À l'ombre de l'Espoir - Que faisons-nous ?

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AOE

what do we do?

1. To read his accounts of his experiences, click here.

2. We decided to take the risky choice of spending absolutely all of the money we collect on the prisoners. We do this in the belief that this will appeal more to possible donors, who may be considering supporting us. The results we achieve prove us right. Nonetheless, it proves difficult to maintain this approach as our activities grow in scale. Our ambition for 2008 is to receive public funds to contribute to our actions. That said, one of our aims, as long as we are still a small organisation, is to live up to the commitments we made to our supporters. If we don't manage to receive the additional funding, we will be restricting ourselves to 10% of income for administrative costs.

3. For his second trip, he had already managed to gather 25kg of medication and almost 5,200 €.

It all started in September 2005. Jean-Michel leaves on holiday, fascinated in and curious about Africa, a continent of which he knows little. The holidays pass by, gently and pleasantly. On his way home, he stops off in the capital. He meets a chaplain from Switzerland, who had been working in a prison for more than 30 years. Jean-Michel asks to be shown the prison. He is so moved by the experience that he returns every day, bringing medication and applying his medical knowledge.

When he returns to Europe, he wants to continue this work. He talks to the people around him. He organises and mobilises his friend, his family and his patients. He writes his first account of his experiences. More will follow1. He collects funds 2, and medication 3.

In May 2006, he goes back. His children follow him. On the ground, he organises a dispensary and sets up a team of nurses among the prisoners. Mahalia, his daughter, reacts to the environment with the same intensity as her father. She starts working on everything that is not directly medical: taking measures to improve hygiene, identifying and prioritising each problem; distributing bread, soap, toothbrushes, clothes... She visits the different parts of the prison, going among the prisoners to listen to their problems and their hopes. Together with them, she looks at ways of improving the situation. To achieve this, she organises a team both within and outside the prison.

Father and daughter realise the need to set up a non-profit organisation. They want to make progress and facilitate progress being made. They contact numerous organisations; find out about other people who have had the same experience as them. Their evenings and every other free moment of their time is given over to the association (set up at the end of September). Mahalia convinces - without much difficulty - her long-time friend, Chafik (an economist) to join them. They divide up their tasks based on their individual skills. Their network of contacts, in Europe and Africa, develops. They return again, and refine their tasks. Schools are involved in collections for the children in the prison, an Internet site is set up and... the whole story has only just begun!