samusocialInternational comes to the assistance of the victims of social exclusion, living without any support mechanisms in today’s large urban centers. Its work draws on the professional skills and dedication of its highly trained teams of medical, mental-health and social-work experts, a reflection of its President Dr. Xavier Emmanuelli.

Why did you think that Samusocial could usefully become samusocialInternational?
After a few years of experience, in Paris we realized that social exclusion as we were encountering it here was a phenomenon touching all cities, especially large cities, and that this phenomenon was not unique to Paris, but in fact universal. All around the world, cities pull people away from their rural homes and from their cultural references. These people find themselves confronted with situations in which their traditional points of reference and knowledge are irrelevant for their daily survival: finding food, water, and a bed for the night. The new arrivals able to adapt do sometimes manage to find a home for themselves, especially if they have family or tribal connections to rely on. However, a certain number arrive without any network of contacts, without any skills, and without any resources. For them, the question of survival is paramount. For these isolated people and children, the situation is catastrophic.

These people have no hope of going back to the region of their birth or their village. They can no longer cultivate the land, which is now arid, and all the traditional networks of support that linked families together have disappeared.
If war does not push people toward the streets, then it is often economic hardship and climatic conditions that convince them that the city can offer both them and their children a better way of life. These migrant people are the first victims of social exclusion. Very often their future holds nothing but further disasters: drugs, prostitution and other aggressive or criminal behavior. Moreover, these displaced people are increasingly perceived as a “threat” in general, which only makes their hardships more difficult to overcome. In poor countries where the cities are overrun by masses of recent arrivals and economic activity is most commonly informal in nature, it is not possible to see how versatile social services could be put into place. Social exclusion in Paris is certainly less violent than in third-world cities, but essentially, an urban context is what sets the stage for this phenomenon.

The role of samusocial is to respond quickly to this urban catastrophe. More than a long-term remedy in and of itself, this method seeks to uplift individuals in urgent need through three steps: approaching them at the time of emergency, establishing contact and trust in order to better decide which step to take after initial aid is administered, in the “post-emergency” situation, and allowing the intervention of organizations and institutions who focus on the long-term, those who have experience in societal insertion and development.

What can samusocial’s experience bring to the streets of developing countries?
We are well aware of the fact that large cities inundated constantly with new arrivals generate a whole host of problems besides just hunger: hygiene, infectious diseases, viruses and parasites due to unsanitary drinking water and food, promiscuity, trauma, and drugs. For children, inhaling toxic substances, or “huffing,” is a particular danger. All these problems represent latent pathologies that the majority of the population never see, because the affected population tends not to make use of clinic and care centers. Most of the time, there are no such centers, and when there are, they charge fees. But worst of all, these people are often so beaten down that they are unable to realize the extent of their health problems. They do not complain, and even if they did complain, there is no one there to hear them.

Our job is to go out to these people, to seek them out, wherever they may be, in the deepest cracks of these immense cities, at all times of day and night. Going out to people is the founding principle of Samusocial, and to do this we have trained teams of “social first-aid” experts, who are both salaried employees and volunteers. Their task is to go and find those who are marginalized, give them emergency care, offer them shelter, and begin to help them plan for a brighter future, in other words, their social reintegration. This is why Samusocial works in close collaboration with local services, including primary care centers, hospitals, shelters, orphanages, government institutions, town halls, the police, other local organizations, as well as with many good-willed individuals.

The main features of samusocialInternational are its flexibility, its mobility, its networks of contacts and its expertise (gained through working on the streets for the past ten years). All of these qualities are perfectly adaptable to suit the specificities of each place in which our teams intervene. We also work hard to generate local initiatives. As a complement to our emergency operations, we operate training sessions at all levels, both in the host countries and in France. This enables us to send trained staff to the Samusocial organizations in different countries, where our assistance is designed to help them help themselves.

What can samusocialInternational do for children?
The phenomenon of children living in danger on the streets of our cities is both disturbing and universal. It affects cities in both the North and the South: Mexico City, Lima, Moscow, Bucharest, Manila, Phnom Penh, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Antanànarìvo, as well as Paris and New York. This trend affects every continent; it is an integral part of life in the big cities, and, unfortunately, points out the limits of our modern existence.

When families are split apart or immersed in the turbulence of a large city, children are left to look for themselves Exploitable and exploited, forced to live in gangs, to depend on theft, drugs, and prostitution, often they fall into the hands of unscrupulous adults who force them to work illegally in sweatshops. Like many other NGOs and institutions, samusocialInternational attempts to effectively care for these children by applying its methods and expertise. This is one of the organization’s most important missions, and it is a mission without precedent.

By 2030, more than 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas and for the most part in enormous cities, without having ever imagined the pace, rites, and traditions necessary for successful integration. The most fragile members of the population will pay the price for this social upheaval, with the most significant cost being footed by children. Helping them is of paramount importance because their difficulties represent an international emergency; the despair faced by many of these children is intolerable.

Doctor Xavier Emmanuelli
President of samusocialInternational