“Our only link” … The girls of a deceased homelessness are looking for his guitar

“Benjamin was solar. He had set up his tent for a few years in Montpellier, in the Fine Arts district. Benjamin Malborough died during the cold wave in November, which won three homeless home in the Hérault prefecture. “He was a real character, artist, marginal”. The mother of her three children talks about it with affection. “He had no filter and said what he thought. He was a believer and Rasta. He knew the history of the Bible and even taught me when I knew him. On the other hand, the family, the obligations, the constraints, it was not his thing … “

But this homeless man was, for those who met him, above all a musician. “He knew how to play all the instruments,” says his ex-partner. Especially guitar. This guitar which accompanied him for years and that he ended up selling a few weeks before his death. Failing to have any pecuniary value, she has a real sentimental for her daughters, and in particular Hailey who launches a bottle in the sea to try to recover it. Try to weave a final, fragile link, with their “charismatic but lonely” father.

“No one knew his story”

“No one knew he lived in Montpellier,” said Gwenaël Diraison. This volunteer of the Order of Malta is one of the few to be able to talk about it, by dint of having known it during the maraudes. “He was a smiling man, always with a nice word. When we were going to see him, most of the time he asked nothing to us, but appreciated being able to exchange. It was members of the Order of Malta who discovered his body on November 28.

“I met his daughters during his burial,” continues Gwenaël Diraison. No one in his family, part of which is abroad, knew he had chosen to live here. I learned it on this occasion, because these are not questions that we ask to the people we meet in the street. We are there to help them and bring them human warmth. They are the ones who choose or not to tell us about their history, and only on their initiative. »»

Our file on homeless

For his daughters, memories are rare. So this guitar is the bridge that can attach their stories. But they know it, their approach is unlikely to succeed. Especially since they do not even have a photo of the instrument. But they hope for a little boost of fate. “If someone had known a guitar bought in the street, or has a guitar bought on the trait, in October or November 2024, we hope he will contact us”. He can do it through our editorial staff ((Email Protected)). We will take care of sending them the emails.