Experience life in an Emmaus community

  France

Toulouse

Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Typical Duration of Program: 2-4 weeks
Dates: June 30 - July 19

Description: Emmaus is a community that welcomes marginalized and homeless people. They are called "companions". The community provides them with a place where they can live and work. It is a place where people live together in a spirit of solidarity. Some companions live there temporarily while going through a tough phase in life and the community supports them towards social reinsertion; others see life in the community as an alternative way of life. There are 3 founding principles in all Emmaus Communities: welcoming people (everybody, no matter their origin or their past); working, which is seen as fundamental for a sound life and as the way for reinsertion and restoring of self-esteem; sharing is the third pillar of life in the community.

The Emmaus France movement, an organization created in 1949, gathers nowadays 113 communities in France.

Project dates:
June 30 - July 19
August 11 - August 30

The volunteers will share the life and activities of the Emmaus community of La Villedieu du Temple, where 60 companions live permanently. Volunteering in an Emmaus community is a unique opportunity to discover another way of living and working, and to experience a community lifestyle based on solidarity. The activity and life of the community is organized around the collecting, fixing and selling of second-hand articles in the community shops. The proceeds from the sales finance the life of the community as well as actions of solidarity in France and abroad. The volunteers will work alongside the companions: collection of objects donated to the community (furniture, clothes, household equipment), sorting out, repairing and recycling of those objects, public sale in the community shops. Above all, open-mindedness beyond discriminations and intercultural exchange will be central in the work.

The community is self-sufficient and does not accept public funding. The principles of collective responsibility, sharing, and active participation are central for Emmaus, and they regularly call out to the public authorities on issues of housing and of social exclusion.

Welcoming volunteers is a way of opening new horizons for the community and dynamising it. Therefore being a volunteer there during the summer is about bringing enthusiasm, joy and warmth to the people living in the community and fostering intercultural exchanges.

Your leisure activities will be organized with the companions: theme parties, visits of Montauban, Toulouse and Moissac, canoeing and a lot of different sports.

La Villedieu du Temple is 10 km west of the town of Montauban (a historical city on the edge of the Canal du Midi, which belongs to the Human World Heritage of UNESCO) and 1 hour drive from the city of Toulouse (the lively "pink city"), in a rural region of cereal production. The community is located 3 km from the village of La Villedieu du Temple; it is a small hamlet itself.

Cost in US$: $290 US

Experience Required: no

Typical Volunteer: Motivated to work voluntarily within an international team, tolerant, open-minded and cooperative person with adventurous spirit.

Age Range: 20 - 30 years old

This Program is open to American and Canadian Participants.

Participants Travel to France Independently

Typically Participants Work in Groups

CADIP - Canadian Alliance for Development Initiatives and Projects's Mission Statement: CADIP promotes peace, cooperation, tolerance and understanding in international, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural surroundings. The organization also promotes patterns and examples of civil activities focused on serving others, on building social ties and strengthening communities, on supporting civil society development. Aims and general objectives: * To promote volunteering as an expression of civic contribution * To strengthen the international contacts among young people * To build tolerance and understanding in multicultural and multi-ethnic surroundings *To promote multiunderstanding among youth all over the world * To facilitate the individual growth of the volunteers through the acquisition of work, life and learning skills * To work for the recognition and promotion of non-formal learning * To support the community initiatives and assist in community development.