Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20200720

A28 FEATURE
Monday 20 July 2020
In French Guiana, virus exposes inequality, colonial legacy

PARIS (AP) — When white of those working in the in-
doctors walked into Camo- formal economy. Many of
pi, a majority Indigenous them didn't have access to
town in French Guiana temporary unemployment
near the border with Brazil, benefits.
townspeople felt worry in- Things are similarly bad in
stead of relief. villages like Camopi, which
With French Guiana fac- has just one doctor for
ing a wave of coronavi- 2,000 people. Camopi de-
rus infections, the doctors tected 61 cases in May and
from the French mainland June, and although no one
were there to administer died, the challenges illus-
tests and treat the sick. But trate some of France's most
for residents of the former pressing inequalities.
colony, few of whom have Its residents speak Way-
internet or television or ampi, Teko, Portuguese,
knew about COVID-19, the Creole and French. When
appearance of the health doctors come from France,
workers carried echoes of they need mediators and
the arrival of Europeans in translators.
South America and the dis- Silvain Louis has been a vol-
ease and exploitation they unteer mediator in Camopi
brought. A woman sells vegetables in the slum district of Mont Baduel, in Cayenne, French Guiana, Friday, for four years. He says resi-
"There is still in the minds the July 10, 2020. dents long remained igno-
time of colonization and Associated Press rant about the virus and
the havoc wreaked by vi- how to protect themselves.
ruses brought by coloniz- more on the way. languages. ritory, it is rarely mentioned "They knew they were un-
ers," Jean-Philippe Cham- Local officials say a porous French Guiana was colo- in French politics and news. der lockdown, that there
brier, a member of the Ar- border with Brazil and the nized in the 1600s, and The virus has changed that, was a disease," said Louis,
awak tribe and represen- rapid virus spread there became a French "depart- at least temporarily. For who is of mixed Creole,
tative of Indigenous com- was just part of the prob- ment" in 1946, making it an weeks, it's been the top pri- Chinese and Indigenous
munities in French Guiana, lem. They decry a lack of integral part of France that ority for France's national heritage. "but there was
told The Associated Press. concern from the French uses the euro currency and health agency. New Prime no prevention to explain
"So when they saw white mainland for a region answers to political lead- Minister Jean Castex made things."
people from the mainland, where more than half the ers in Paris, 7,000 kilome- a rare trip to French Gui- The first case Louis found
they made the link." population lives under the ters (4,300 miles) away. It's ana's capital of Cayenne was a grandmother living
France's most worrisome vi- national poverty line — a multi-ethnic society with this week to offer moral in his neighborhood. "She'd
rus hot spot is on the north- some 10% don't even have multiple Indigenous com- support -– but little else. been lying in her hammock
ern coast of South America: running water — and where munities, descendants of In the slums ringing Cay- for two days" with a head-
French Guiana, a territory it took more than a month Black slaves, descendants enne, aid groups stepped ache, sore throat and fe-
of about 300,000 people to translate the govern- of settlers, and immigrants. up food distribution efforts ver, he said. Like the other
where poverty is rampant ment's original COVID-19 And although it represents during a lockdown that has first cases in Camopi, she
and health care is scarce. guidance into all the local one-seventh of French ter- devastated the livelihoods didn't immediately think it
Its outbreak has exposed was COVID-19.
deep economic and racial "She thought it was fatigue
inequality that residents say or maybe the flu," Louis
leaders in Paris have long said. She tested positive
chosen to ignore. and was taken to Cayenne
Months after the virus sta- by helicopter to be hospi-
bilized in mainland France, talized in case her condi-
it grew in French Guiana. tion worsened.
For weeks in June and ear- Because internet access,
ly July, about a quarter of electricity and TV reception
new daily infections report- is limited to the center of
ed in all of France were in Camopi, few know about
French Guiana, which has the virus, Louis said, and
just 0.5% of the French pop- health care workers must
ulation. More than 6,500 go "door-to-door."
cases have been recorded When the first additional
in the territory, although of- doctors arrived, people
ficials fear the number of in- didn't feel safer. "From one
fections is estimated to be day to the other, you see
much higher. teams of doctors every-
Its hospitals reached ca- where. It's scary," Louis said.
pacity in June, and the In 2016, there were 55 gen-
French military intervened eral practitioners for every
to ferry patients to the 100,000 people in French
French Caribbean island Guiana, with most con-
of Martinique. The national centrated in Cayenne.
government sent 130 re- In this photo taken Wednesday, May 27, 2020, medial workers take care of residents of the remote That compares with 104
serve health care work- village of Camopi, French Guiana. per 100,000 in the French
ers to French Guiana, with Associated Press mainland.q