raped on the migrant route," says a volunteer who adds that, while some of them are staying at hotels or in shelters, others sleep in the street with their children. "We try to deal with each situation but it's not always easy."

The association also tries to educate minors. A school prep course is organized every morning for children, and also young adults. "Some people don’t know how to read and write, they have to learn everything," says Marie-Jo.

Psychological distress

If initially this was thought of as a place to be welcomed and heard, "the administrative aspect has grown," notes the nun, who now helps asylum seekers in their dealings with the Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, responsible for processing asylum applications).

Marie-Jo has had a parade of "Dubliner" migrants in her office all day. "I do not understand this Dublin regulation, it puts people in excruciating distress," she laments. "Many cry in my arms because they are afraid of being sent back to Italy or to another country where they have filed their fingerprints, and in the meantime, they are excluded from the classic procedure and are left to their own devices. Some of them go crazy.”

In case of great distress, the nun accompanies these people to the office next door, which is occupied by a psychiatrist. "Migrants live in abominable conditions and develop post-traumatic stress syndrome: they often have great difficulty sleeping, flashes of painful experiences come back to them regularly ... They are in great despair," notes the psychiatrist, Dr. Annick Le Dorré. "They are disappointed when they realize that France is not the country of human rights they had imagined." 

****

The reception center of the Association Notre-Dame de Tangier is open Mondays from 10am to 12pm and from 2pm to 6pm, and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2pm to 6 pm. It is located in the basement of Notre Dame des Foyers church, 18 rue de Tangier - 75019 Paris (Stalingrad metro station).