The number of street children has exploded, increasing by 120% between 2020 and 2024. Among these children in need, 10-year-old Jayyed and his 2 sisters under 5. He continued to attend school at the same time, but kept quiet about his condition for fear of ridicule.
As of August 19, 2024, UNICEF France and the Federation of Solidarity Actors (FAS) registered 2,043 children on the street, a figure increasing by 120% compared to 2024 according to their sixth barometer published on 29 August.
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One of them, 10-year-old Jayyed, testified from RTL. He speaks in a surprisingly calm tone and with an amazing lucidity for his age. “My first memory on the street was my two sisters crying,” he recalls. He is indeed the older brother of two little girls aged 2 and 4. “I tried to make them happy, but they couldn't calm down,” he says, eager to take care of his younger daughters.
However, under these conditions, Jayyed is not much more serene. “I'm afraid on the street that a violent person will attack my family,” he explains to Yves Calvi's microphone.
He then returns to the difficult moments of this experience, which lasted four months. He specifically mentions an episode with his asthmatic sister who catches a cold at night because “the night is very cold.” “Every time he catches a cold, he goes to the hospital,” he explains to illustrate the difficulty of the cold and nighttime conditions on the street. “I can't sleep because of the violence outside, I'm afraid it will start again,” he adds.
“When I go to school, I sleep in class”
Despite his extreme precariousness, he did not leave school. However, he confesses that he cannot work in similar conditions to his colleagues: “When I go to school, I sleep in class.” Socializing is not easy either. Especially since Jayyed carries his homelessness like a dark secret he doesn't dare reveal in front of kids his age. “I'm afraid they'll make fun of me,” he explains, fearing that some will ask him to come to his house and not reveal his situation.
Those who, like all children of their age, allow themselves to dream, see themselves as “airplane pilots”. But for now, he's content with more modest dreams of being like the one “at home with his sisters in a room.” To be able to resume the normal life of a 10-year-old child and no longer have to fear that “strangers will attack them”.
\ud83d\udce2 2,043 children are on the streets in France.
Back to school is coming and these kids don't know where they will sleep.This figure is up 3% from last year and 120% from 2020.
If the indignation is shared, the action of the public authorities is long overdue pic.twitter.com/bPKBue9lKo
— CAU (@CollAssoUnies) August 29, 2024
All this does not prevent him from keeping his feet on the ground and an endless lucidity, truly surprising for his age. “I don't know where the power comes from, I don't know how it comes,” he confesses. No doubt his astonishing maturity will allow him to bounce back from these challenges and emerge even stronger.
“I'm afraid of going back to the streets,” he admits at the same time, while the court must rule on his and his family's fate on September 13 and may decide to send him back to roam the streets of Lyon.