Page 9 - ATD10August2015

WORLD NEWS 9
Monday 10 August 2015

Paris turning schools, hotels into housing for migrants

M. DONALDSON can’t focus.” In this photo, Camille Arrignon, 23, from France gives a French lesson to the migrants on the
Associated Press Learning French is his first
PARIS (AP) — Before the Tal- effort toward integration. grounds of the Guillaume-Bude secondary school building in Paris. For now, Paris is largely
iban forced him to flee Af- Younis emphasizes that
ghanistan, Younis exported he is here out of neces- allowing associations to convert some vacant public buildings like this Paris high school into
flowers to the United Arab sity, not because he wants
Emirates and China. handouts. “I’m not poor,” emergency lodging for around 200 migrants. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)
The 30-year-old crossed he said. “I like my coun-
Iran, Turkey and much of try. I lived with my family. what Julliard called the stay in empty buildings cause deporting them to
Europe before arriving in If I didn’t have to leave, I “unprecedented migrant is a “pragmatic” way to conflict zones would violate
Paris a month ago, a brutal would live in Afghanistan.” crisis” facing Europe. He lodge people France can- international human rights
journey that left him with a Camille Arrignon, 23, said allowing migrants to not send back home, be- conventions.q
discolored lesion on his an- teaches the French classes
kle and a swollen leg. After Younis attends. She said
weeks living on the banks migrants need more than
of the Seine, Younis — who a room; shelters should in-
gave only his first name be- clude French instruction,
cause his asylum applica- legal help and health care
tion is still being processed access. “I want to defend
— now sleeps in a former them not because of poli-
Paris high school that has tics,” she said, “but be-
been empty for four years, cause they are humans.
one of about 200 migrants As humans, they have the
living there. Paris is turning a right to a place to stay.”
blind eye to humanitarian France has approximately
groups converting aban- 25,000 beds designated
doned public buildings like for asylum seekers, a num-
the school into migrant ber far short of the needs
centers, recognizing that of the nearly 70,000 who
the 1,000 official emergen- applied for asylum in the
cy housing spots Paris has country last year, part of
created since June are not
enough to shelter all mi-
grants left without a roof,
Paris’ deputy mayor, Bruno
Julliard, told French radio.
The school’s classrooms are
lined with sleeping bags
atop makeshift cardboard
mattresses. Migrants drink
instant coffee and eat gou-
lash concocted from do-
nated ingredients. It’s bare-
bones, but migrants, activ-
ists and many city officials
agree it’s better than being
on the streets.
The asphalt courtyard
echoes with myriad lan-
guages as migrants kick
soccer balls, play cards, or
paint murals on the school’s
peeling walls. Younis stud-
ies, writing French in metic-
ulous cursive next to transla-
tions in his native Dari. The
alphabet is different and
the sounds are foreign, but
he said the real challenge is
that “I don’t have a job or a
place to stay, I can’t read, I