{"id":25520,"date":"2021-11-01T02:52:29","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T06:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=25520"},"modified":"2026-01-27T17:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:41:11","slug":"some-villages-in-france-have-found-a-second-life-by-welcoming-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=25520","title":{"rendered":"Some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . .<\/p>\n

A compilation with translations by CPNN<\/p>\n

A recent article in Liberation<\/a> shows how some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees. <\/p>\n

The article says that these villages, that are “struck by rural exodus,” have decided to renew their local life with immigrants, and it mentions four villages: Luzy (2,000 inhabitants, Ni\u00e8vre), Ferrette (800 inhabitants, Haut-Rhin), Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier (500 inhabitants, Is\u00e8re) and Pessat-Villeneuve (650 inhabitants, Puy -de-D\u00f4me).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAt Pessat-Villeneuve, Mayor G\u00e9rard Dubois (right) with Hamidullah (center) – clip from video entitled Portrait de Hamidullah, r\u00e9fugi\u00e9 afghan a Pessat-Villeneuve<\/a>.
\n <\/center><\/p>\n

Here are excerpts from articles about these four villages.<\/p>\n

Luzy in Ni\u00e8vre<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“In the heart of the Burgundy countryside, Luzy, a town of 2,000 inhabitants, has welcomed 45 asylum seekers of Guinean, Afghan, Sudanese or Iranian origin, etc. since the end of 2018.<\/p>\n

For these men, women and children who fled persecution at home, Luzy is seen as a stopover on the roads of exile. For the moment, they are suspended from the response that the French authorities will give to their asylum requests.<\/p>\n

For the past fifteen years, Luzy has been losing inhabitants. But, for three years now, it has gained and the village has been reborn, in particular thanks to the arrival of these new Luzicans, from all over the world.<\/p>\n

Committed to receiving them as best as possible, the inhabitants of Luzy have mobilized to give meaning to their reception and living together, including football games, French lessons, p\u00e9tanque tournaments and ball trap competitions.<\/p>\n

Ferrette in Haut-Rhin<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2016, Ferrette has welcomed around 80 asylum seekers – half of whom are children – from places as far away as Afghanistan, Sudan and Armenia.<\/p>\n

They all hope to be recognized as refugees – or at the very least, that France will grant them “subsidiary protection”, the status granted to asylum seekers who are not qualified as refugees\u2026 ..<\/p>\n

When the mayor of Ferrette agreed to welcome migrants, he found himself facing stiff opposition, even from members of his staff\u2026 ..<\/p>\n

But while some protested, he also saw other locals come together to help, with the emergence of a group called “Voisins du monde” which offered them French lessons, access to a game library, cooking classes and even transport to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Samir Beldi, director of accommodation at the Mulhouse \/ Ferrette branch of Adoma, the housing office that houses migrants, said things had gone well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe volunteers managed to repair the damage after some initial trouble. There were preconceptions but we have turned the page on that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His assistant, Martine Kaufmann, agrees. “They are not ‘poor’, they were not necessarily poor at home,” she explains. \u201cSome of them have important qualifications. There is diversity among asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

(Article continued in right column)<\/p>\n

(Click here for the French version<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question for this article<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Article continued from left column)<\/p>\n

Notre-Dame-de-l\u2019Osier in Is\u00e8re<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Located in Notre-Dame-de-l’Osier and belonging to the Emma\u00fcs-France network and the Cocagne network, the Tero Loko association was created a little over 3 years ago. It offers an integration project for refugees and inhabitants of the territory. The objective is twofold, to facilitate the integration of people in precarious situations and to participate in the dynamism of this rural town of 700 inhabitants. Their slogan, “Cultivate welcome” is a reflection of this desire.<\/p>\n

In this access to employment project, Tero Loko offers integration contracts (CDDI) in market gardening and bread production, two essential productions in everyday food, as well as marketing for the sale of their products …<\/p>\n

Tero Loko thus supports refugees on access to employment and also works with them on access to sustainable housing or learning French.<\/p>\n

This project can provide answers to a need for integration in rural areas. It offeris a complete project to refugees in search of stability and participates in the revitalization of rural communities. The joy of being together is evident in these markets because the exchange is reciprocal. The refugees are helped in their integration and the inhabitants find a lively village life thanks to this weekly market and various activities (such as pottery workshops, cooking, honey harvesting or even creative workshops of all kinds).<\/p>\n

Pessat-Villeneuve en Puy-de-D\u00f4me<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Pessat-Villeneuve (63), a village of 670 inhabitants in the Puy de D\u00f4me, a solidarity initiative was born during the first confinement.\u00a0As the masks are missing throughout the territory, Hamidullah, a refugee from the Pessat-Villeneuve temporary accommodation center, has decided to produce them.\u00a0Other refugees have joined in his efforts to help with the distribution.\u00a0Thanks to them, all the inhabitants were able to benefit from this essential protection.\u00a0G\u00e9rard Dubois, the mayor of the village, and Isabelle Harry, deputy mayor who participated in the distribution of the masks, tell us about this adventure\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

What is the origin of this reception policy?<\/p>\n

G\u00e9rard Dubois\u00a0:\u00a0\u00a0In 2015, the photo of little Aylan was the trigger for my commitment.\u00a0I told myself that something had to be done.\u00a0At that time, we had just bought a vacation center which belonged to Air France and which was unoccupied during the winter period.\u00a0It seemed logical to me to offer it to the State to accommodate families.\u00a0At the end of October 2015, the prefectures could not find any center to welcome migrants from Calais, they remembered me.\u00a0It all happened very quickly.\u00a0We took in 48 migrants initially.\u00a0They landed in our beautiful region.\u00a0Our small village had 550 inhabitants at the time.\u00a0Then, making the center sustainable was a real desire both personally and on the part of the municipal team\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n

How did this mask creation initiative come about?\u00a0Did the idea come from your side or from the center?<\/p>\n

G\u00e9rard Dubois\u00a0:\u00a0\u00a0It was complicated because we were living in this confinement during the elections\u2026..\u00a0about the masks.\u00a0No one had any.\u00a0I tried to get some for the center through the Association of Mayors of France.\u00a0We were able to do bulk orders nationwide to redistribute them, but we didn’t get exactly what we wanted.\u00a0Then, one day, the director of the Cecler center calls me and tells me that a young refugee, Hamidullah, is able to sew and that he intends to make masks.\u00a0I immediately accepted\u2026\u2026His idea was really to offer them to the population, it all started with him.\u00a0Our participation in the action was easy compared to his work.\u00a0We provided him with the equipment: sewing machine, elastic, suitable fabric, plastic pouches for hygiene during distribution.\u00a0We also created a communication to add in the masks to explain the origin of this mask and its history\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n

Is it by sharing moments that we can get to know each other better?<\/p>\n

Isabelle Harry:\u00a0\u00a0It’s true that it’s not always easy to do this.\u00a0They were very motivated by the idea of creating the masks and then distributing them.\u00a0This gave them the opportunity to go against the inhabitants and get in touch with them.\u00a0It is true that when the center was set up, there were a lot of reluctant residents.\u00a0It should not be denied.\u00a0They were scared and it was not easy.\u00a0I was the first to ask myself questions.\u00a0For a small village like ours, that’s normal.\u00a0Gradually people were reassured and now the refugees are integrated.\u00a0This initiative was one more step.\u00a0The majority of the inhabitants were very happy and found it great to give the refugees a chance.<\/p>\n

(Thank you to Kiki Adams, the CPNN reporter for this article.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY . . A compilation with translations by CPNN A recent article in Liberation shows how some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees. The article says that these villages, that are “struck by rural exodus,” have decided to renew their local life with immigrants, and it mentions … Continue reading Some villages in France have found a second life by welcoming refugees<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,14],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-25520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-tolerance","tag-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38011,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25520\/revisions\/38011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}