a Comenius project in our Unesco Associated School

‘difFUSION’against

xenophobia

Almåsskolan(Sweden)

Brentford School for Girls (UK)

LeLikès(France)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

* presentation of the project p. 2 -4

* Immigration to Brittany p.5

*Isabelle -Martinica p. 6 - 8

* Iiria - Finland

p..9 -10

* Lucie - Armenia p.11 -13

* A trip to Nantes p.14

* Project meeting in Quimper p.15* Maria Lurdes- Portugal p.16-19* Aline’s mum p.20 -21* The Imam of Quimper p.22-23* Italians in Quimper p.24 -25* Aîcha - Russia p.26

* Americans in Quimper p.27-28* Writing with Nimrod p.29* difFUSION in Arts classes p.39* Project Meeting in London p.40* Anahita from Iran p.43* Mrs R from Uganda p.44* Evie from Northern Ireland p 47 * Sofia from Kazakhstan p.48* Manasa from India p.49* Niruja from Sri Lanka p.50* Josiane from Algeria p.51* Nadine from Rwanda p.53* Liviu from Romania p.59* Mari from Sri Lanka p.61

* Nathalie from the UK p.63* Erdogan from Turkey p.64* Antoine from Vietnam p.67* Josselyn from Guatemala p.69* Fernando from Portugal p.70* Bouchra from Morocco p.71* Sadio from Mali p.74* Grandmother from Senegal p.75* Churk from New Zealand p.77* Soufiane from Marocco p.78* Christl from Austria p.81* Project Meeting in Sweden p.82 TRADITIONS * from India p.84* from Algeria p.86

* from Sri Lanka p.88* Project South Africa p.90* from Russia p.92* from Afghanistan p.93* from Ireland p.94* from Sweden p.95

difFUSION- Difference and Fusion: Communities in EU SchoolsOn Preventing Anti-Xenophobia and Racism

Aims of the Project as defined in the Preparation meeting in Mölndal Our project is to promote cultural awareness amongst students in our schools, with a view to foster empathy between students of different ethnic backgrounds, both male and female, and/or immigration status (new immigrants, 2nd/3rd generation immigrants, asylum seekers, etc). If this project is successful, it will serve as a means of combating xenophobia and racism. All of the countries participating in this project have recent and historical experiences of immigration or issues arising from the relationship between different groups of people in their communities. For example, France, Spain, Sweden and the UK have seen migrants from North Africa, East Africa, Eastern Europe, La-tin America and the Indian Subcontinent. The immigrant presence is culturally enriching but can sometimes lead to problems, for example with schools experiencing difficulties in communicating with parents who do not speak the local language. More generally, there are sometimes tensions arising from economic factors such as unemployment. Our partners in Romania have an identified need to improve the situation between the Roma community and the wider community. Roma students must also be better engaged in schooling to improve educational outcomes for this group. This project is envisaged to give Roma students a voice and an opportunity to share their story and perspectives with a wide audience.The project will allow groups of students and teachers to visit eachother’s countries to share information about cultural experiences, history and heritage. Students will be encouraged to tell their own stories in a highly personalized way, promoting self-esteem and equal opportunities. Each visit will have a broad theme (for example culture, history, paedagogy) which will provide an additional focus for each visit. The project will make extensive use of ICT and will incorporate video-recorded vox pops, presentations, ro-leplay and drama to promote the theme of cultural awareness and empathy. This will also develop students’ skills of communication. These items will be uploaded online and the project ‘s fruition will be an online resource showing the activities that make up the project. This website will be available to all teachers and students in Europe to use as a means of teaching and learning about this important topic.Problem-DefinitionEFFECT Political groups promote separation (Of not doing so) Xenophobia/racism

PROBLEM How to promote cultural awareness and empathy within and between our countriesCAUSES/ Immigration Needs of local speakers (eg Breton)ROOTS Economic factors Languages Unemployment Inability to access the curriculum Economic Crash Interface with parents Empathy/cultural awarenessWhat do we seek to achieve?The promotion of cultural awareness and empathy

The project website will be grouped into sections including ‘My Story’, with interviews and galleries; culture; current and historical trends in migration; community engagement and teaching and learning about the theme. Material will be uploaded in an eye-catching and accessible manner. The language of the website will be English but some items will be uploaded in native languages, or subtitled.Once completed, the website will be available for access by teachers and students across Europe. The web-site will be promoted to teachers through national teacher forums. School magazines and the local press will be used as well. All productions will also be made accessible through the Unesco Associated Schools network and websites .

Brainstorming Activities and Tasks: Activities- Films, texts, roleplays, images, interviews, history, tradi-tions, sayings, etc

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Milestones : Project start date September 2012Project end date April 2014Website ‘live’ by Summer 2014

Visit Schedule (24 Mobilities)- re-defined after Comenius agreement was limited to 3 of the initial applicants

24-28 September 2012 France: Technicalities, processes, design of questionnaire, design of webpage, presentation on local situation regarding immigration by all members of group, meeting with Breton speaker and asylum seekers21-25 January 2013 UK: Culture, seeing school in action (lessons, etc), meeting students from minority groups, students given an opportunity to mix and share experiences through presentations, dance, drama, etc. Visit to Southall15-19 April 2013 Sweden: Presentation on history of immigration by all members of group, culture, seeing school in action, meeting Moroccan and Cuban migrantsSeptember 2013 France: Community engagement, role of NGOs in tackling problems arising from immigration. Students give presentations on role of such organisations in home countries. Meeting with representative from Roma Population in GovernmentFebruary 2014 Sweden- Theme: Paedagogy, teaching and learning in school April 2014 UK Theme: Evaluation

Evaluation of ProjectPrior to the beginning of the programme a questionnaire will be designed and circulated to identify view-points and attitudes about this project’s theme. The data from this questionnaire will be used at the first meeting to plan ahead. A set of questionnaires will be used to evaluate the project in terms of its progress and results, including the satisfaction of those groups taking part, students, parents, members of the wider community and so forth. There will be a final questionnaire at the end of the programme to assess whether and to what extent the wider objectives have been achieved.During each of the meetings, time will be built in to evaluate progress on the website and to formulate next steps. The Google Site webpage will be shared with a number of colleagues at the end of the programme. This will allow the accessibility and functionality of the webpage to be assessed before it goes live.

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PROJET COMENIUS « difFUSION » - 2012-2014intégré dans l’ensemble des projets UNESCO

** DESCRIPTION DU PROJET :==> combattre la xénophobie en favorisant la prise de conscience des diversités liées à l’immigration ( diffé-rentes générations, communautés, expériences de vie ..) . Ces diversités seront considérées comme facteurs de richesse et élément constructeur de l’Europe d’aujourd’hui .==> Enseignants et élèves sont invités à dire et partager leurs expériences ou celles de leurs proches en met-tant en valeur les aspects humains,. On cherche à développer l’estime de soi et l’égalité des chances==> Ce travail est réalisé dans les cours et au cours des rencontres organisées dans les 3 lycées partenaires du projet [ Les restrictions budgétaires n’ont pas permis à 7 autres pays initialement participants d’être retenus]. Les résultats (portraits, récits d’expérience, travaux de création .. ) seront mis à disposition en libre accès à tous les enseignants et étudiants d’Europe sous forme d’un site web ressource .==> Plusieurs grands thèmes de travail ont déjà fait l’objet d’un accord entre les partenaires lors d’une pre-mière rencontre de travail en Suède en Janvier 2012:• Migrations• Culture and traditions des différents groupes ethniques en Europe• Les minoritées et leur histoire dans l’Europe contemporaine• Migration et société civile - Migration et organisations==> langue de travail : Anglais (et langues locales)==> Mode de travail/ communication : groupe fermé FACEBOOK==> Les activités et productions s’inscrivent dans les programmes et favorisent le travail en interdisciplina-rité [ Integrated Learning] , dans la continuité de nos projets depuis plus de 10 ans==> Matières concernées : histoire/Géo- langues- education citoyenne- mathématiques - Communication - TIC==> diffusion des résultats :* le site web sera ouvert en libre accès à la fin du projet et publié sur le site national et international des Ecoles Associées à l’UNESCO ainsi que sur le site et la newsletter de EUROCLIO - European Association of History Educators (plus de 6 000 professionels de l’enseignement de l’Histoire/Géographie) :www.euroclio.euLES PARTENAIRES : 400 écoles se sont portées candidates à l’appel à propositions . Il a fallu en sélec-tionner 9 , choisies sur le pourtour de l’Europe . 3 seulement ont vu leur participation validée, les autres tenteront de participer en ‘job shadowing’ .1-Almås school - près de Göteborg - Suède(2-ΓΥΜΝΑΣΙΟ ΓΕΡΙΟΥ «ΙΩΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΟΛΟΚΑΣΗ»- Geri -Chypre)3-LEGT Le Likès - Quimper- France4-Brentford School for Girls - Londres - UK(5-Gimnazjum nr 3- Zawiercie-Pologne)(6-LICEUL TEORETIC «PAVEL DAN»-Camia Turzii- Roumanie (Transsylvanie)(7-Lalahan İlköğretim Okulu- Ankara - Turquie)(8-Plunges Senamiescio vidurine mokykla -Plunge- Lituanie)(9-IES Monte Miravete - Murcia- Espagne)LES RENCONTRES :*24 Septembre 2012 FRANCE Définition du projet en détails*21 Janvier 2013 UK : Voix et image des minorités en Europe*15 Avril 2013 SUEDE: les migrations dans l’Histoire*23 Septembre 2013 FRANCE Migrations et Société civile / organisations ..*2 décembre 2013 SUEDE Crimes contre l’humanité & Migrations*28 Avril 2014 UK Nouer les liens* Mai 2014 envoi et mise en forme des résulats et bilans - ouverture du site au public et dissémination

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BUILDING UP for the PROJECT - YEAR 0 - In 2011- 2012 our students [1èreL - Anglais renforcé] already started working at the project before it was offically launched . Their aim was to sensitize and set the path for teachers and students , trying to find out about immigration in Brittany and collecting the first testimonies ..

Dès 2011-2012, les élèves de 1èreL- Anglais renforcé ont commencé à travailler au projet avant son lan-cement officiel . Ils ont commencé à sensibiliser le lycée et défriché les pistes de travail . Il s’agissait de se faire une première idée de l’immigration en Bretagne et de collecter les premiers témoignages .

Immigration in Brittany was less massive than in the rest of France before 1950, before World War II. But, World War I saw the first huge immigration of workers here, because of the war economy, Brittany had to call new persons to work. At that time, the immigration was controlled, and was mainly from Greece, Spain and Portugal.In 1917, French people, and above all women, wanted to bring the colonial workforce to the front line, to finally join their husbands. It has to be said that a lot of strangers were in the country to cover for men who were at war.

During the interwar years,foreigners were more welcome in France, in Ille-et-Vilaine, there were more than 4000 immigrants in 1926, principally British, Italians, Belgians, Poles and Spaniards. In 1931, Brittany was the region with the lowest number of foreigners. Later, immigrants became undesirable when their work was considered “useless”.Italian immigration in Brittany was concentrated in building trade, in cities or ports, most of it was in Morbihan. But all the foreigners were under surveillance, at work, they had to stay where they should be. They were blamed for taking the place of nationals on the labor market.

During World War II, Breton population increased because of a lot of refugees from Belgium and the North of France, about a quarter of the popula-tion. Relationships between Bretons and refugees weren’t good every-time because of home condi-tions which were basic. Most of them went back in September 1940.During the Liberation,foreigners had a very bad image, like spies or traitors. Then, Algerians, because some of them are fairground, gave cause for concern, like North Africans and Arabs, who had a bad reputation.

ImmIgratIon to BrIttany-

Sources: http://immigration-online.org/http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/http://www.odris.fr/documents/etudes/Odris_hist_mem_immigration_bretagne.pdf

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general InformatIon aBout ImmIgratIon from martInIca to france

The number of people who immigrated to France from Martinica increased around 1961 , the year when the French government created the BUMIDOM (« Bureau pour les Migrations intéressant pour les Départe-ments d’Outre-Mer »). Reason : the Caribbean plantations didn’t bring back enough money so the economy decreased. The aim of the French government : to give jobs for the Martinicans and stop the inegalities between France and Martinica.1982 : the new French socialist government decided to stop the emigration it replaced the BUMIDOM by the ANT (« l’Agence Nationale pour l’insertion et la promotion des Travailleurs d’outre-mer »). This decision reduced the number of immigrants in the mother land.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40241469?uid=3738016&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21100801526541

IsaBelle from martInIca By JulIe

Name : Isabelle DAUDEAge : 38 years oldCome from : MartinicaBorn in : Fort-De-France

Some information about theMartinican culture :==>Food : * For Christmas : pork stew,vegetable, black or white pudding,coconut’s or ginger’s liqueurs...

* For Easter : crab, rice...

==> With music and at the seaside !

==>Temperature year round: 28°C

==> The structures are built to confront earthquakes and hurricanes

ImmIgratIon to QuImper from the 70’s to today

A lot of historical events permitted to Brittany to develop its rate of immigration, like the discovery of America, or commerce in the Channel or in the Atlantic. In the 80’s, a few hundreds of refugees from Turkey came to Rennes, which made the population aware of difficulties. The 90’s were a turning point for the immigration because there was a national evolution about the asylum seekers and refugees. In Quimper in 2008, the rate of immigration was very important, mainly from Turkey, where there were 367 immi-grants. All the immigration represents 2 180 people in Quimper in this period. Most of them were workers.

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Palm trees

Did you know France before going ? I have visited France since I was six years old, with my family.

Reasons for your immigration ?In 2004 I decided to go to France, to Nantes, because of an acquaintance. Today, I’m not with this man anymore but I have chosen to stay in Nantes because, I feel better here than in Paris.

How was your travel organized, how did you feel ? It was in December, it wasn’t very well organized be-cause I wasn’t used to travelling. At the beginning, I felt lonely, lost, depressed.

How would you describe your integration process ? Was it difficult ?No, it wasn’t difficult because I’m French and I was sur-rounded with good friends (I was lucky to know some people already), it’s very important. But sometimes some people think that I come from Tunisia and the way they look at me shows that they are in trouble. However, I found it difficult to leave Martinica because it’s the place where I was born, where a part of my fa-mily still is and I’m often homesick.

Conditions of Immigration

The example of Carbet : a house built to protect from the rain and to reduce the temperature Life is quieter in Martinica than in France : people take their time ! (maybe because of the hot weather, they are less active) Different populations (Chinese, African, Indian, Syrian...) and different religions in Martinica : Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam ..

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Fishermen

Do you feel good in France ?Yes, of course. I like being in France in Spring and in Summer because of the nature, our monu-ments and our beautiful cultural patrimony.

What do you prefer between France and Martinica ?I prefer Martinica ! That’s why I try to go back there every two or three years (the travel is extremely expensive), and I meet my family and my friends again, I go to the beach, to the river, to the moun-tain... I also do a lot of sport (kayak, surfing, fishing, hiking...) !

Do you sometimes miss your family ?I miss my mother specially because she still lives in Martinica, she has been alone since the death of my father and I can’t see her very often... My brothers and sisters live in Paris but I miss them some-times, and my cousins too. The family is very important for us.

Do your family agree that you live with a man who is French but not born in Martinica ? There is no problem, he is always very welcome.

Her life in France today

Mangroves

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IIrIa from fInland By KIm

Her name is Iiria. She was born in Finland and comes from an artistic and literary family. Her mother was a journalist and a painter and her father was a writer and a poet. Very early in her childhood, she showed her desire to be creative and different from the other girls. She appeared on the Finnish ra-dio at the age of 6 and also played in Tv dramas. All these things made her like the artistical way of life. She discovered music with piano lessons at the age of 9 but her attraction became serious when she discovered the clarinet so she fi-nished her studies in Sibelius Lyseum in Helsinki. The college years were rich in many ways; Iiria studied the clarinet with Sven Lavela and made her first experi-ments in the symphonic orchestra with the conductor Petri Sakari. Music became her real vocation and she was admitted to Sibelius Academy in 1988, to study with Kari Kriikk. There, she had the opportunity to work with a lot of diffe-rent great masters of clarinet for instance Karl Leister or Mc Caw. Her fascination for “central european” clarinet virtuosity and Central Europe attracted her a lot and after playing with a lot a different Music Bands ( Rock especially ) she decided to go to France in 1989. She was admitted to study the clarinett with Christian Peignier in the Music scho-ol of Besançon. The cultural shock was huge between Finnish and French ways of music making but also of ways of living and thinking which was something quite new for her. She obtained the gold medal in 1993 and decided to do chamber music . In 2005 she obtained in Academy Sibelius ( Helsinki, Finland) Mastery in performing Arts, clarinet. But she also played musical theater for children with the « Compagnie du Colibri » ( Besançon - 2006 ) and in that period she gave birth to two boys: Jalmar and Aksel. Then she went to Brittany and became clarinet tea-cher in Lannion and Quimperlé. In 2006

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Jade : Why did you decide to go to France? Why not another country? Iiria : When i was young, i went to France and I lived in a family and I had a great souvenir of this country. When i grew up, and when i started to play the clarinett, i learnt that France was known for its great musicians. . When I made masterclasses with French Clarinettists , it made me really want to go to « central Europe » J : What did you expect when you were still in Finland?I : I don’t really know. I was fascinated by their music and the way of writing.J : What do you mean? I : Nowadays, we still speak about « Elegance et Finesse » of France and French , especially French women.I : And somewhere, we hear it when we listen to French music, I mean classical or romantic music. J : What do you find great?I : French music is very sensitive and without emotion, Art is not Art and when I play the Clarinett, it’s always important for me to create emotion, to make people feel what i want them to feel, i mean, what the music « tells » What is the biggest difference between French and Finnish music?

I : First, our musics weren’t born in the same way. As you may know, our music especially comes from religious music and i would say that when you hear Finnish music, you can feel this spirituality. I don’t know about French music but i think it is more present in Finnish musicWhat was new for you at your arrival ?I : Almost everything. ( Laugh ) When I was in Besançon, I was amazed by its archichecture. It’s quite different from our. You must know that in north country, the architecture is very simple, « épu-ré ». It was fabulous to see all these sculptures on the walls, all these small details.. It is something we don’t really see in Finland.J : And what more? I : Education. Finland and other Northern countries are known for their « great education. » I don’t know if it’s true but when I teach my student, we prefer to speak and find quiet solutions. I prefer to be close to my student and in that way, i can help him or her easier and I think it is something not common in France.J : In France, i think the teacher prefers the student to be inde-pendant but for sure, he also gives his help if the student needs it. Anyway it’s true that in France, it must be more « forcy »I : What was different was the length of the day. It was very strange and hard to adapt. And the weather too. It was quite different and i remeber all these eyes on me. I’m very blond! A caracteristic of North People. J : Is there a Finnish community in Quimper? I mean do you see other people like you?I : Not much. Especially when i move to concerts , but in bigger cities. There we can meet people from a lot of different nationalities and it’s always a pleasure to share our opinion, Ideas..

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lucIe from armenIa By maïlys

First a little bit of History. The armenian genocide led to many deaths and to many lives with no nationality anymore. From these people were born children of the World who chose their country and their new nationality. I followed the life of one of these offsprings.

Lucie Bodossian born Manoukian has known a life of travels and new countries. Her parents met in camps and went to Uruguay. Lucie was born there, in Montevideo in 1929 on the 13th of Novem-ber. A long way to go but it was just a beginning. She became French when she married her husband in the French Consulate in Argentina where they lived until 1965 and came to Paris in september with their two children. Her husband is now dead but she kept the past in her way of life.

I can’t talk about Lucie without saying something about her husband. Mr Bodossian was without a nationality at birth but became French by fighting in the French army at the end of World War 2. When they got married in Buenos Aires, he was speaking seven languages from all the countries he had lived in. France remained the country in his heart and he was the one pushing for the voyage. In France, he got Alzheimer’s disease and lost all his memories. In the end? He could only unders-tand Armenian language and only if it was Lucie talking. He died in 2002.

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In 1960, something was changing in Argentina, something big. Mr Bodossian had felt it. And he was worried. In France, it was another thing alltogether, economy was blooming and Mr Bodossian’s brother was there. In Buenos Aires, Lucie and her family were rich, they owned a big shop for clothes, her own family was in South America but the husband’s word is law.

They took a boat in early Spring and flew from Argentina. It was a big boat like the Titanic, exactly the same thing: a class for the rich europeans and an economic class. They were there for six months. And when they arrived in France, it was Autumn.

Paris, winter 1965

DistanceIf her husband was with family in France she had to leave all hers in South America. She didn’t have a phone anymore, she couldn’t keep in touch, it was really hard for her. She also couldn’t speak French well. During that winter, she felt lonely.

The ColdWinter 1965 was really cold and even more since she came from a warm country. She was not used to such weather.

PovertyIn France she had to start from scratch and times were difficult for her. They couldn’t have the same life as before.

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Adaptation and Education

The language was a real problem but Lucie tried to overcome it as fast as possible: she was listening to the radio, she was reading and she was by herself when she had to go shopping or to wait for the children at school.

She had to live like she had never lived with less commodities than in Buenos Aires but after ten years, when life was better for her. She could see that her husband was right: Argentina was in trouble. Revolu-tion was all over the country and people with wealth like them weren’t well-seen.

She put her children to school. Less than a year after, her daughter, called Perle-Rose was first in class but she was ostracized because her mother had an accent. It was like that for ten years. Perle said: it was like standing alone in the same crowd until high school.

Citizen of the world

If someone deserves this title, it’s Lucie. She’s not without a nationality (in fact she has two of them and can have a third and her children can have four nationalities) but she holds the World culture. If Argen-tina makes something good, she’s from there. If it’s France, she’s French. If someone says something good about Turkey, she’s Armenian. With her family it was the same: she talked to her children either in French or in Spanish, she talked with her husband in Spanish and Armenian and they had their arguments in Armenian.She didn’t keep in touch with anyone neither the Argentinian nor the Armenian community in France. She just made friends with whoever was there. Some are Armenian, others are French, and so on…

Réali

séLes ACTIVITES UNESCO 2011-12

APPRENTISSAGE INTERCULTUREL en Lycée Général - 1ères ES-L

TAGORE - NERUDA - CESAIRE

Les disciplines engagées :Littérature française- Arts plastiques- Espagnol - Anglais

Pour quoi faire ? Etudier à partir d’un corpus de textes de Tagore (Inde), Neruda (Chili) et Césaire (Antilles françaises ) les convergences entre trois auteurs engagés et humanistes issus de trois cultures différentes . Proposer ensuite des créations personnelles en Français, Espagnol et Anglais pour une mise en espace publique

Ce projet a été voté au siège de l’Unesco en septembre 2011

Comment un jeune aujourd’hui peut-il être humaniste

dans la société qui nous entoure ?

Alongside this work the class was also getting inspiration from 3 writers of the world Dans le même temps la classe s’inspirait aussi de 3 grands auteurs du monde [ Unesco Project ]

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LAUNCHING the PROJECT - YEAR 1 -

Students from Year 0 and 1 met at the beginning of the year for a joint project in Nantes . The activities mixed History, Arts , Litterature and Languages . The City of Nantes has started to tackle one of the dark sides of its past : slave trade . The visit to the Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne and the Abolition of Slavery Memorial was the first opportunity to think about racism and what it may lead to ..

L’année Comenius-Unesco commence au Château des Ducs de Bretagne , sur les traces de la mémoire de l’esclavage puisque la ville de Nantes s’est tristement illustrée comme le plus grand port négrier du com-merce triangulaire en France

Le Château retrace l’histoire de ce commerce particulier, autorisé dès 1512 et encouragé tout au long des XVIIème et XVIIIème siècle, à travers l’exposition de documents auto-graphes, d’objets de toutes sortes qui illustrent les pratiques des négriers mais aussi les richesses accumulées par ceux qui se livraient à ce trafic d’êtres humains, tant sur les

rives françaises qu’africaines ou américaines.Sur le chemin du retour, qui nous mène vers l’île de Nantes, nous passons par le Mémorialde l’esclavage qui borde le quai de l’impétueuse Loire. Sous nos pieds, le nom si charmant, parfois exotique , souvent féminin des innombrables

navires qui déportèrent des Africains vers l’Amérique et l’Océanie. Et des chiffres éloquents : 550000 africains dé-portés, rien que pour le port de Nantes. 13 millions d’afri-cains déportés en tout en un peu plus de trois siècles et en-viron 1.5 millions morts durant la traversée…Des chiffres à la hauteur des grandes « boucheries » du XXème siècle !

Nous aurions du être 10 lycées de toute l’Europe ; les réalités économiques en ont décidé autrement ... Nous serons 3 lycées à travailler ensemble contre la xénophobie dans ce projet que nous avons appelé : ’difFUSION’ . Nos collègues de Mölndal, près de Göteborg, et de Londres nous ont retrouvés à Quimper pour ré-écrire le projet ..C’était d’abord pour nos collègues suédoises et anglaise l’occasion de découvrir les atouts de notre petit Quimper, pas vraiment une métropole de l’immigration mais si riche de ses subtili-tés glaziques ....rives de l’Odet, sables fouesnantais , vieilles pierres de Locronan et self Harry Potter (ainsi rebaptisé par nos collègues hollandais ..) tous les ingrédients d’une bonne visite refondus façon Kouign Aman comme il se doit ...Nous avons choisi de commencer par une table ronde à laquelle ont assisté, parfois en tant qu’interprètes en simultané [ c’est une première !!] , les élèves ayant opté pour la spécialité Anglais en 1ère et Terminale L .

Mme Poullelaouen nous disait comment une association comme Droit d’Asile pouvait contribuer à adoucir des changements de vies parfois si brutaux. Audrey Guittontémoignait de ses recherches sur ce que vit le peuple Rom . Et comment ne pas craquer devant les témoignages de ceux qui ont vécu ces déracinements ! Samvel pour qui les blessures brûlent encore après avoir été obligé de fuir les violences en Russie ... et Mr Haddu, le père d’ Amina ( Terminale L) et de Nacéra (Première) qui , avec elles , nous revivait l’histoire du grand-père obligé d’abord de quitter l’Algérie pour le Maroc puis de se déraciner à nou-veau ..Un message qui résonne encore : ’ Ce ne sont pas les peuples qui font le problème ; les peuples se serrent la main et se parlent quand ils se rencontrent .. Mais les pou-voirs .... Savent-ils toujours la violence de ce qu’ils font ?’Accepter le nouveau venu, l’inconnu, c’est d’abord le com-prendre .. et comprendre c’est se parler . Alors nous allons essayer de nous parler dans ce projet , ici et ailleurs, avec les gens d’ici et les gens d’ailleurs ... Nous retrouverons sans doute Samvel et Mr Haddu et bien d’autres encore .. Nous aimons qu’ils nous parlent comme Samvel chante Brassens ou comme parlent les photos de Dominique le Guichaoua et Philippe Corre à voir au CDI : la diffé-rence ...

- proJect meetIng n° 1 - In QuImper

Samvel from Russia

The Haddu family from Morocco

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ImmIgratIon storIes

marIa lurdes from portugal By her daughter romane

Antonio Martins De Abreu.Maria Lurdes Torres Ribeiro.Maria Lurdes Ribeiro De Abreu.

In 1960 , Portugal was under the dictatureship of Salazar.A lot of Portuguese came to France to find a job and to have a better life. Salazar died in 1969.

Antonio Martins De Abreu came in France, alone, in 1963 to find a job.He came to Paris first because he had his brother over there. He stayed there for two years, after he came to Brest because he didn’t have work in Paris. He stayed for three years. For his work in Brest he had to move so he arrived in Plogonnec where he stayed from 1968 to1973. He died in Portugal in 1973.

Maria L. Torres Ribeiro was Antonio’s wife. Shecame to France in 1970 with her four children . Shestayed in Plogonnec for 20 years. Now she lives inQuimper with her new husband.

She is the daughter of Maria L. Torres and Antonio Martins De Abreu Ribeiro. She came in France with her mother and her brothers in 1970. She stayedin Plogonnec for sixteen years .She is married with a French man, and they have threechildren.She lives now in Quimper.

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~When did your father come to France ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: My father came in France in 1963.~Where did your husband live first when he came to France ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO: First he lived in Paris because he had his brother who lived there and then he lived in Brest because in Paris he didn’t have work and finally he lived in Plo-gonnec because he had to move for his work. He lived there for 3 years.~How many children have you got ? M.L.R.DE ABREU: 3 children. - M.L.T.RIBEIRO : 4 children~Do they have Portuguese nationality ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: No, because they were born in France and because their father his French.

M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes, because they were born in Portugal.~If you can get back to Portugal, will you ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: No, my children are French, my husband too so no I will not go back to Portugal.M.L.T.RIBEIRO : No, because if I came here, it’s not to go back other there.~Did your husband have qualifications to work ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes, he was a stonemason in Portugal and in France he works in the building industry.~Are you happy to live in France ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: Yes, because I have been here since I was a child and I have grown up in France… And my family is in France too.M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes, very much. France gave me an opportunity. In Portugal I haven’t got enough money to feed my kids.

~What are the obstacles that you met when you came to France ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: Me, I was young so, I didn’t understandM.L.T.RIBEIRO : The language, during the first six month, was the most difficult for me...~Were you happy to come to France?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes very much , it was a good thing for me and my family.~Did you have relatives in France ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes, my husband’s brother, who worked in Brest but it wasn’t a family.~Do you have relatives who stayed in Portugal?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes, everybody. But later I, and little by little several of my sisters came to France

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~What did you bring from Portugal ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : We brought two bags of clothes.~Have you been welcomed in France ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: Yes, very good, I was young but the only thing that I remember it was the people were very welcoming.M.L.T.RIBEIRO : Yes very ! People who came from the countryside were very, very welcoming, less people of city, they helped us to find a job and food. Because even if my husband worked, we were six in the family so there wasn’t enough money.~Who helped you ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : It was the nuns, the teachers of my children, the doctor, and the people.

~ Was it difficult to be accepted ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: No, the kids were friendly with me but they were young so they didn’t understand...M.L.T.RIBEIRO : No, people were nice and we were well received.~Was it difficult to leave Portugal ?M.L.R.DE ABREU: I was young so no.M.L.T.RIBEIRO : No, because I came to see my husband and my children so it was all my life.~How long did it take you to have your identity papers ?M.L.T.RIBEIRO : I had the papers in one month.

antonIo’s dIary My wife, I’m going to France, with the idea that one day I will be back to live better for us and our children. This is the idea I have of a father and I know the duty and responsibility a father feels for his child.

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It was the end of one more adventure and one more of the trials I endured in France.

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alIne’s mum & aunt from VIetnam By theIr daughter

The VieTnamese diaspora

1 300 000 Vietnamese in the USA

250 000 in France

. Vietnamese Districts (ex :district of Cam, CA,USA)

. Channels on TV

Why ? Indochina Wars (1964-1975)1975 : the South was invaded by the northern soldiersThey went to the USA and Europe to have a better lifeCorrupted government (commu-nist)

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-Born in : Nha Trang-Arrived : Los Angeles (USA) on april 1975 with her son and her American husband

In Vietnam:-She went to a French school in Vietnam but she didn’t study the Vietnamese culture in this school,

In the USA:-She thinks she was lucky to leave Vietnam on account of the war at the moment -She wouldn’t return to Vietnam because she likes her life in the United States enor-mously

Aline’s aunt

Aline’s Mom

Born in : Nha TrangArrived: In France in 1994 with her French husbandShe didn’t really have difficulties to adapt because she knew the languageIt wasn’t easy everyday because she was a little bit shy

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They came to find a job and make money to save their family who were in a difficult situation. Generally, it’s one man from one family who came alone and worked to send money to his family in his home country.

During the first world war, 300 000 magreb soldiers were sent on the front line and 130 000 workers replaced French workers because the French were sent to the war (30 000 maghreb soldiers died, Paris’ mosquee created an edifice for all the men who died).

Until 1920, a huge number of immigrants came to France but with the 1930’s crisis, the foreigners went back to their country.

In 1950 – 1960, French industries hired again because they needed labour force but in the middle of the 1970’s , the French government stopped immigration.

IN QUIMPER

Arrived Between the sixties and the seventies , the Moroccan families , settled in little flats , where sometimes 10 persons could live together . For the majority of them , France was the onlyopportunity to have better conditions of living , actually , there were no jobs in Morocco , and France at that time was the solution to have a job , money and better conditions

A new neighbourhood was built in Quimper at that moment : Kermoysan , where they offered social housing in flats , and that was a solution for the Moroccan families who didn’t have much money .

TODAY : The Moroccan community has developped , and has now integrated the society . They still live in the neighbourhood of Kermoysan , but also in all the city of Quimper . A New mosque was built , and an association called : Association culturelle des musul-mans de Quimper was created .This association helps the new families who arrived , for example , for the children to attend school , to learn French . But also for the elders , Actually , the Junior school : Max Jacob in Kermoysan offers to teach French to foreign women .

nacera’s famIly from algerIa & morocco By nacera & charlotte the Imam of QuImper

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1. What is your name ? Hassan2. Where were you born , Where do you come from ? I was born in Casablanca I come from there and I arrived in France 15 years ago.3. When did you arrive in Quimper ? I went first to Paris where I spent one year and after I came to Quimper in 19984.What was your first impression when you arrived ? I loved France immediately, I found people very nice, I found the town a lot cleaner than Casablanca.5. What were your first months like here ? It was very difficult because I didn’t have work. At the beginning I lived in the mosque but after, I looked for a flat6.How was the most difficult at the beginning ? I didn’t speak French, which does not facilitate integration.7.Did you speak no French at all ? Just a little bit8. Why did you leave your country ? When I was in Casablanca, I was a taxi driver and I couldn’t bear this situation9. Is your culture very different from the French culture ? Yes because the Muslim religion is more important in our culture than the Cchristian religion is in yours. Your religion is less de-manding. We have really important traditions in our life, it’s a way of life.10.Do you feel integrate now ? Yes but not with all people, mainly with muslims, but I have friends of all origins in Quimper (Portuguese, Chinese, Morrocan).11.Do you sometimes go back to your native country ? Yes, every summer I go back there.12. Do you miss your country ? A little bit but when I’m sad I think “you only have to wait until the summer holiday don’t worry”. But I feel I miss my family who stayed over there.13.Do you feel more French or Moroccan ? Marrocan because it is my origins, and I’m an Imam so I’m really attached to the religion, the culture , values and I can’t forget my origins.14 . What is the best thing there is in Morocco that there isn’t here ? There is a warn atmosphere. For example when I saw homeless people in streets in Quimper I was shocked because in Ma-rocco people who live outside are helped by other people

the Imam of QuImper

Mister Haddu was an actor of the opening conference with delegations. He told us about his immigration experience. He told us about what he left in Marroco, he’s very attached to his home country. We had the impression, he let a treasure trove… Today, he still has relatives in Maroco but not a lot. Almost all his family were immigrants. He goes back, with his wife and his children, to Marroco every other year

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ItalIans In QuImper By sofIa & syBIlle

There has always been large migra-tion, since ancient times, between Italy and France.(Especially between regions of northwestern Italy and southern France.) As Italian wealth and influence grew during the Middle Ages, many italian traders, bankers and artisans settled.This Italian trade network conti-nued through the Renaissance. Immigrants from southern Italy settled in industrialised areas of France. ( Lorraine, Paris and Lyon)

The ITALIAN DIASPORA :

Large-scale migration of Italians from Italy in the period beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian econo-mic miracle in the 1960s concerned more than 25 million Italians the biggest mass migration of contemporary times

The main reason for the diaspora: *poverty (difficulties in working on the land in the south),* overpopulation of southern italy* demographic boom and forced the new generations to emigrate(19th- 20th century)

Before the unification of Italy, emi-gration was not particularly control-led by the state (emigration agents). Abuses led to the first migration law (1888) to bring most of the emigra-tions agencies under state cont

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Between 1900 and World War I 9,000,000 Italians left Italy.In the second phase of emigration (1900 to World War I) most emi-grants were from rural areas, dri-ven off the land by inefficient land management and sickness (pellagra and cholera).A law to limit emigration from Italy was introduced by the Fascist government

When the Fascists came to power in 1922 there was a general slowdown in the flow of emigrants from Italy.During the first 5 years of Fas-cism,1,5 million people left Italy. By that time, the nature of the emi-grants had changed==> relatives of non-working age who were moving to join their fa-milies who had gone before.

*Where did you live in Italy ? -I lived in Turin*When did you come to France ? - I arrived in the 1930’s*Why did you come to France? To Quimper ?I was trying to escape from the governement which was under Mussoli-ni’s control. I didn’t arrive straight away in Quimper I was first of all in the Cap Sizun where I met my beautiful French wife.*Did you come with your family or alone ?I came alone to France by train.*How old were you ? I was about 20 years old*Was it a legal immigration ? If not, how did you cope with it ? At the start it was a ilegal immigration but it got legalised*Do you regret coming to France ?No, I don’t regret coming to France at all because I met my wife here, I managed to get a job (I am now retired) and good living conditions.*Do you still have contacts with people in Italy ?Yes I do, I often have my grand children and the rest of my family that is still alife and live in my hometownon the phone.*Are you considered as a French citizen ? If yes, are you happy with it ? If no, would you like to be one ?I became a French citizen when I got married to my wife so yes, I am now French. Do you sometimes go back to Italy? I went back to Italy a few times to see my family, but I don’t like going back there as it brings me back to many bad memories and when I’m over there I feel like I won’t manage to get back to France.*Can you still speak Italian? If yes can you say something that resume your experience ? Sono contento di poter finire la mia vita in Francia, perché sto bene quì.(I’m happy to finish my live here because i feel home in France.)

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aîcha from russIa By BrIeuc

Aîcha Colas is the mother of a friend. She was living in Moscow and she migrated to FranceBecause she has been living for 13 years in France she has mixed feelings . Today she’s in the Russian community and she helps the new migrants to integrate by translating and by giving them information

There is a Russian community near Quimper and another one in Brest but it’s more Ukrai-nian They help the new migrants to integrate the French society most of them are from Tchetchnia and Caucasia. They do trans-lations for them, French lessons. And help them to get asylum.

We learnt very many things from this work but what we want to say, it’s that we must help the people who have difficulties and want to work in France, because they want to learn our language and do so-mething, but it’s more and more complicated for them

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Are the Americans implanted economicaly in Brittany ?The example of an American company Fleet Guard (Cummins’s Filtrations) .Fleet guard: created in 1958 as a single filter production line developed by Cummins Engine Company to meet the high performance requirements of Cummins diesel engines. The company grew bigger and bigger until they decided to implant a factory abroad. Their first international factory was esta-blished in 1981 in Quimper.They chose to place it in Brittany because it is renowned for its manpower qua-lity and price as it is much cheaper.They now own a 9000 m² factory and a 6500 m² distribution center in Quimper. It employs 300 workers. That factory produces for Europe, Africa and Middle-East. Recently in the newspaper, there was an article about the economical problems that Fleetguard is encountering .According to a source on the internet, there are over 70 American companies implanted in Brittany.

James & mIcKael from the usa By yanIs

I first met James in my former basketball club in Brest. He see-med to be a really nice guy and he became a good friend in a few weeks. He is a person of mixed blood. Father: from New York, Mother: from Brest. “My parents met in Brest when my father was there with the army on leave. The two of them fell in love and decided to be together. My mum wanted to go to the U.S with my dad but she didn’t get her Green card (the card which allows a non-American to live in the United States.) So they stayed in Brest.”

James was born in New York, and came to France when he was only four years old. Now he still speaks English with his parents and his little brother.

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James now is in 1ère ES at L’Harteloire , a highs-chool in Brest. He still plays basketball at L’Eten-dard. His mum works in a tele-communication company and his dad works as an employee for Brest’s arsenal . « My mum likes it here, she has got quite a few friends because she is originaly from here. But my dad doesn’t like Brittany, he doesn’t know many Americans over here. »James’ mum works at the Vielles Charrues, so she gets free tickets for him. He gets to meet all the stars like Snoop Dog, Mathieu Chédid and many others.His dad told me that the whole family is planning to go back to New York together one day.

Why did you come to France? « I came here with the Rotary project association, which al-lows me to travel to another country to learn its language, I wanted to go to Austria but there was no more place for me, so I came to Rennes where they chose to send me to Quimper. »Do you like what you are doing in French schools ? « Yes, but I still find it very hard to speak the language with the people here. »Do you know other Americans your age in Brittany ? « I know only American people that are in relation to Rotary, otherwise I don’t know any Americans. »Do you meet them occasionaly ? « At weekends, I meet them at Rennes, and we share our experiences, what we did during the week. » Do you like France ? « I like it yes, but I still prefer my home country. »

Michael Quinns McCulley, in 1ère ES3, an American student at Le Likes.

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- WrItIng WIth a professIonal WrIter : nImrod

Dans cet atelier, il s’agissait d’exploiter, avec l’aide d’un écrivain professionnel, les inter-views réalisées avant les vacances de Noël . Un moment de mémoire à l’instant du départ, un moment de mémoire dans l’instant d’arri-vée dans le pays d’accueil et un autre plus tard ,dans le processus d’intégration ... 3 moments, 3 ambiances et des montagnes desentiments .. et 3 langues pour les écrire puisque les productions ont été évaluées dans lecadre des cours de Français, Anglais et Espa-gnol ..Ecrire , à partir des interviews, à la manière de Nimrod.. se mettre dans la peau du per-sonnage , dans la peau et dans la peur de Rosa Parks lorsqu’elle refuse de laisser sa place réservée aux blancs dans son bus de Montgomery . Faire couler dans le ’je’ de la plume les sentiments mêlés , les craintes et les espoirs, les bruits et les couleurs, les las-situdes et les défis ...Il fallait le métier , le sou-rire bienveillant et l’oreille attentive de Nimrod pour guider les premières lignes, pour ’élaguer et faire vivre l’arbre’ qui nait de l’écriture ...Un grand moment au CDI ... Merci à lui et à l’Odyssée des Mots , le festival de littérature quimpérois qui invitait les auteurs . ..

***********In this writing workshop our students were invited to write from the interviews they had made . project themselves in the skin of the characters at 3 outstanding moments of their migration : departing, arriving, integrating .. in 3 different languages .. 1st person narrative in Nimrod’s way under Nimrod’s eyes .....Nimrod is a professional writer from Kenya , now living in France . He was invited by l’Odyssée des Mots .

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Je me présente, je m’appelle Kushi Tan, je viens de la pro-vince de Bayanhlangor, dans le sud de la Mongolie. J’ai toujours voulu habiter en France; je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais c’est un pays dont la culture m’attirait particulière-ment. Je vis en France depuis maintenant cinq ans, mais je me rappelle du jour de mon départ comme si c’était hier.

Je me souviens de tout. Ce jour là, il faisait un temps particulièrement radieux, le genre de journée ou l’on ne peux pas se permettre de rester enfermé. J’allais partir avec mes deux soeurs Tali et Narantsetseg, ainsi que notre frère, Al. Le départ a été déclenché par mon licenciement dans la boutique du village, cette petite échoppe qui vendait essentiellement des produits issus de la cuisine japonaise. Suite à cet épisode, nous avons décidé ma famille et moi que certains d’entre nous devaient partir. Nous espérons trouver en France une meilleure qualité de vie, un emploi et un logement sûrs, car nous savons que la pauvreté de notre pays nous en empêchera toujours. Je suis à la fois triste et angoissée, je ne peux m’empêcher d’avoir peur, malgré le fait que j’affectionne beaucoup mon pays d’ac-cueil. Tout va être différent... Je me demande à quoi va ressembler ma vie à présent... Je ne connais que la personne chez qui nous allons être hébergé, ma tante, qui est partie de notre pays il y a environ dix ans. Ce dépaysement me fait peur, j’ai l’impression que tout s’effondre autour de moi... Tout allais me manquer... Mes parents qui, eux, préfèrent rester en Mongolie afin de veiller sur mes grands-parents, et ma petite soeur Odval. En pensant que je ne les reverrais peut être plus, ainsi que le paysage atypique de notre pays, je me sens nostalgique. Mon visage était baigné de larmes, ainsi que ceux de mes frères et soeurs. Ma vie allait me manquer, le soleil allait me manquer . Je pense à ça tout en fixant pour une dernière fois ma famille et mon magnifique pays, qui allait d’ici peu être rem-placé par un paysage citadin. C’est la dernière chose que je vis : un azur cinglant, et un soleil comme un mirador. MOMENT 2- I remember this day like as it was yesterday. I have ants in my pants, I feel so bad.. Here, everything is different...I’ll miss my friends.I’ll miss my parents.I’ll miss my country.I already miss them. I’m at the airport of Paris with my sisters and my brother.I’m looking for a familiar face, but everything looks fuzzy, I realize there are none. It’s as if my world was crumbling around me . My little sister Tali shakes my hand very hard. I ‘m beginning to feel bad when all of a sudden, I spot our auntie, and we will live at her place At first, It is very difficult, I barely speak French and I’m homesick , tough I particularly appreciate this country and I love this city , I ‘m homesick. But little by little I’m getting used to my new life, far away from my country. By the way, I’ve been here for 2 months today, It’s crazy how time flies!Like I said before, we live at first at our auntie’s home with my sisters Narantsetseg and Tali and our brother Al. she has got a little flat in Paris , I enjoy this city so much ! But I know we couldn’t stay for a long time because her flat is very small and she already has to shelter her family too. Today , my sister Narantsetseg told me she found a new job! For my part, I have many difficulties to find an employment, because I have no qualification, I can only cook asian food. I ‘d better find a job as soon as possible, I owe it to my aunt , I can’t stay at her home. If I had a job, I would go now and have my own flat. I feel so lonely now, I miss my family more than ever! I wish I were down there with my parents. I haven’t heard from them. I wish I could go back to my land some day ... Indeed, I don’t have many qualifications to find a suitable work, but I said to myself : you can do it ! It turns out I was right, and like «no pain, no gain», I have been looking for any jobs which I could find. I finally met by chance a man who runs a Japanese restaurant , we are tal-king about my country and my experience in cooking and suddenly he says he hires me for his Japanese restaurant in Brittany! I jump with joy like a kid . I’m walking on air , I have a job now, I’m delighted!!MOMENT 3- Como lo he dicho, ahora tengo una buena vida: tengo un trabajo, aunque no esté en Paris, está en Bretaña, por lo tanto tengo que ir allí y dejar de nuevo a mi familia, ¡los echo de mucho menos! Pero es la oportu-nidad de hacer un nuevo comienzo, ahora tengo una nueva vida en un nuevo país y ciudad. Estoy aquí desde hace cinco años y me siento muy bien en este país, la gente es simpática y la lengua no es demasiado difícil. Al contra-rio, el clima es muy diferente de mi país: aquí, llueve a menudo, es muy húmedo, pero los paisajes son también bonitos aunque eche de menos a mi país y mi familia también. Regreso a mi país de vez en cuando pero estoy bien integrada. Me gustan mucho los restaurantes, soy buena cocinera y me encanta mucho cocinar los platos típicos de Asia, así comparto la cultura de mi país con Francia. Parece que estoy siempre en Mongolia. Todo está bien aquí, esta experiencia es interesante, permite viajar en otro país, ver una cultura diferente. Además, me gusta mucho viajar y me hace feliz encontrar gente diferente de mí y he aprendido otra lengua y una nueva manera de vivir. Me gusta mucho este país y mi vida es apacible en esta bonita ciudad.

KusBI tan from mongolIa By maud

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Je m’appelle Selma, je vis au Kurdistan qui est un région qui se situe dans plusieurs pays, moi j’habite dans celle qui se situe en Turquie avec ma grand-mère et ma petite sœur Sevim. Mes parents, nous ont quittés pour aller vivre en France. Je n’avais que trois ans, j’ai donc peu de sou-venir avec eux. Nous nous parlons par téléphone, et nous

nous écrivons mais rien ne peut combler leur absence.J’ai aujourd’hui neuf ans et cela fait six ans que je ne les ai pas vus. Ils sont partis en France car dans notre pays, il n’y a pas de travail soi-disant. Je vis donc dans une petite maison avec ma grand-mère qui se fait vieille désormais. Notre grand-mère s’occupe bien de nous mais évidement j’aurais préféré ne jamais avoir quitté nos parents.Il paraît que j’ai une petite sœur là-bas en France, elle s’appelle Servim. Elle doit avoir maintenant trois ans, nous avons des photos d’elle que nos parents nous ont envoyés. Elle a de la chance, quelque part je l’envie car ici c’est dur.Je suis Kurde mais je n’ai pas le droit de parler ma langue car c’est un acte interdit en Turquie, alors on parle turc lorsqu’on est à l’extérieur et kurde entre nous. En France, la vie doit être beaucoup plus facile.Ils habitent dans une ville qui s’appelle Rennes en Bretagne, il paraît que c’est une jolie ville. J’aimerais beaucoup les rejoindre, là-bas en France, nous formerions une vraie famille alors que là nous sommes divisé en deux. La nuit, je rêve que je suis en France avec mes deux sœurs et mes parents. Maman me dit sans cesse que c’est pour bientôt, mais personne n’est capable de me le dire.Mais, nous sommes avec mémé, ce n’est pas facile tous les jours, à cause de son âge mais papa et maman nous envoient de l’agent chaque mois pour qu’on puisse se nourrir convenable-ment. En ce moment même, elle est allongée sur son lit, elle a du mal à bouger et elle a l’air très fatiguée. J’appelle alors mes parents pour leurs prévenir de l’état de grand-mère car son état s’est nettement dégradé depuis hier. J’ai peur qu’elle nous quitte. Ma mère me dit de ne pas aller à l’école demain et de rester avec Grand-mère pour que je m’occupe d’elle et d’aller chez la voisine pour qu’elle vienne m’aider. Ma mère rappelle et elle me dit que ma tante va venir bientôt.Je fais ce que ma mère me dit, la voisine Midya est venue m’aider. On essaye de prendre soin d’elle mais son cas s’empire. Deux jours passent puis son cœur bat de plus plus lentement. Son regard a l’air vide, je vois qu’elle ne bouge plus et que son pouls ne bat plus. Je m’effondre en larmes et là je me demande qu’est-ce que ma sœur et moi on va devenir. On va sûrement aller vivre avec papa et maman en France je ne vois pas avec qui d’autre on pourrait vivre. Ma petite sœur souffre mais moi j’essaye de me contenir parce que je suis la plus grande et que je me dois de m’occuper d’elle. Ma tante va bientôt arriver, normalement demain soir. La voisine s’est occupée de tout, mémé va être enterré dans deux jours dans le cimetière du coin. La voisine nous a invité chez elle car elle ne voulait pas qu’on reste toutes seules à la maison.Ma sœur et moi sommes maintenant dans la chambre d’ami, je suis supposé dormir mais je n’arrive pas à trouver le sommeil. Sevim dort comme un ange. Des voix se font entendre soudain je décide alors de descendre pour savoir de quoi il s’agit. J’ai la surprise de voir à ce moment là ma tante qui parle à Midya la voisine. Je cours vers elle et elle me prend dans ses bras. Puis, Midya va se coucher pour me laisser seule avec ma tante. Elle me dit la situation, que je ne vais pas rester vivre en Turquie et que je vais avec ma sœur partir en France rejoindre papa et maman. J’ai du mal à croire ce qu’elle me dit même si je m’en doutais. Et, j’ai en partie du mal à accepter de quitter la Turquie car c’est le seul pays que j’ai connu jusqu’à présent. Même si je suis heureuse de pourvoir revoir mes parents, je me dis que mes amies ici vont me manquer. J’appréhende tout cela car en plus je ne connais pas un mot de français.Le lendemain matin, nous assistons à l’enterrement mais mes pensées étaient ailleurs. Nous devions retourner à la maison le plus vite possible pour préparer notre départ. Ma tante est allée acheter de la teinture pour cheveux pour moi et ma sœur. Elle voulait que nous nous teintions les cheveux pour ressembler à ses filles car elle avait prit les cartes d’identités de ses deux filles et elle avait l’intention de nous emmener avec elle en France. Et pour que nous ne nous ne fassions pas arrêter il fallait que nous nous faisions passer pour ses filles. Je fis mes valises puis ensuite je fis un adieu à tous les gens que je connaissais en leur promettant de garder contact avec eux. C’était dur mais nécessaire pour pouvoir accéder à ma nouvelle vie.Je monte dans la voiture, puis celle-ci démarra et le paysage de la Turquie disparue au fil des heures et des jours. Nous trois, nous craignions pendant tout le long du voyage de nous faire prendre par la police mais ce ne fut pas le cas. Nous nous approchions de Rennes, il ne restait plus que quelques heures avant notre rencontre avec nos parents.

selma from KurdIstan By alIne

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MOMENT N°2 :I am in the car with my little sister Sevim and my aunt. We arrived in Rennes. The travel was so long. My little sister is sleeping. I’m looking at the landscape. It’s so different compared with Kurdistan in Turkey. It looks so modern. It’s not very beautiful but I think I’ll be happy there. I’m so excited to see my parents but at the same time I feel nervous. I haven’t seen them for six years. We talked by phone, I’ve only heard their voices and seen their pictures in the past six years but now I’ll be able to touch them.The car stops and I realize that my life will not be the same now. I wake my little sister up and we go out of the car. Outside, it’s so cold. We are standing in front of a building and my aunt presses a button. We heard a voice. It’s the voice of my mother. She said that they would go down to welcome us. My dad and my mom come down. I don’t know how I’ll react. The door opens, the face of my mother seems so sad because of her tears and happy at the same time because she is smiling. She comes to hug me. And my dad does the same as my mother. My mother relaxes me and goes to hug my little sister.

Behind my father, I see a little girl with her thumb in her mouth. She’s holding a teddy bear. I don’t know her but I know who she is. I love her already because she’s my little sister Servim. She’s three years old. It’s the first time I have seen her. She’s like on the picture my parents sent me but of course she’s much taller now. Servim looks like my mother, they’ve got the same little nose, the same mole near her mouth. She doesn’t seem to know who I am. She is looking at me, I go to her and I take her in my arms, it was like the reflex of a big sister.

After a few minutes, we climb up the stairs, we arrive to our new home. It’s a flat, it’s where all the family will live. It’s where I live now. I can’t realize that because it’s a big change in my life. I dreamt of this mo-ment many times and now it’s finaly happened. We are all together like the other families.

MOMENT 3- Hoy, tengo dieciocho años y estoy en Segundo de Bachillerato de Ciencias Sociales. Mi hermana está en primero STMG. Hemos crecido mucho desde que llegamos a Francia. Nuestras vidas han cambiado. Al comienzo, no fue fácil para mi hermana y yo, pero nos adaptamos poco a poco. Mi hermana no tenía ningún problema para aprender francés, pero para mí era más difícil tal vez porque yo era más vieja. En nuestra escuela, todos los estudiantes eran de origen extranjero como nosotros. Tuvimos más cursos que los estudiantes franceses, pero era mejor para mejorar mi francés. Los profesores nos ayudaron enorme-mente. Pero en nuestra casa se habla turco, así que no tenemos mucha oportunidad de hablar francés. Estoy acostumbrada a la vida francesa, la ciudad de Rennes es bella y muy divertida en comparación con Turquía. No fue difícil para mí apreciar este país, porque la vida para los jóvenes está muy agradable. Mi vida habría sido completamente diferente y ciertamente más infeliz si me hubiera quedado allí. Mi abuela me hubiera obligado a casarme con un hombre Kurdistán turco a los dieciséis años, y hoy sería madre de dos niños. En Francia, la mujer está libre y puede hacer lo que quiera. Puede tener carrera, decidir casarse con hombres de su elección. En Turquía no habría tenido todos estos privilegios. No me arrepiento ni un segundo de ha-berme ido y me siento como una verdadera francesa y hoy no tengo ningún problema con el idioma. De vez en cuando, recuerdo la vida pasada en Turquía con mi abuela y mi hermana. Y yo digo que la vida no era mala, pero difícil: viví siete años sin ver a mis padres y no estaba aquí cuando mi hermana nació. Me perdí un montón de cosas cuando yo estaba en Turquía. Pero conseguí ponerme al día con mi hermana. Somos cinco en la familia y nunca hemos estado tan feliz todos juntos.

32

C’est l’une de ces belles journées d’été. Je suis réunie avec toute ma famille. Il fait beau, il y a plein de fleurs dans le grand jardin de grand-mère Iraina. Autour de nous, il y a toujours ces jolies petites maisons, qui ressemblent à de petites cabanes en bois, très chaleureuses. C’est dans ces petites maisons qu’on habite tous. Elles vont me manquer

ces petites cabanes en bois, ces jolies fleurs. Apparemment en France, c’est très différent, c’est plus « gris ». C’est tonton Andry qui me l’a dit. J’adore les journées « réunion de famille », on est tous rassemblés. Les adultes discu-tent bruyamment, les enfants s’amusent, c’est convivial ! J’ai six ans, et je vis à Toamasina, c’est l’une des grandes villes de l’Est de Madagascar. Avec maman on va bientôt partir d’ici, pour aller s’installer en France. Maman m’a dit que les Français disaient pas Toamasina, mais Tamatave. Moi, je trouve que c’est beaucoup moins joli ! On part là bas, parce que maman veut que je fasse des études, et ici ce n’est pas facile, apparemment. Donc, on quitte Toamasina, et notre famille. Elle dit que ce sera mieux pour elle et moi, qu’on aura une vie meilleure. Moi, je pense que ça va être bizarre de se retrouver que toutes les deux, alors qu’on a l’habitude d’être tous ensemble. C’est sûrement l’une des dernières fois que je passe du temps avec ma famille. L’ambiance est joyeuse, mais derrière les rires, on ressent un peu comme de la tristesse. Le sujet de discussion c’est notre départ. J’ai le cœur gros, et je me demande si je vais revenir, si je vais les revoir. Maman m’a dit, avant de venir chez grand mère, qu’aujourd’hui, la réunion de famille, était en notre honneur. Et donc, je devais en profiter, pour leur dire « au re-voir ». Moi, je n’aime pas les au revoirs, ça me rend triste. Ma grande cousine Maria m’a raconté, quand son grand demi-frère Rondro est parti avec sa mère pour la France. On avait fait aussi une réunion de famille pour dire au revoir. Moi, je ne m’en rappelle pas. J’étais trop petite encore, je n’avais que deux ans. D’après Maria, Rondro s’est mis à pleurer devant tout le monde, tellement il était triste de partir. J’espère que ça ne m’arrivera pas, je n’aime pas pleurer devant tout le monde. Aujourd’hui, en tout cas, si on est tous réunis, c’est pour le départ de maman et moi... En tout cas, ils sont tous là, tous beaux. Mais ils n’arrêtent pas de nous fixer maman et moi, comme si nous allions jamais revenir. Sur-tout grand-mère, elle fait que me regarder et me sourire. Elle est au centre de la table, et porte un tee-shirt de toutes les couleurs. On la remarque beaucoup, elle parle assez fort. Elle s’approche de moi, me serre fort dans ses bras, presque jusqu’à m’écrasée. Elle me dit que je vais avoir la chance d’apprendre plein de choses, que je vais faire des études, et que je ferais un grand métier. Et puis elle murmure à mon oreille : « Mais surtout, ne nous oublie pas, n’oublie pas Toamasina ! ». Je lui dit oui de la tête, et l’embrasse. Je rejoins mes cousins, et mes frères et sœurs apparemment, on dit « demi-frères » et « demi-sœurs », moi je trouve ça trop bizarre, je préfère les appelés mes frères et sœurs ! Ils ont l’air de bien s’amuser, ils courent partout surtout Mahaleo, mon petit cousin. Il vient vers moi. Il commence à me parler des avions. Il dit que c’est trop cool, que je vais survoler la planète pendant des heures, qu’on doit avoir l’impression de voler. Et puis il se met à faire semblant de voler en courant partout, les bras en l’air. Mon autre cousin Fabio, avec son tee-shirt vert fluo, se met à l’imiter, et ils s’écartent de moi, pour aller jouer un peu plus loin. Malaika s’approche de moi, et me demande si je n’ai pas peur de prendre l’avion, elle dit qu’elle, elle aurait peur à ma place. Malaika, c’est ma cousine, elle a mon âge, mais c’est surtout ma meilleure copine ! Elle est très jolie. Aujourd’hui, sa maman lui a fait de jolies tresses, avec des perles dans ses cheveux. J’aime bien quand elle fait cette coiffure, ça lui va bien. Et c’est marrant quand elle secoue la tête dans tous les sens. Elle me dit que quand elle sera plus grande, elle viendra me rejoindre en France. Elle va énormément me manquer. On dirait que chacun leur tour, ils viennent tous me parler. Chivannie arrive près de moi. C’est ma grande cousine aussi, elle a 13 ans. Elle me dit que les Français, eux ils n’ont pas que les yeux marrons comme nous. Certains ont les yeux bleus, verts, et gris aussi. Elle me dit qu’elle, elle aurait beaucoup aimé avoir les yeux verts. Moi je trouve que ses yeux marrons lui vont bien, le vert je pense que ça ne ferait pas très joli dans ses yeux. Tonton Andry arrive vers nous. Il me dit qu’il faut que je profite de la chaleur d’ici, parce qu’en France, ça caille ! Lui, il est déjà allé là bas. Il dit la première chose qu’il a remar-qué, c’était que tout le monde était blanc. Du coup, nous on nous remarque beaucoup plus. Mais il dit qu’on s’habi-tue vite, et que les autres s’habituent à notre couleur de peau aussi. Il s’éloigne pour aller chercher le ballon de foot, et nous propose de jouer avec lui. Tonton Andry, il adore jouer au foot. Mais j’ai même pas le temps de shooter trois fois dans le ballon, que Papa vient vers moi.

gaelle

from madagascar By célIa

33

Il me sourit et dit : « Tu sais Gaëlle, tu as de la chance de pouvoir partir en France. Je suis triste de te voir partir. Mais tu sais que je ne peux pas t’accompagner. Il faut que je m’occupe de tes frères et sœurs aussi. Tu vas me manquer ma petite fille. Je t’aime, tu sais. ». Je lui dis que moi aussi je l’aime, et que je comprends. Il me prend dans ses bras. Papa va beaucoup me manquer, comme Malaika, et tous les autres d’ailleurs. Papa il est très grand, il est fort mais ce qui va me manquer le plus chez lui, ce sont ses histoires drôles ! Tata Bema commence à chanter, elle chante souvent, elle a une grosse voix. Elle porte une robe blanche avec des fleurs, et elle commence à danser. De suite, ma grande sœur (ou demi-sœur) Maeva vient me chercher pour aller rejoindre Bema. Et les autres se mettent à danser, comme nous. On entend d’autres voix se mêler à celle de Tata Bema. On voit les jupes des filles tournés. Je regarde ainsi toute ma famille qui danse, et qui rit. À ce moment là, exactement, je ressens de la joie, du bonheur, et beaucoup d’amour. Je pense que cette journée, je m’en souviendrais pendant longtemps. J’y repenserais, quand je serais en France. C’est celui là, le souvenir que je veux garder de Toamasina, et non Tamatave, je ne dirais jamais ce mot là, c’est trop moche

MOMENT 2- Today, I have just arrived in Paris, the capital of France. My new life starts. For the first time of my life, I have travelled so far away, in Europe. Now, I’m in France. Mahaleo thinks I’d got a feeling to fly, when I was on the plane. But, it’s not really true. Maybe, when I looked out of the window, and I saw this city very small below me. At nightfall, we see the lights of the city, it was so beautiful ! I’m still at the airport. We are a little lost with my mum, it’s so big. There is a lot of people, and we are almost the only black people in the airport. Mum and I go to the baggage reclaim with a luggage trolley. Mum says : “Apparently, French food is good, will you eat ?” I answer yes. We sit down. She asks the wai-tress : “Do you have a children’s menu ?” She orders fish for her, some fizzy water, and for me, a hamburger with chips. We eat, rather fast. And we leave. There is so many people, mum holds my hand, so as not to lose me. Finally, we go out of the airport with our baggage. And, my family was right, it’s very different from Toamasina. We are in October, and compared with Toamasina, it’s cold here ! Fortunately mum had thought of sweaters. The weather it’s not beautiful, it’s raining ! There is a lot of cars, and it’s very noisy ! But what confuses me everybody is white. In my country, there are few whites, there has never been so many ! The white persons aren’t polite, they don’t say hello. I feel like a curiosity, new and unknown. Mum inquires for the train, she asks a stranger : “ Please, Which bus must we take to go to the sta-tion ?”. The man answers, without a smile, and he leaves. Then we take the bus, to go to the station. We must go to Lorient. It’s over there, that we are going to live. I believe that it’s in Morbihan, in Brittany. It’s over there, I will go to school.

MOMENT 3- Estamos en diciembre. Estoy en Lorient, en Francia. Nuestra nueva vida ha comenzado. Ya hace algunos meses que salimos de Toamasina. Era la primera vez en mi vida que viajaba a Europa.Hoy, por primera vez, iba a la escuela francesa. Mi mama intentó darme confianza: “Sabes Gaëlle, todo va a pasar bien”. Pero no digo nada, no tengo miedo. Contrariamente a otros, me gusta levantarme por la mañana para ir a aprender nuevas cosas. Me gusta la escuela. Tengo seis años, y con mi mama, dejamos Toamasina y a toda nuestra familia, para vivir en Francia. Hoy, siento novedad, echo de menos a mi país y mi familia sobre todo... Estoy un poco triste. Tenía muchos amigos en mi antigua escuela. Tendré que hacerme otros...Lorient es muy diferente de Toamasina. Aquí, es la ciudad. Hay los ruidos, los edificios y muchos coches. ¡La gente no hace más que moverse! ¡Hace más frío que en Madagascar! Las camisetas todo el año, se ter-minó.Sin embargo, ¡es muy hermoso aquí! Con mi mama, vamos a pasear en la playa. ¡El viento sopla mucho y hace frío!Pensaba que esto sería más difícil empezar otra vida aquí, solamente mama y yo. Pero no tanto.

34

La Paz, Baja California, ma ville natale, celle où j’ai passé toute mon enfance. Cette ville très typique du Mexique est située dans son « petit bras », à l’Ouest. Elle est remplie de couleurs vives et rythmée par une musique folklorique. Les bâtiments sont quasiment tous recouverts de dessins faits par les habitants. On pourrait considérer certaines

rues comme étant des œuvres d’arts. Dans ces rues, qui sont bondées de monde, les mariachis font régner une am-biance festive. Je m’appelle Jesus Gonzalez, et je suis viens de cette partie du monde. J’ai passé à La Paz une enfance tranquille, rythmée par la vie en famille, les études et, ma passion : la musique. Dès l’âge de 7 ans je me suis mis à faire de la guitare. Une dizaine d’années plus tard, nous formions un groupe de musique avec des amis, dans lequel j’étais le guitariste principal. Nous étions les Mariachis Juvenil Culiacán. Notre côte de popularité augmentait de plus en plus au fil du temps au Mexique, et nous commencions à faire des tournées en dehors du pays, même hors du continent, jusqu’en Europe, la plupart du temps en France ou au Espagne. En France, lors d’un concert à Concarneau, j’ai fait la rencontre la plus importante de ma vie. J’y ai rencontré ma femme. Après la tournée en Europe, je suis rentré à ma ville natale au Mexique. J’ai alors dit à ma famille que je voulais retourner vivre en France pour vivre avec celle que j’aime. J’espérai aussi pouvoir faire des études pour pouvoir en-seigner l’espagnol. Je n’aurai pas pu vivre de ma musique seul un petit nombre de Français sont fans des mariachis. Le jour de mon départ, une grande fête était organisée avec toute ma famille et mes amis. On devait être une cin-quantaine. Il y’avait des musiciens et une dizaine de plats traditionnels, l’ambiance était festive. Mais à l’heure des adieux, les mouchoirs de chacun étaient sortis.Pour la première fois, je quittai le cocon familial. Mes yeux trempés, laissaient déborder quelques larmes sur mes joues, nous sommes alors en 2003.Le choix que j’ai fait n’était pas si simple. J’aurais pu choisir une vie grâce à la musique comme je le faisais déjà. Mais pour cette femme que j’ai rencontré en France, j’étais prêt à quitter ma vie, mes habitudes, ma routine, et à traverser l’Atlantique. J’allais vers l’inconnu.

MOMENT 2- It was a big shock for me to leave all my family, my friends and every day habits. In the plane taking me to my new country I could feel a cold tear running down my cheek. I had only left my country for a short period of time in the past, when I went on tour with my music band. I knew, when I decided to leave, that keeping in touch would be difficult. I was not going to see them for about three years. Finally, I reached my destination, Rennes, Brittany, where my wife was impatiently waiting for me. It was the second time I had come to this region, and I had never smelt an air so fresh and pure. Who could think that in such a lovely part of the world, I would be the victim of several racial comments?A couple of days after having gone onto the year 2005, I was as happy as ever about my life. My son had just turned two years old. I went to the local bakery to buy him a birthday cake. As I entered the shop, the lady working there looked at me as if she was disgusted. “Hello miss, can I please have that cake right behind you for my son’s birthday?” I asked her in a nice way. She stared at me a couple of seconds, nodded, and replied aggressively that there weren’t any left for me. “Leave now! I don’t like your kind of people!” she added. At that moment, I was so hurt by this comment that I wanted to jump over the counter and slap her. But my consciousness is too pure for me to get violent. I have to say I was really disappointed with the reactions some French people had about my origins. I’ve tried my best to be accepted in France, by learning the language and becoming a French citizen. But there is one thing I’ll never be able to change; it’s my origins, the source of all those racial comments. I don’t care, I’m proud of my differences; they are what makes every human being unique. In France, people often think I’m a North African because our skin colour is roughly the same. Another time as I entered a perfume shop, I heard the owner saying to a customer: “Last week, a few perfume flasks were stolen, we think it could be an Arab just like the man over there.” She was pointing at me. I’m just outraged at these horrible comments people say behind my back all the time. But what could I do? It isn’t worth reporting to the police, nor getting violent. It would only get me into trouble, so I just left the shop straight away.

Jesus

from mexIco

By yanIs

35

In France, I had to adapt to a different culture with a different way of life. Things are much more organised here than in Mexico. There is a schedule for everything here. For example, there is a time for diner and for lunch, whe-reas in Mexico sometimes we have lunch at 3pm or diner at 11pm. Another example, there are not quite as many road signs as in France. I had to get a French driving licence after having passed tests. In the end, I think I adapted pretty well to the French way of life.

MOMENT 3- In 2007, sulla strada per il mio lavoro, ho ricevuto un messagio per posta d’un membro della mia vecchia band. È stato scritto in grasso: “Siamo a Saint Malo per un concerto in qualche giorni.” La sera del concerto, ho raggiunto miei amici e vecchi colleghi in una stanza di trecento persone. C’erà un atmosfera molto buona e la gente amava le loro canzoni. Alla fine della rappresentazione, miei amici hanno decidato che participero in due o tre delle nostre vecchie canzone sulla scena. È stato una sorpresa per mi, non mi aspettavo affato quando hanno chiamato il moi nome dalla scena. Inizalmente ero molto emozionato, ma dopo, ho suonato del moi strumento come i bei vecchi tempi. Questa serata è un dei miei ricordi più belli di questi recenti anni. Quando mi ricordo di questo concerto sono spesso nostalgico di tutti questi anni passati in La Paz con miei amici e ma musica. Penso che se non avevo incontrato mai la mia moglie in Francia, avro vissuto una vita tutto tant buona. Ma oggi sono molto felice della mia vita francese. Sono fidarmi di avere passato i miei studi per insegnare in Francia con successo.

Il est onze heure et demie. A Phnom Penh il fait déjà 36 degrés. Je dis au revoir à ma mère et j’enlace mes frères. Le taxi se gare devant notre maison. Je prend mes valises ma mère m’embrasse une dernière fois et je franchis le seuil de la porte. Le chauffeur dépose mes bagages dans le coffre de la voiture. Je m’installe à l’arrière. Sur le

chemin je vois défiler les paysages qui me sont familiers. Je repense a toute ces heures passées dans cette ville avec mes amis. Tout cela va me manquer. Je quitte le Cambodge, Phnom Penh, ma famille et mes amis. Le trajet jusqu’à l’aéroport n’est pas long. On arrive. Je récupère mes valises et j’avance jusqu’au hall. Je trouve facilement la porte d’embarquement. Dans l’avion je me pose plein de questions. Je me demande si les gens vont m’accepter. Je ne parle pas français, j’ai peur de ne pas m’en sortir. Le vol dure treize heures trente. Je ne sais pas comment vont se passer les retrouvailles avec mon père. Je ne me souviens pas quand je l’ai vu pour la dernière fois. J’arrive enfin à Paris. L’aéroport est immense. Les gens me bousculent. Ils parlent une langue que je ne comprends pas. Je me sens perdu et oppressé. Je ne sais pas où je dois aller. J’aperçois ma valise. Soudain une personne m’appelle. Je me re-tourne. C’est une femme. Je ne la reconnais pas. Elle s’approche et m’explique qu’elle s’appelle Marie et que mon père lui a demandé de venir me chercher. Elle me demande si j’ai passé un bon voyage et si j’ai récupéré toutes mes affaires. Je lui répond que oui et nous nous dirigeons vers une grande voiture noire. Le temps est très frais. Marie m’explique pendant le trajet que mon père est en voyage d’affaire et qu’il ne reviendra que dans une semaine. Ma nouvelle ville se situe en Bretagne. Je me suis un peu renseigné sur Quimper avant de partir. Le voyage était long il y avait six heures de voiture entre Paris et Quimper. Marie me réveille. Quand je sors de la voiture je découvre une très grande maison. Je suis émerveillé quand je rentre à l’intérieur. Je me dirige vers ma chambre. Elle est très spa-cieuse. Sur mon bureau il y a mes affaires pour aller au collège. A côté il y a une lettre de mon père qui me souhaite une bonne semaine. Je suis exténué je décide d’aller me coucher.MOMENT 2-I’m on the plane. I’m thinking about what my father looks like now. I haven’t seen him for a very long time .I’m afraid I might not recognize him.The trip lasts thirteen hours. During the trip i look at my photos of my family and my friends. Then I fall asleep. When i wake up i discover a large airport. I retrieve my luggage. The crowd jostles me. All these people speak a different language from mine. I’m lost. I’m trying to find the exit when a woman’s voice is calling me. I turn around and I approach it. I understand that it is not my father picking me up. This woman called Mary explains to me that my father is on a business trip. She also explains to me that it is a six-hour drive to get back home. I don’t see the time passing. I look at these landscapes they are not the same as in my country. We reach the house. Mary leads me up to my room and lets me here. I look at my new room. On my desk I

auBert

from VIetnam

By garlonn

discover a message that my father wrote ; he wishes me good luck for my first week in France. Then I go to sleep. It’s been a week since I arrived here. I do not speak French but I already know a few words. My dad will be arriving tomorrow. At the moment I do not know anyone. In my street there is no young people but even if there was I could not communicate with them. I miss my family already. Today it was my first day at St Yves, my new school. I don’t speak with my classmates. They look at me in a strange way. I don’t think my integration will be easy.

MOMENT 3- Ya hace tres años que vivo en Quimper. Me las arreglé para establecer una relación casi amistosa con mi padre, a pesar del hecho de que esté en menudo de viaje de negocios. Extraño mucho a mi familia que nunca veo. Mis primeros días en St Yves fueron difíciles porque la gente no me aceptaba. Ahora se pone mejor. Me las arreglé para hacerme amigos. Me he dado cuenta de que la vida aquí es muy diferente de Camboya. Poco a poco me acostumbro a esta nueva vida. Tomo mis nuevos hábitos y no olvido por qué he venido aquí. Mis estudios son muy importantes para mí. Hoy después de haber terminado mis deberes, me voy a la ciudad con unos amigos. El centro de la ciudad es muy diferente de Phnom Penh. Quimper es una ciudad muy pequeña. Son las tres y media, mis amigos me esperan en la Plaza St. Corentin. Me apresuro. Con mis amigos nos pusimos a hablar. Rápidamente me preguntan si yo estoy bien aceptado y si todo está bien en mi nueva vida. Les explico que ha sido lento para que las gentes me acepten, pero ahora todo está bien. También les dije que era difícil vivir lejos de mi país y de mi familia. No sé cuando vaya a Cam-boya la próxima vez, yo sé que no será inmediatamente. Afortunadamente, las redes sociales existen. Puedo mantener el contacto con mi familia y aprender lo que sucedió durante mi ausencia. Ahora sé que cuando termine mis estudios volveré a Camboya. Pero mi meta es tener un buen trabajo, Voy a seguir hasta el final y básicamente, Francia es un país muy hermoso.

Je venais de passer de Jayne à Leslie, j’étais comme déracinée. Mon identité disparaissait en même temps que les côtes de «mon» Angleterre. Quelques heures plus tôt, je finissais de vider la chambre que j’occu-pais dans la maison familiale. Philippe, celui pour qui

je déménageais, m’aidait. Lorsque je sortis, le froid m’assaillit. L’estafette m’attendait , remplie à ras-bord. Je remontai les marche du perron pour un dernier «au revoir». Mon coeur se serra alors, des larmes commencèrent à perler et j’essayai des les faire disparaître discrètement. Nous partîmes de Stockport, la grande ville au sud de Manchester où j’avais grandi, en direction de Plymouth pour prendre le bateau qui nous conduirait en Bretagne.Les six heures de route furent agrémentées de tristesse et d’excitation. Ma famille allait me manquer, mais je savais que je les reverrais une à deux fois par an. Cela me rassurait beaucoup. Une nouvelle vie s’offrait à moi et mon compagnon. Je pensais à notre arrivée. J’étais déjà venue en France. J’avais peur de cette langue dont je n’avais qu’un parler très scolaire. Les Français n’ont pas ces jeux de mots, si fami-liers aux Anglais. Je me faisais alors à cette idée.J’avais dormi presque tout le voyage. J’étais épuisée et avais hâte d’arriver chez les parents de Philippe pour vraiment me reposer. Nous étions arrivés à Plymouth et embarquions dans le ferry. Une fois arrivée à notre cabine, je fis partager mon envie de manger à mon compagnon. Il partit alors et revint avec le meilleur chocolat du monde, anglais évidemment, du Cadburry. Mais aussi, des sandwichs, des chips et de l’eau. Je sentais et entendais les vagues s’écraser contre la coque du ferry. J’aimais cette sensation de ballotement, cela m’apaisait. Philippe me proposa de sortir prendre l’air sur le pont, j’acceptai. Le vent qui m’accueillit, était glacial, il fouettait mon visage. Nous étions bientôt arrivés car nous distinguions les côtes françaises. Une boule au ventre m’apparut, le signe de mon apréhension, mon mari le sentit car il me serra dans ses bras et sut utiliser les bons mots pour me rassurer.Le bateau était arrivé à quai. Nous avions ramassé nos affaires et rejoint l’estafette. Alors, nous partîmes.

a young mother

from england

By yane-laure

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Je me reposai encore prendant les quelques heures de voyage pour me détendre. Philippe me reveilla pour me dire que nous étions à Benodet. Je regardai autour de moi et trouvai que pour un dimanche, il n’y avait personne. A Stockport, il y avait toujours du monde dans la rue.

MOMENT 2- From my fist looks around, I saw that my life in France would be very different from that in England. Benodet seemed to be a small town compared to Stockport. In this town, there is a subway and buses every fives minutes. In Benodet, I will have to take the car. After many hours driving to Benodet, Phi-lippe and I finally arrive. His parents are waiting for us. I have already talked to them several times but I was afraid, they might not love me ...Philippe’s mother takes me in her arms as would mine to reassure me or comfort me. His father kisses me , which I was not at all accustomed to. We get our luggage down the Estafette to install our stuff in the house. His parents left us on our own very kindly. I am tired and dream of going to bed but his parents have prepa-red a small dinner to celebrate my arrival.The next day, after a well-deserved sleep, I try somehow to get used to this new life, this new home. Phi-lippe’s mother suggested I should go shopping so that we fill our wardrobes . I dread going out, I don’t speak French very well and I am afraid that people will laugh at me ...So we go shopping. It’s very different from Stockport, stores are much smaller in Benodet. But it’s the food that differs the most. I love French cuisine, but I find the English one much better! I’m not really unbiased, but it’s with this food I grew up, my mother raised me.A few weeks have passed and I have begun to adjust to my new life. Philippe works all day and I just can’t stay in the house so I decided to look for work. In England, I was a midwife. But I only find a job as a ca-regiver in a clinic because my diplomas aren’t recognized in France. It’s very different from my previous work, I always took care of people, but this is no longer the same. By moving, I lost my degree and fifteen years of my life.

MOMENT 3- Ahora, estoy bien establecida en Benodet. Philippe e yo, tuvimos que comprar una casa porque tenemos cuatro hijas. Me florecío en mi trabajo como enfermera en el hospital de «Dieu» en Pont-l’Abbé. La profesora de mi última, Fiona, me pregunta si quería hacer una introducción al Inglés en su clase. Al principio, dudé. Tenía miedo de que los alumnos se burleran de mi acento. Incluso después de todos estos años, todavía me siento incómodo hablando en público. Mi hija en ese momento me animó a acceptar. Su maestra entonces, me dio una cita unos dias más tarde. La maestra era muy agradable. Me tranquilizó acerca de mis preocupaciones. Tuve aprender les conceptos básicos del idioma inglés entendibles para niños de siete a ocho años. El lunes siguiente, empecé. Estaba un poco estresada, pero Fiona me tranquilizo diciéndome que sus compañeros de clase eran muy agradables y estaban deseosos de aprender Inglès. Fui a la sala de clase en la mano de mi hija. Me alojé durante una hora con los estudiantes. Todo fue bien, eran atentos y aplicados. me habió enseñado a los Contines de mi infancia para recordar nùmeros y el alfabeto. No se estaban riendo de mi acento. Mi hija estaba feliz de presentarme sus amigos. Así que repetí el experimiento una vez a la semana. Al año sigiuente, la profesora me sugirió que empe-zar, acepté con mucho gusto, pero desde hace ocho, nueve años, he seguido el grado de mi hija. Pero al año siguiente, tuve que parar, los horarios no coinciden con los de mi trabajo.

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- ‘dIffusIon’ In arts classes

Our students specializing in Arts in 2nde and 1èreL and Myriam Le Seac’h their teacher decided to bring their touch to the project . They made up human-size colour figures to be stuck on the glass windows and sliding doors of the highschool ...

Nos élèves de section Arts de 2nde et 1èreL et Mayriam Le Séac’h , leur professeur , ont décidé d’apporter leur touche au projet en réalisant des figures taille humaine en couleur . Ces silhouettes seront apposées sur les fenêtres et portes coulissantes du lycée .

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- proJect meetIng n° 2 - In london LONDON January 2013

January21st,2013:NorthernEuropehaddonnedathickwhitecoatof snowthatmadetheFrenchdelegation’swaytoBrentford-Londonatruetrialpaththroughhardshipsanddelaysof allsorts...butbraveenoughtheywere,andwelldeterminedtofighttheirwaythroughthecrowdsof strandedtravellersthatpackedthelongtiledtunnelsof MontparnasseandLilleEurope,allea-gertojumponTheNextTrain,howeverhardthefight,howeverlongthewait,howeverthickanddensethehumanpack...apathof trustandcom-mitmenttowardsStPancrasandbeyond,towardsBrentfordSchoolforGirls,waytherebeyondtheboundariesof thefarreachingUnderground,inthecolourfulworldof theOverground,farawayintotheWestof oneof thelargestandmostmulti-culturalcitiesof Europe.

«I’m in a panic,I’ve lost my camera. I’m not late but I will be, I’m sure ! Finally, my father gives me his camera. We leave my sweety house -I was a little bit sad because I hate to leave my house- at 7.00am. Oh ! Shame… The train is late ! 8.07, we leave Quimper. We spend 5 hours in the first high-speed train, at this moment, I’m happy and smilling ! ...I believe it’s the last move when I get into the Eurostar ! Soon, LONDON ! Two trains, two subways and we reach Brendford ! I’m fed up with this travel, I’m almost dead ! But i’m in London it’s unusual, wonderful ! And when I see our accomodation all the bad mood goes away, I’m sure I will sleep very well ! It’s time, my eyelids drop shut. Good-night !! - Charlotte-

Welldeterminedtheyweretoseeforthemselveswhatitmeanstoexperience‘difference&fusion’inyourdailylife.AtreasurethefairBretoncityof QuimperanditsHarryPottercanteencannotevenpretendtooffer.Theywereasmallgroupof 4studentsand3teachersfromLeLikès,alargeschoolthatdoesn’tknowmuchaboutthevarietyof itscolours.Asmallgroupwhowantedtoknow,fromthemouthsof the30Englishgirlsand4Swedishguestsintheproject,whatlivingtogetherindifferencescanbring.Andtheydid...theydiddropintothisextraordinarybrewingmixof culturesKarenFloydwasopeningtothem:onestudentfromFrance,onefromSwedenandagroupof theBrentfordgirls!!Nowyoucanstarttalking..andsmileBrentfordforthephotos!!

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Testimonies from Immigrants

«7.00am... I’m so excited and I wake up immediately ! At last, we are going to see English girls because we go to an all girls’ school.. I’m a bit scared ! At first, we join all the students in a classroom to meet the difFUSION project students ! We take breakfast with English and Swedish new buddies ! ... At 10.30 we have a break and surprise, we hear a girl who speaks French without any accent, she says « c’est vous les Françaises ?» .... The bell is ringing ! We have to present our powerpoint against xenophoebia and pre-sent our highschool ! -this part is real improvisation- This is the worse moment I fear.. I speak to an audience and I’m a little bit stressed ! Finally, it was quite good. Then, other students present their school and their work for the Comenius project. 12.30, it’s lunch ! We are surprised, the food isn’t bad.»- Charlotte -

«Then we met the Swedish and English students . The Swedish girls were tall,(taller than me ... ) smiling but a little bit shy , whereas the Englissh were talkative... Then we met the teachers staff led by. Karen for the Comenius project. She was very nice , smiling, and welcoming. We visited the school, and attended lessons in «total immersion» : sciences, art, maths . First we thought we would probally not understand and be bored but finally i was very suprised about my qualities exept my very bad accent ! The teacher asked me to introduce myself in front of the class , i felt so embarassed. Then we did some exercices and REVELA-TION ....i understood most of the words and the teacher congratulated me.»-Nacera -

Otherplacesotherways...Veilsallaroundcove-ringthegirls’headsbutnottheirsmiles.Housesinsteadof departments,amixof IndianandBritishfoodforbreakfastandlunch,boardsof photostopraizegoodbehaviours(wewillhavetotalkaboutthostoo..),students’paintingsalloverthewalls,ArabicandUrduwordsonthesigns,...ASenegaleseladyaddressesyouinFrenchatthecanteen,anotheronetellsyouaboutChen-nai,TamilNadu,orperhapsPakistanorPoland...BrentfordSchoolforGirlsisabout80%com-munitybasedandtheteachersbearnamesfromtheMiddleEast,AsiaandsometimesLondon..Butwhatthedelegationfeelisthisenergythatisbrewingandtheeagernesstobeavailableandplease

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«A student said : your high school is like a village, it was Hannah from pakistan , she was lovely»- Nacéra- .

Butourdelegationwasnotonlytheretoobserve...Theywerethemessengersof theirclasswithpre-sentationstomakeinpublic...andinEnglish!,oneof thehighlightsof allourComeniusprojects...Sotheyalldid,andwell..NaceraandChar-lotteabouttheMaghrebcommunityinQuimper,AlineaboutherViet-namesemotherandRomaneaboutimmigrationfromPortugal..WealsoheardaboutwarsinAfghanistan,inAfrica,storiesof immigrationtoSweden...tragediesthatpushedsomanyparentsandgrandparentstoleaveeverythingforabetterlifehereinEurope..

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anahIta from Iran

As you saw, my name is Ana.

I’m 16

I was born in a little city in Iran. My first language is Persian.

I live here with my family

My city near the capital city

Honestly, I can’t still believe that I am here because my country doesn't allow to people come in or out of country easily that I still don’t know why. However now it’s nearly has been 2 years that I am here with my little family : my mother and brother =

My brother is 19 years old and he is a genius!! He has got offers from Cam-brij and Imperial universities and he doesn't know yet which one he is going to chose!

I have one elder sister that she lives in Iran. She is 29 by now. she got married 3 years ago and in 21 of December that every one though is the end of the world, her baby was born! So it’s a new start

My mother still goes to collage and she can’t really speak English. She used to be a primary teacher for over 30 years in my country and in here she teaches Persian to whoe-ver wants to learn it

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A Family Friend; Mrs.R

mrs r from uganda By ayesha

It was 1972, in the east of Uganda where our story starts. Many Asians were based in Uganda at the time, as they were skilled when it came to the arts of trade, as a result they would be classed as ‘well off’ or ‘stable-middle class citizens’. Mrs. R was five at the time, her mother was an over-sea’s citizen and had never had to work during her life. As a result she stayed at home and looked after the chil-dren, but still had a maid to clean etc..They had a nice house, quite spacious –and as children have- a good amount of toys for the four siblings. Mrs.R’s father profession dealt with cars, it was his passion, he worked hard during the day. And came home to a loving, happy family. A very cliché beginning…

Mrs.R’s, a five year old girl was innocently playing with her toys alongside her siblings one day in September. Her father came in worried, and told her Mother to pack the essentials they needed, and that they had to leave the country within 24 hours to avoid being at risk of death. Gathering all their official papers, their father allowed them to pick a few items which were deemed essential to live on. He had to leave all his qualifications behind, which was a big step for him. And they gathe-red their passports and few belon-gings, and got to the car. Not even saying a proper goodbye to the house and the life they had known.

It was September, with cold autumn winds swirling around the military air force base. It had been a few hours in a plane as far as they could remember, but as soon as they stepped out the first difference was huge and obvious; from tropical to cold. It was around a month that the Reufugee Camp was their temporary home, a place to sleep, get assis-ted with paperwork and eat, but most importantly, survive.It took a month for all the paper work and other things to be sorted out, with the help of the staff at the refugee camp. They were able to legally stay in the UK as her mother was an over-sea’s English citizen remember? Her dad and herself and the other siblings gained refu-gee status and they were provided with second hand clothes and food supplies. They had to stay at the camp until they found a relative they could stay with.

44

Mrs.R’s mum learnt to read, write and speak English quickly, although it remained a part struggle with her father to pick up the language. Her mother had always been a housewife, and it was then that both her parents realised that in order to support their families they would have to start working. Her dad found a job at a Vauxhall shop in Luton, and had to sa-crifice staying with his family in order to get them money. They had no money, as Idi Amin’s men did not allow them to bring any. So Mrs.R’s dad rented out one small single room in Luton, so he could work to support his family. To communicate they had a few minutes on a payphone to him, but it was a hard and sad pain to be away from each other.

In this space was not only Mr.R’s bed, but probably his whole living space!!

Mrs.R ‘My Aunt lived in Chiswick and that was our only option/form of accommodation. It was ob-viously difficult for her because she had to accommodate her brother, his wife and three kids as well as looking after her mother. I just remember my mum and dad being stressed, as well as my auntie’. For the siblings moving into an auntie’s house they had never met was a very different experience, and also being squashed in a very small class was a nuisance. But soon enough some astonishing changes were to come…

It was 6 months later that the family was provided with housing in Dunstable, thanks to the Greater London Authority. Their council house was very basic, but it gave them a space to call their own. It was basic as in it had no heating ( in winter they would have to wrap up really warm) and no gas coo-ker (their dinner was made on a camping cooker for numerous years). Her Mum also got a job in a laundrette’s which was a very alien thing for her, having never worked. But bearing her beloved children in mind would travel down to the local Chiswick Laundrette’s in order to have her income coming into the house as well.

This is the actual laundrette’s she used to work in, although it was taken over and changed a few years ago.

When Mrs.R and her siblings started school they were still quite young, and to their advantage this allowed them to pick up English very fast. They were the only Asians at the local school, but she wasn’t aware of any discrimination going on. She made a best friend there called Alison. Alison’s mother was a friendly hairdresser called Sandy. It was Sandy who gave Mrs.R her first trim ever, she was petrified as back in Uganda girl’s didn’t have their hair cut and were generally restricted in all aspects of daily life. She made sure it was just a trim, so that her parents wouldn’t immediately notice the difference.

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Mrs.R’s brother was born in the UK ( and so is a British citizen with a British passport). There is a twelve year gap in-between her and her younger brother. When he was a baby, it was her job to take him to the child minders, as her mother worked hard, long hours ( they are still in touch with their child minder now!!!). She used to help wash his clothes and nappies. To do this when they were stai-ned and dirty she had to soak them in bleach and hand wash them.Even when it appears you have lost everything, there are still little luxuries or pleasures that you are blessed with.Mrs.R ‘I remember my dad taking the family out for a drive in the car, he would just drive round in the car, it was such a treat for us taking out the car.’ Especially as it was when her dad would drive them around in the car that they would be properly going out. So Mrs.R and her (now four) siblings always looked forward to those special moments with the entire family.

Mrs.R is now an amazing wife, mother, auntie and friend. She worked hard and is now an inspector, they have many modern things in their house, and lots of luxuries; In comparison to what she had as a child here. However, the reason she is actually my idol, is because all though she has everything she had to work from nothing. Sometimes there were struggles, hardships and obstacles but she persevered and overcame them. Which is why she is an amazing person and rolemodel.

Probably what the doll would originally looked like, now it is old worn and missing an eye!! But it is very old!

Mrs.R is now an amazing wife, mother, auntie and friend. She worked hard and is now an inspector, they have many modern things in their house, and lots of luxuries; In comparison to what she had as a child here. However, the reason she is actually my idol, is because all though she has everything she had to work from nothing. Sometimes there were struggles, hardships and obstacles but she per-severed and overcame them. Which is why she is an amazing person and rolemodel.

I hope this story touched you as much it touched me!Thanks .

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eVIe from northern Ireland

Hey I’m Evelyn !...Hello, I’m Evelyn but my friends call me Evie!I’m 14 years old and live in Isleworth in London, England. I go to an all girls school called Brentford School for Girls about half an hour away from my house.

My dad was actually born in Northern Ireland in 1964. Northern Ireland is part of the UK and is attached to the Republic of Ireland. When he was growing up Northern Ireland was in the middle of a conflict called The Troubles between the Catholics (who wanted Northern Ireland to break away from the UK with the Republic) and the Protestants (who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK).

Bombing became the norm and children were hit hardest for example one time my dad was playing on the streets and a bomb went off on a wall and my father and his friends were injured by flying pieces of brick. Security used to be really tight where my dad used to live. They used to check your bags as you walked into the supermarket or even the city centre. Once my mum was simply sitting on a bench in a park while on a visit to my dad and she was asked to empty her bag and pockets. It really shows how paranoid they were about bombs appearing in places.

horriBLe ThinGs

aBoUT my dad

Shop bomb site, May 1972.

My dad left Northern Ireland to attend Reading University here in England. There he did a Law degree and met many great friends. Since then he has inspired me that even when schools are being bombed it doesn’t mean you have to ruin your education and you can still get far in life.Despite my dad growing up in a terrible war and experience some not very nice things he had a good childhood. His parents always made sure him and his brother were happy and they had some lovely times.

Why he LeFT

Living in London as blessed me with some amazing opportunities for example my friends and I once were part of a television audience and got told we were loved by a band called Lawson which was an a life changing experience for us fan girls and simply the fact my friends and family can just jump on a train and pop up to London within 20 minutes is amazing. I have some of the most famous things around me and I am incredibly grateful for it.

Now back to ME!

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sofIa from KazaKhstan- afghanIstan

Hey guys, I’m Sofia. I’m 14years old and I live in Norwood Green, which is in Grea-ter London; I’ve lived there pretty much my whole life. I’m currently studying in Brentford School for Girls.In Brentford School there are girls from many different culture and backgrounds, so eve-rybody Is different, it’s a mix and that’s cool so you have friend from al over the world and you learn different thing from them.

My mum was born in Kazakhstan; but when she was growing up it was part as Russia, until the split of Russian Federation. She grew up with her younger sister and parents. In the winter it would get up to -40 degrees so she would get 3 months of school, and they would have to wear 5 pairs of tights un-derneath trousers. However in the summer it would get very hot, and my mum went to summer camp every year. My dad was born in Kabul; Afghanistan. He has 6 sisters and 5 brothers , most of them are him half brother/sisters. My grandfather(my dads, dad) pasted away when my dad was still a child. As studying in Afghanistan is expensive her moved to Russia when he was about 18.

My mum and dad met in University. They lived near Each other in the dorm rooms. After talking to my dad he said, “ Your mum used to chase after me”, ( this was sarcasm). They got married on the 11th Novem-ber, 2 weeks after my mums 19th bir-thday. As it was November, Kazakhs-tan was covered in thick snow so they took a video of in her wedding dress and dad in his suite having a snowball fight with close friends and family.Followed on with a wedding ceremony. My mum was 20 when she had my bro-ther, 26 when she had me and 37 when she had my sister.

In 1997 my parents and brother moved to the Uk! When my family first moved here they didn’t know anyone and didn’t have many thing however over the years we built our house up and made friends and even some off my parents friends moved to London, and where still really close. My parents decided to move to London because there was more opportunity for us; better education, better jobs. This year its going to be my parents 23 anniversary. One of there biggest problems were the language, but they when college to learn and today they’re per-fect at speaking English. 48

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manasa from IndIa

Hi! My name is Manasa. I am 13 years old. I was born on 16th of July in India! I am a Hindu and I speak Te-lugu.I came to UK when I was 7 years old. When I came to this country my dad joined me in a school as soon as possible. During those first few months at my new school, I found that speaking English was really hard. I wasn’t very fluent and some of the sentences I said didn’t any make sense.Before I unravel my story I will tell you a little bit about my family too. In my family I have one sister, mother and father. Both of my parents where born in India but my sister was born in America (that was when I was 3 years old).

First of all, India has a huge population. It consists of people with diffe-rent religions like Islam and Hinduism. India also has mixture of poor and wealthy people. In India, there are 15 different languages like, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Kanada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. The first five are Aryan languages but the last four are the Dravidian languages.My life started in India. I was born and brought up there too!I also had my first birthday there aswell. I lived in my mother’s place and spent about a year there. I was also fortunate to meet my new relatives and family friends. I also had to shave my head because we believe that the hair which was shaved off was from our previous life. So that means that we can get blessed to start our new life.When I was one years old I went to Finland with my family. During those days, I was considered as a ‘naughty girl’ because I used to get lost and leave my parents. When I was Finland, my family also went to a cruising trip to Oland, which is in between Finland and Sweden.

In 2001 me and my family went to America due to my dad’s job. .. After a few months, my sister was born. My grandma also visited to see my sister aswell. Then, when my sister was 3 months my mum, my grandma, me and my sister decided to go back to India because my dad found a really good job in UK. We couldn’t go to UK because we had to look after my sister very well. So travelling a lot for her wasn’t a good idea.Then my dad headed to UK and lived in a shared accommodation whilst we went to India.

When I went back to India, I was old enough to go to school. I spent a year with my mum and my sis-ter. But then my dad said they can come because he found a house. When I heard that my family was leaving me I felt very depressed. They didn’t invite me because they thought that they will come back to India very quickly after my dads job finishes. However, his job carried on and I was stuck in India for long 4 years.

Afterwards, my parents couldn’t bear the thought of living without me. Therefore, they decided that I should come to UK and live with them. I was overjoyed when I heard the news. But I was also sad that I was going to leave my grandparents and relatives behind . However, I knew that without me my family would be incomplete.

nIruJa from srI lanKa

My name is Niruja Shanmugathas and I am 13 as you know I go to Brentford School for girls. I was born in Srilanka. I am Hindu and I speak tamil. I have been living in London since I was 4. I joined recep-tion in a primary school called Blair Peach. I struggled a lot at the start as I didn’t know any English neither did my parents . I have one 7 years old brother who was born in London.

OUR HINDU FESTIVALS Saraswati Puja ( November/ October)This festival celebrate the goddess Saraswati. Saraswati is the god-dess of learning. She is also the goddess of music, poetry, dance and drama.

Maha Shivaratri (February/ March)The name of this festival means the great ‘Great Night of Shiva’. It celebrates Shiva, one of the most important forms of GodEvery night of the new moon is dedicated to Shiva but this one is Particularly important. It is the night which Shiva is said to perform the cosmic dance from creation to destruction.

Diwali ( November)This is the festival of light, people all over Britain do fireworks on this day.

Lying off the southern tip of India, the tropical island of Sri Lanka has attracted visitors for centuries with its natural beauty.But there has been a long and bitter civil war arising out of ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority in the northeast. Most of the fighting took place in the north. But the conflict also penetrated the heart of Sri Lankan society, with Sinhalese carrying out devastating suicide bombings in the capital Colombo in the 1990s. The violence killed more than 70,000 people, damaged the economy and destroyed tourism places.

My dad came here because his life was at risk in Srilanka. There is a ci-vil war in Srilanka for a very long time (1973). It was between Singalese army and Tamil army (Tigers). The Tamil tigers were fighting because they wanted freedom as in those days we tamil people were not allowed to leave our house after 6:00pm or we would get shot, it was a very cruel thing to do some Singalese people knew what the army was doing was wrong but couldn’t do anything as they would get them self killed.My dad was going to get killed because he was outside after 6:00, he got shot but it missed and hit my dads shoulder. The army took him and put him into camp where all the tamil people were treated badly. When my dads family found out my grandpa went and spoke to one of the mem-ber in the army he said pay this amount of money and I will let your son escape. My grandpa had to sell his bakery to pay the money to free my dad. My dad moved to London in fear of his life. After 3 years we came to London. My dad hasn’t been to Srilanka to see his family for more than 10 years till last year.

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JosIane from algerIa

by Chloé & Servane

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nadIne from rWanda

by Marie & Agathe

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lIVIu from romanIa

by AntoineIn the Comenius Project, we have decided to present the story of my god father, Liviu, who immigrated to France at the beginning of the 90’s, to escape poverty in Romania. He hel-ped us by telling his story, from the time he left Romania, untill today.

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Liviu didn’t speak French when he arrived. Even though he had studied some French at school, he wasn’t able to speak . That’s why he used every opportunity to speak French and to improve his French, like that he managed to learn some new words everyday

He also uses TV to listen to French and tries to learn by watching the news. For 3 months he took French classes after work in a school where he could attend real classes.

Liviu hasn’t really felt any racism but people were afraid about those people arri-ving from Roumania because France was in a time of crisis so French people didn’t want these Romanian people to take the French jobs

At his beginning he was exploited by the bosses because he wasn’t able to speak French and didn’t knows the laws for workers and had a wage below the minimum wage, but if he had known that, he still couldn’t have spoken because he did not speak French

He obtained a residence permit renewable every 2 years thanks to the organizations which helped him get his papers

He met my aunt in Paris and got maried with her 4 years later, he obtained a perma-nent resident permit

He asked Franco-Romanian nationality a few years later and got it , which allows him to go back to Romania to visit his parents

Liviu draws a very po-sitive conclusion and doesn’t regret leaving his country more than 20 years ago . He is pleased to have created a family in France and he’s proud of his life.

If he had to do it again he probably he would stay in Romania because the situation of the country is highly developed and it’s much easier to be success-ful than here in France, however he is still proud of all the way he has gone to live here today.

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marI from srI lanKa

by Lénaïg & Julien

Mariyanayagam is Sri Lankan. He was born in 1955 in the North of this country. Some references :Sri lanka is an island near India in the Indian Ocean. It’s a little country of 66 million inhabitants.It’s a former British colony.There has been a big conflict between government and Tamil Tigers since 1983.Who are the Tamil ?An independentist nationalist political partyDuring this civil war between the government and the Tamil resistance, in which he took part. He had to leave his native country.

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When we asked « What was your feeling upon departure ? » His answer is instant : « I do not remember anything ». Marry had the feeling of being ripped from his country.Marry had no choice. Indeed, this war killed 100 000 persons since 1972.

Mari arrived in Germany in 1985 following his start. He arrived in France, in Paris where he stayed 1 month.He called the France de L’asile Association which subsequently supported him . They sent him to Brittany in Riec-sur-Belon. With other Sri lankan families, Mari was received in a home. When he arrived in Brittany, Mari noticed a changes. The Bre-tons’ way of looking at him was different compared to Paris. But he did not feel racism, teasing … Simply the lway of lookingwas different.

At that time Mari had to adapt to French habits. To begin, the food is very different between Sri Lanka and France. During his first three days, he ate as little as he could because he hated it . After the three Sri Lankans family cooked their own favorite food.Although Mari had great difficulties with the French language, it tried different trainings to find work. It was really difficult for him to find a job, the French are suspicious. He did a lot of odd jobs like sandwich-man.Different habits «shocked» our man. First, the close contact between men and women. The act of kissing in public places was very surprising. The second thing is the little contact wi-thin French families. Indeed, in his country, several generations live under the same roof.It is this «stressed, inattentive and also cold» side of the French Mari had difficulties with in his first months in the territory.

He was still a victim of this distrust when he wanted to open a restaurant. The bankers did not want to lend money to him for fear that he might not pay.Marry feels «handicaped.» That’s because of the language but also his origin.«Blacks are many in Quimper, but Indians are scarce, people’s eyes are more insistent. I struggled with it at the start «

an Indian in the City

In 1966 he opened his Indian restaurant near the station with his wife. Mari was hardly trained as a chef . Indeed, he worked in architecture in Sri Lanka. Today, Mari has deve-loped his business : an other restaurant opened in the Covered Market.He has the French nationality and feels perfectly integrated. He keeps in touch with his brothers exiled in Canada for the same reasons and his sister stayed in Sri Lanka. He went back to his native land 4 years ago.

Mari is a very nice, friendly and welcoming man. He can be proud because his way has been very dificult. Today, he has got a family and his business. After many hardships Marry is the most French of Sri Lankans.

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nathalIe from the uKby Charlotte & Johanne

Name : Nathalie Cornic, born LowlesDate of birth : 3rd November 1966Hometown : London, EnglandJob : Marketing Manager at AirproductsWhere she lives now : Near Paris, in Vil-lebon sur Yvette with her family.

She was born in London, the capital of England, & then she lived in Shrewsbury, a British town, located in Shropshire, near Wales, for 10 years, before leaving home for University.Her parents are separated, her father lives in England and her mother in Mauritius .

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erdogan from turKey

by Bleuenn & Jennifer

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antoIne from VIetnam

by Mailys, Justine & Christiane

His life in Vietnam

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Antoine studied in an engineering school in Paris and got his degree. He has received a French education and worked in many companies, especially French and American companties. Antoine took the French nationality because he had to make a choice between the two nationalities and he thought it would be easier and logical to have the French nationality. He got maried to a French woman and they had two children together. He is fully integrated in the society and he doesn’t have an accent at all. He has still some vietnamese friends, they maried vietnamese women and they are also well integrated, maybe just a little bit less. His children do not speak Vietnamese « unfortunately »he said, because Antoine was young when he arrived there, and he doesn’t remember the language. Now, he speaks only French with his family and says a few words in Vietnamese sometimes. Neverless Antoine did not forget his country, he cooks a lot of Vietnamese receipies for his family and his friends. He never came back to Vietnam but his family did, « I’m not ready », he said. 68

Josselyn from guatemala

by Marc, Nolwenn & Romane

One of his memories of the departure is the moment when he said farewell to his friends just before getting into his car.-When he arrived in France he remembers that he was alone in the airport to be dressed like in sum-mer, he was not used to the French weather.

-At first Josselyn found it hard to understand and to speak because he had never spoken French in his life but 2 years later it wasn’t a problem any more for him. However he needed more than 2 years to write correctly in French. So, without the language barrier, Josselyn became integrated quickly

- On the one hand he keeps the tradition to ‘’ live with the sun ‘’ that is to get up and to get to bed early.- On the other hand he lost the tradition of eating locally, and it’s well known that the Guatemala food is pungent.

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fernando from portugal

by Kalanna

Who ? Fernando is a painter and he is 40 years old. He is married and he has three children. He has been working in Brest for twelve years. He arrived in France when he was 21 years old because he wanted better living conditions and because wages are higher in FranceWhy ? Before coming in France, he worked with his father in Portugal. He was a mason. But he got tired of doing every day the same thing, working with his father all the time, and his salary was very low. He therefore decided to try his luck in France. He hoped to have better living conditions.

How ? He went to France by car. He came with two other men, who went to France for the same reasons as him.Striking memories.Fernando remembers that it was very hard to leave his family, brothers and sisters, but he remembers especially the moment when, in the car, they crossed the border from Spain to France, it was a new life offered to him, he was optimistic and the atmosphere was festive in the car.

Integration in FranceAt the beginning, integration was difficult, he missed his family, he did not speak very good french. For some years, he worked clandestinely (such as pizza de-livery man) in order to pay his rent, food ... Then there was a time when he was offered a real job in a painting business, he was hired and has not left since this company.

Current impressions Impressions of Fernando: «The early years in France was difficult, is not the same culture, the same way of life ... But now I do not regret my decision, I’m happy. I have a job, a home and a family. I met my wife in France and I had three children. my family visits us regularly and we go some time in Portugal during the holidays. «

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Bouchra from morocco

by Marion & Simon

Her name is Bouchra Tayb and she used to live in Meknes in Marocco.

She’s fourty-five years old, thanks to her parents she has a double nationality : French ( by her mother ) and Maroccan ( by her father ). She came to France 27 years ago, but when she was younger she usually came during the holidays to see her mother who lived in Paris. She never had problem to be

admitted because she had the double nationality yet her inte-gration hasn’t been easy because during her first study year the differens students groups were already done and nobody wan-ted to accept somebody else.Moreover her accent was very strong and she had preserved the reading ( from the right to the left ).Sometimes, in the bookshops she opened books in the wrong way.

The second year was easier because she had friends and she took some habits.

Racism was rarely felt, in 2012, during the elections, while she was voting a man told her « You? You vote? ».It’s one of the rare moment she met racism.

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sadIo from malI

by her daughter Céline

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camIlle’s grandmother from senegal

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churK from neW zealand

Churk is a New Zealander who lived in the capital Wellington. At the beginning nothing would suggest that he would leave his country one day. He told us he was a boy just like any other, living in a normal family. He continued his life continuing his studies in catering, until he became a cook. At the same time a young French girl arrived in New Zealand in a professional shelter . One day the meeting was inevitable. They met in a restaurant and it was the «love at first sight» he says with a small smile on his lips. So they began to see each other and make their lives together. So they had two children : Oli-vier and Christophe. But a few years ago his wife went back to her native country France because her mom was sick. Churk was not long to follow. He arrived in France in June 2007, five years later at the airport in Paris where he then took the train to come to Quimper where he later joined his wife to return home. Now they live in a little house, which his wife began to buy when she was 18 years old, in front of the sea.

He explains that when he arrived in France it seemed to be traveling to visit a country except that if he came to settle. At first he found some difficulty to integrate mainly because of the language barrier. Churk only spoke English and it was therefore difficult to be understood by others but also to understand the people. It’s in French so he started to learn with the help of his wife but also his children. Being educa-ted in a French school they began to get familiar with the language. He also told us that when you leave for another country you lose everything, even if for him leaving his country he found his family, but he’s also a roof. Still he quit his job, his family, his home, his country, , being a chef in new Zealand he became a chef in France as he has thus succeeded to create a reputation as a chef and is now respected. What has most marked him in the first year he lived in France in Brittany is specifically the climate and landscapes that are not as in New Zealand. When we asked him if he still had New Zealand traditions he answered proudly and with a big smile rugby but also the Maori music. He obtained French nationality by marriage.

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soufIane from marocco

by Anna, Kellig & Roman

« My name is Soufiane and i’m fifty years old. I come from Mo-rocco, the city i used to live in was Ouazzame. It’s a small city.I have one brother and one sister they are both older than me.I didn’t speak French with my parents. I didn’t speak French at all because I learned it in second grade.

First of all, I was a good student and i got a grant to study in France .Honestly, could i refuse such an offer ? The separation with my family wasn’t difficult because i’m not very a Home-buddy.

French university

First, I studied in the University of Caen, then i worked in Burgundy and finally i went to Britanny and i have been here for 10 years. I worked as a youth worker , then i helped unemployed people to get a job and finally when i was a student i worked in a factory to finance my studies.

I never really noticed racism against me and to be honest i never wanted to know perhaps to protect myself from intolerance. Today it depeus on everybody but some-times i think that i didn’t obtain a job be-cause of my origins.I was accepted very easily in college be-cause i always kept a positive spirit.I remember, that when i took for the first time the underground in Paris I saw a lot of students with their schoolbags, ready to go to school, I had never seen that before because in my town none of the pupils had bags.That was a real surprise to me but I also realized that I wasn’t that good with French language. 78

I was accepted very easily in college because i always kept a positive spirit.

I remember, that when i took for the first time the underground in Paris I saw a lot of students with their schoolbags, ready to go to school, I had never seen that before because in my town none of the pupils had bags.That was a real surprise to me but I also realized that I wasn’t that good with French language.

our tradItIons

I wanted to keep talking Arabic because it is our legacy.I have 2 boys, 15 and 17 years old. The older one is Zac, and my other son is named Zaïd.

I’ve chosen Arab names because as they don’t speak Arabic even if I try to teach them. In fact my other son knows how to write and read Ara-bic, I wanted them to keep a part of their origins. They won’t forget where they came from, Ma-rocco . I named them, this way for my mother.

Firstly, I’m Muslim. I pratice but not very often, but for exemple I do the Ramadan. On the other hand it’s easy to practice the religion but we may have the possibility of practicing the religion but then it depends on the belief. It’s just a matter of willing.

Finally I was granted French citizenship 10 years ago. I did it because I felt French.I travel to Marocco often, to see my family and all my friends. »

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chrIstl from austrIa

What can Austria learn from Sweden?

« To treat their kids better and to create a better relation with their neighbours» are some things that Christl wants Aus-tria to learn from Sweden.

She likes that people often invite friends and family to the house and that´s a thing she would like Austria to take after.

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- proJect meetIng n° 3 - In mölndal, sWeden

Mölndal, April 2013monday 15th : after a long day of travel ( train and plane) we arrived and pulled along the quay of Gothenburg to sleep in a boat hotel at 11 pm ! [Students stayed with host families]« My host family was amazing ! Linnea and her parents are fantastic people and very nice . I have spent a very good time with them . We have been to the Hard Rock Café and to the bowling . It was very funny and I was really sad to leave them , but we promised to meet again in Sweden or in Paris » - Marie

«When I arrived in Lindome, I met Eilin and her family . The first time I saw her and her mother I thought they were nice but nobody was talking at the beginning , maybe because they didn’t know me . Eilin was a little shy . Her dad was very nice . When I saw him the first time I was very impressed because he was very tall . We had dinner together . The father cooked but didn’t eat . I don’t know why . He only drank a glass of water .» -Chloé -

«I had a really good feeling when I met the family for the first time because they were really homecoming, especially the mother . They showed me round their house , which is a real big one . I was impressed because it looks huge and typical Swedish with lots of wood ..»- Antoine

. «Ella was my penfriend in Sweden. She has 2 sisters, Alva and Irma . Her parents went to France when they they mar-ried so it was fun because they asked me about French words and food . They are very nice and welcoming .» - Johanne

tuesday 16th: Almasskolan , our partner school is about 15mn by train from Gothenburg, in Lindome. The Swedish teachers were waiting for us .We were given a very warm greeting by the school staff. The students offered their presents to the Swedish group and each partner presented the work about immigration they had prepared .

Traditions that win & traditions that wane

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«Their school was smaller than ours . There are only 300 students . But what surprised me most was the school system . Its’ really different from ours . « - Marie- « Some of the lessons were a bit strange for us because we don’t have them, even in junior school : sewing and coo-king for example ..There is also a class where we cut wood and other things . I went to one of those lessons and I liked the teacher because he agreed to let me make a butter-knife . I found that very funny . The students there were so nice . They laugh every time and they are very congenial . It was easy to speak with them »-Chloé- Wednesday 17th: The Swedish program was perfect and well balanced , between Comenius work, leisure activities for students, visits of museums ( VarldKulturemuseet, and Immigration Museum ==> Swedish emigration to the USA at the turn of the XXth century) « Everybody knows the story of the Titanic because of the film . The guide explained tu us that it was built to transport people from Europe who wanted to leave for the USA . I didn’t know that so it was interesting to understand the story of immigration to the USA ..»- Antoine [ today it’s the other way round , people want to come to Europe ...and Europeans have to find the good attitude .. ]New project activities have been set up during these visits : we will follow their ‘One day in the World’ photo project and ask our students to take and send one photo of a parti-cular moment in their life to be sent to the Museum . We will also collect graphic statistics of our local immigration in Brittany...« On the wednesday evening it was Irma’s birthday . She was 6 years old . Birthdays in Sweden are like in France . They have a special song they sing when they bring dessert . But the cake was a little bit strange : it was pink because Irma wanted a pink cake ... but it was great .! « Filippe my penfriend told me it was a big school but it’s really small compared with Le Likès .... It was easy to talk to them because they are easy-going and very nice , even though we were impressed by their standard of English . « - Antoine - « Their teachers teach 2 or 3 subjects and students call them by their first names , not Mr or Mrs ...In class students can listen to music and use their cell-phones ...They finish school at 3 pm ! ...»

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«Its funny because Swedish people eat all the time! Well not exactly.. but they have 6 meals a day . Moreover they eat earlier than us . When I went to the restaurant with my host family I had my plate in front of me at 17h45 !! I have tasted Swedish bread but it isn’t to my taste .. They eat cheese for breakfast ! really strange to me ..» - Marie

« One morning for breakfast Ella offered me Swedish food. It’s like mayonaise but with caviar . So I tasted it with Swedish bread and butter but I didn’t like it, like fish taste , which I didn’t really like for breakfast .. So Ella had a good laugh seeing my face ...» - Johanne-

Thanks to the many coffee breaks with the other tea-chers we discovered a lot about Swedish specialities ( bread, cheese, cakes, biscuits ...) . These were friendly moments to talk about and share experience from the UK, France and Sweden: the education systems, the previous Comenius projects, the evolution of school li-brarians’ activities .. These moments between work and socializing allowed us to develop a group spirit around the Comenius project . We were particularly moved by the farewell dinner prepared by the Swedish students . One more time, we ate every possible type of typical Swedish food and cakes ... And to say goodbye all the students sang in English and French !

« I had a very good time in Sweden. The group is really lovely and welcoming . The Comenius project is very interesting and it has allowed us to meet people with a different culture from ours.» - Marie « The last evening we had dinner and it was fun . When we said goodbye to everybody , the Swedes did hugs and didn’t kiss , so it was unusual to us ..» - Johanne «- Thursday evening was quite sad when we had to leave our new Swedish friends we had spent the whole day with .... We were getting a lot closer than we were at the beginning of the week ..» - Antoine - Parting was quite sad for everyone .... [ But we will meet again in Quimper in September ... Now there is some work to do in between ...and fighting xenophobia is not only in school ...] E. Puechmaille and S. Laporte . LP

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tradItIons from IndIa

by Manasa & Tamanna

My name is Manasa and I will be talking about how my traditions have impacted Britain. Firstly my background culture comes from my home country, India. India has many people with different traditions and the peoples’ traditions in India relate to their religion. My religion is Hinduism. This has a great impact on my background.

I think that my Indian culture has impacted Britain a lot because in the olden days this country used to control India so they got to experience the culture. We can see this affect by loo-king outside. We can see Indian shops and Indian restaurants everywhere. My culture has become quite popular and we see lots of people wearing Indian clothes on the streets. Our culture has not only impacted Britain but other countries around the world too!

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tradItIons from algerIa

by Marwa

My name is Marwa.I am a Muslim.

As you can see I wear a head scarf,

This is me !!!!

What is Islam???

.The religion of the Muslims, a mo-notheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.

. The Arabic word ‘Islam’ means submission and obedience, and de-rives from a word meaning ‘peace’.

What are the celebrations???Like other religions Islam has many celebrations like....Ramadan: The holy ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar (the Hijra), during which Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset; they also refrain from smoking, and various other desires (such as eating, drinking etc...) . .In my family, when we break our fast we sit at a table all together. .To pass the day we sleep or do activities. We normally have a big meal to make sure everyone has eaten properly. Normally we go out at night because there are no jinns out. During Ramadan there is special day called layla tul quadar. on layla tul quadar all Muslims pray and make duaa, which is as if you have prayed for a whole year and all your sins from that year are forgiven..Eid: A Muslim festival marking the end of the fast of Ramadan. There are two types of Eid: Eid-ul-fitr, Eid-ul-adha. .Eid-ul-fitr: Eid al-Fitr «festival of breaking of the fast»), also called Feast of Breaking the Fast, the Sugar Feast, the Sweet Festival and the Lesser Eid, is an important religious holiday celebrated by Mus-lims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). The religious Eid is a single day and Muslims are not permitted to fast that day.

.Eid al-Adha («festival of sacrifice»), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, is an impor-tant religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet Abra-ham to sacrifice his young first-born son Ishmael as an act of submission to God’s command and his son’s acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a Lamb to sacri-fice instead.

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The Wedding traditions

Based on Love: According to the Koran, marriage is a very serious act, and is more a family oriented act than a private one. Men and women are permitted to marry whomever they want as long as the mate is approved by the family.But there are some people who have an arranged marriage. Preparation: Food begins being prepared weeks prior to the wedding. In Algeria the more money spent on the wedding, the more proud the family can be. The wedding meal will include couscous, meats and vegetables along with desserts such as bakla-va. The more plentiful the food, the more generous the family is said to be.. The Ceremon: The guests are all seated first. Then the bride will appear and is sea-ted at a “throne” in front. She wears an intricate wedding gown and is adorned with makeup, much jewelry and henna designs on her hands and feet. A little later the groom dressed in ornate but traditional clothing joins her and sits in his throne. A holy man conducts the ceremony and the bride and groom then walk out as husband and wife.Celebration The true wedding celebration then begins with guests partaking of the wedding meal served in buffet style. They are joined by the happy couple and their families. The feasting may go on for hours or in some cases for days.

In Algerian weddings the bride normally changes about 4 times at the least !!!!

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tradItIons from srI lanKa

by Nirjuna

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Hindu gods and goddessesSaraswathi - Goddess of Wisdom - Wife of Lord Brahma. Saraswathi is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and all the creative arts.Lakshmi - Goddess of Wealth - Wife of Lord Vishnu. Lakshmi is the goddess of light, beauty, good fortune and wealth.Parvati - regarded as a represen-tation of Shakti. Parvati is the wife of Lord Shiva and the Godess of household and motherhood.(Shakti is by literal definition sa-cred force, power, or energy. Shakti is the personnification of Brahman as feminine)Ganesha - Son of Shiva and Par-vati. (Description) The Hindu god in a human form but with the head of an elephant.

Me and my family celebrate Diwali which is the festival of light. It has a religious story behind it. Once upon a time there was a great warrior, Prince Rama, who had a beautiful wife named Sita. There was also a terrible demon king, Ravana. He had twenty arms and ten heads, and was feared throughout the land. He wanted to make Sita his wife, and one day he kidnapped her and took her away in his chariot. Clever Sita left a trail of her jewellery for Rama to follow.Rama followed the trail of glittering jewellery until he met the monkey king, Hanuman, who became his friend and agreed to help find Sita. Messages were sent to all the monkeys in the world, and through them to all the bears, who set out to find Sita.After a very long search, Hanuman found Sita imprisoned on an island. Rama’s army of monkeys and bears couldn’t reach the island, so they began to build a bridge. Soon all the animals of the world, large and small, came to help. When the bridge was built, they rushed across it and fought a mighty battle.When Rama killed the evil Ravana with a magic arrow, the whole world rejoiced. Rama and Sita began their long journey back to their land, and everybody lit oil lamps to guide them on their way and welcome them back. Ever since, people light lamps at Diwali to remember that light triumphs over dark and good triumphs over evil.

DIWALI

tradItIons from south afrIca

by Primrose

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tradItIons from russIa

by Sofia

Russian dolls are wooden and separate to reveal a smaller version of the doll inside. Traditionally Russian dolls have 5 dolls. They have wooden heads.

Russian dolls, traditionally called Matryoshka , were inspired by the Japanese nesting dolls – these however trace back to a Russian monk.

The first Russian set was made in 1890 and are typically based on theme which can vary from fairy tale characters to leaders. You can get princesses or childlike features on some to make them attractive to children.

The doll symbolizes Russian spirit and the Russian culture and art traditions.

They are used to decorate a per-son’s house and many children use them to keep them entertained.

The most important feature of the doll is the headdress – the design and colour is essential because headdress are very important in the traditional Russian outfits.

You can paint Russian dolls with anything with any picture on it so it depends on your taste.

The design is similar to an onion peel – you peel off the outer layer of an onion and inside is a smaller similar onion.

They started to spread over to England when Russian people started to emigrate over. They brought these sweet decorations with them and began selling them as part of businesses. Soon they became very popular and are sold in common shops in England as well as other places.

In the wider community

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tradItIons from afghanIstan

by Souita

Afghanistan is packed with different tra-ditions. Nawruz is a special event that is celebrated widely around afghanistan and many other countries. Nawruz means new year and is famous for two weeks around mid march. During this time, most people shop for new clothes, jewellery,etc…

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tradItIons from Ireland & england

by EvieThe Roast Dinner

WHAT’S IN IT ? Meat – usually beef, chicken, lamb or pork (pig).Vegetables – almost definitely potatoes along with carrots, broc-coli and more.Yorkshire puddings (sometimes) – made from batter. Sauces to make it less dry for example mustard, horseradish, gravy or mint sauce.

WHEN / HOW OFTEN DO WE HAVE IT ? Originally people in the UK had a roast every Sunday so that is why restaurants typically have a roast menu on a Sunday. Nowadays people are more likely to have a roast once a week, if that. Some people may only have it once or twice a month – I have it once a week! It is also very common to have a very grand one at Christmas time…

CHRISTMASThe Christmas roast is a fancy version of the typical Sunday Roast. MY Christmas roast consists of:: Gammon (roast ham!) - Turkey- THOUSANDS of roast potatoes- A range of vegetables Yorkshire puddingsAt Christmas we can spend a good, couple of hours at the dinner table eating and chatting!

A traditional Christmas dinner is a very grand Roast dinner however at Christmas we spice it up a little bit and have a bit of fun! Traditionally before you eat you pull a cracker which looks like this: One person grabs one side; ` another person the other and pull hard! There is a large bang and the middle part comes apart with one person. Inside is a present!

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tradItIons from sWeden

a parody of the news from the world for all ages .... crowded !..............

tImelInes

This program will be continued in 2013-2014 . We will receive the delega-tions in Quimper for our 4th Project Meeting in September . On this oc-casion we will focus on the organizations involved in immigration issues and against xenophobia .

This collective production would not have been possible without the help and support of all the teachers and partners involved . We thank them all warmly for their help and we are convinced they helped students develop new perceptions of the world and new abilities to take and bring their share in its diversity . Lionel Poiraudeau