“You, with your big smile, I can see you as a footballer! Mr. Henri, resident of Clos des Peupliers, is getting to know Jordani, 13, who is coming here for the fourth time. This college student is one of about twenty young people from the Bomoyi association who came to spend a moment with the seniors of the retirement home.
The meeting has become usual since March 2018: twice a month, residents receive visits from young people, aged 6 to 17. Together, they get together around board games, pancakes, books, some even have their poetry recited to the little ones.
But it is above all in the exchange between the two generations that the meeting draws its interest, with a double objective that Nana Shodu, the president of Bomoyi summarizes: “This kind of event brings, on the one hand, the youth to realize the importance of the elderly, true treasures of testimony and, on the other hand, to give back a social role to people who now believe themselves to be useless to others. “
Monsieur Henri told us about the deportation of his family
For Mouna Moussa, responsible for the retirement home, “the goal is both to break the image of dying associated with nursing homes and to make the daily life of its residents less monotonous. They sometimes inflict their own isolation, because the world is becoming too effervescent for them ”.
In the lounge on the third floor, young people and seniors discuss and share sweets and cakes. Monsieur Henri, cap on his head, “like the youngsters”, is well surrounded. Three teenagers take turns reading to him. The octogenarian takes advantage of his audience, jokes and valves fuse: “Come on Karim, read better than that!” “.
Facing him, Marvin, 10, remembers a moment that he will not soon forget: “The last time we came, in June, Mr. Henri told us his story and the deportation. of his family in the camps. It was the first time we had heard about it from someone who lived this period up close. We all had tears in our eyes ”. A moment out of time, which reminds everyone of the importance of transmission by our elders.
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