Solidarity in the making
At Pech Charmant, generosity and solidarity are not empty words. A year ago, in June 2023, the campsite welcomed six young people from across the Quiévrain region for a week with two teachers.
A few weeks earlier, looking for a place to learn, the Belgian association ‘SolidarCité’ in Charleroi*, which takes in 16-25 year olds who have dropped out of school, had contacted us to see if we had an idea for a concrete project to entrust to these young people eager to learn and, above all, to see the fruits of their labour.
We got on really well with the 2 young educators and didn’t hesitate for a second to suggest a project based around welcoming our future black pigs (a first for us too!).
During an all-too-short stay, the young people (boys and girls) were welcomed and accommodated free of charge so that they could familiarise themselves with the day-to-day work on the campsite.
To their credit, they have built an enclosure and a hut for the estate’s pigs, which they have named ‘Soli’ and ‘Carlo’.
Knowing that we had timed the end of their stay to coincide with the arrival of the pigs, they were delighted to see them move into their hut!
Everything went perfectly: a great state of mind, a good atmosphere, sharing, motivation, commitment and investment.
That’s why we responded favourably to SolidarCité’s request to repeat this type of exchange and welcome a team of young people from Nivelle with a project to build a gazebo. Unfortunately, we recently learned that the group would not be able to come after all.
That said, we’re always open to receiving motivated and sympathetic young people: there’s no shortage of projects!
*https://www.solidarcite.be
27 April 2024