Daughters of Charity and Lazarists in the heart of street life

Prostitution has existed for a long time in Limoges, as it has in other cities. In September 2001, at the beginning of the academic year, we were struck by the increasing number of younger people gathering and settling in a particular area of the city centre. The new bishop of our diocese, asked a Daughter Charity, who had just retired from her “professional” ministry, to explore the needs of these young women. Eventually a project was started attached to the local city centre parish in which a community of Daughters of Charity reside. In July 2002, after six months of a planning and putting into place the necessary social and legal administrative structures, the eagerly awaited organisation called “Middle of the Street” was born. A few months later a Lazarist priest joined the project.The project took on board the emerging group of those “without” – Without the correct papers and documentation, without housing, or living in other precarious situations. Today, the project mostly accompanies women in prostitution. Many others have their burdens eased by other organisations which have a similar Vincentian ethos.

The aim of Middle of the Street project is: “To go into the street, empty handed, without any formal role, in order to create a bond and establish friendly relations with the men, women and children who live there” (Charter 2002)

… After 5 years in existence, we are more and more convinced that this is the right place for us to be as Daughters of Charity and Lazarists. The charter of the organisation is so relevant to our charism and it constantly motivates us: “The street is a space in the city where people, prostitutes, tramps, young people with difficulties and so on, find themselves on the margins of society — It is their living space, their place of meeting. We go on to the streets, empty – handed, without an official role, in order to establish a bond of friendship with the men, women and children who live there. In spite of our powerlessness and face to face with the harshness of the Statutory Bodies and Institutions (which impose fines, prison sentences or committal to a psychiatric hostel…) we want to be signs of hope by being kind, listening and creating community.

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