Medhi is homeless and suffers from lung cancer when the round of the French Red Cross meets him. He fears for his life and the lives of others, which is why he made a makeshift mask for himself, using a coffee filter, taped to his skin.

Volunteers of the French Red Cross, learning of his condition, exercise extra caution and fear of contaminating him. They know it would be fatal to him. “the marginalized are even more marginalized” confirms Mehi, seated on a bench, in a deserted city that resounds with a macabre silence.

Fortunately, a bit later, when our two Red Cross volunteers help another homeless man, this silence is broken by the thousands of applause in honor of the medical staff.

Hugo Clement
French Red Cross
April 3, 2020