"The day after Irma's visit, I tried to see if it was possible to go to Saint-Martin to go and help via La Croix Rouge or other similar organizations," says Melissa, a young English student in Corsica. . "But we were only looking for nurses, etc.", she continues. However, his disappointment was short lived. The day of her return to college, she received an "urgent" email, a call for volunteers from the gendarmerie reserve in which she has been engaged since May 2016. She immediately sent her application.
Melissa is thus part of the second company dispatched to Saint-Martin on October 26; the first having arrived a month earlier. In total, seventy-three reservists were selected to leave from the eight hundred gendarmes who applied. "It is an honor to have been selected," she says, thanking her superiors for having chosen her.
On the ground, the day we meet her, she is positioned at the Agrément roundabout in Marigot alongside Tony and Cyril whom she met for the first time when arriving in Saint-Martin. Tony is from Carcassonne and Cyril from Montpellier. All three did not know each other but were motivated by this desire to go "to serve and help the affected population".
For them, it is "a real commitment". "A new experience", even a "unique" experience. It is indeed the first time that such a call for volunteers overseas has been organized. Cyril had applied with his partner, also a reservist. "But it was not retained," he says. In order to be able to benefit from "this unique experience", he still left alone. Tony discussed it with his partner and future wife. "We will get married when I get back. Sending my candidacy was a decision that we two made. Letting me go is also a strong commitment on his part, ”he admits.
The mission of the reservists is to carry out proximity prevention actions day and night. Placed under the authority of Lieutenant-Colonel Sébastien Manzoni, they are divided by sectors so that the whole of the French part is covered.
“We are there to do surveillance. The population feels reassured, ”they explain. "If a car seems suspicious to us, we stop it and check the vehicle and its driver," they continue. They are also authorized by the prosecution to carry out searches. So last Friday another team at Hope Estate discovered in a car glasses and shown stolen during looting during an operation to combat crime.
The difficult working and accommodation conditions, they knew them before leaving. "We were told, we were prepared, we knew what to expect," they say. Tony and Cyril are also used to patrolling difficult neighborhoods in their city. So for them their mission in Saint-Martin is no more delicate.
However, they say they were struck by "the extent of the damage and the plight of the population". "We had seen the images on television but seeing it for real is totally different," they say. “But many people remain optimistic. For example, we spoke with a couple who lived on a boat that was completely destroyed. The husband said to his wife, we lost our boat but we are alive, this is the most important, ”reports Mélissa, touched. "This type of experience allows you to step back," she conceives.
Mélissa, Tony and Cyril will leave Saint Martin in three months.
(Source: www.soualigapost.com)
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