Men Cruising In Toilets

Story of exchange and discovery in Tulle



The arrival


J ' I saw France, it was not blue ...

It this distant memory to me back in mind when leaving Orly Airport in Paris: a child, I received a gift of a pair of glasses from France. After scope, I saw all blue and had concluded that France was blue. Today, 16 November 2010, 11am, I of France in front of me, it is gray, white, anything but blue.


Two months ago, I accepted an invitation from the French Library Association (ABF) and its partners, Libraries without borders (BSF), the Fondation Connaissance et Liberté (FOKAL), the community of the town of Tulle and heart of Corrèze, make a two-month internship at the library inter Tulle. This opportunity offered aims on the one hand, contribute to the training of librarians in Haiti, and secondly, give them the opportunity to relax a bit after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. I was the first received as part of this project which plans to host other. My mission was to participate in the life of the library and identify approaches that can be adapted positively to the Haitian libraries.


A Haitian in the city


The day of my arrival, a welcome drink was offered to me the inter-library Tulle in the presence of the press, elected officials and other guests. The very next day, the whole town seemed aware that there is a Haitian in the streets of Tulle. A Haitian freshly arrived from Haiti, therefore, a survivor of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010. A Haitian need to meet any price. It holds information on the island hot crushed presented by the media. I was very touched by this outpouring of solidarity with Haiti.


Tulle: a lesson in memory management


Tulle, like many of our cities is a martyr city. At the end of World War II, June 9, 1944, the Germans have committed a massacre. 99 young men were brutally hanged by the SS (Schutzstaffel members literally "Squadron protection ", one of the main organization of the Nazi regime), Division Das Reich on the order of General Lamerding. 150 others were deported to Dachau concentration camp, 101 of which will never be returned.


The city has preserved the names of 99 of the 150 deportees and hanged. The young tulle does not have to go rummaging through the books to be aware of this tragedy. A stele, a public square, a plaque, a street, the city is always a place where construct a square of homage to its martyrs. She refuses their memories burrow into oblivion as far as their bodies were crushed by the jaws of voracious injustice and absurdity. The names of the 99 hanged and 150 deportees are engraved on a plaque in the fields of martyrs.


Cell General


The high point of my trip was my visit to Fort de Joux where the general died Toussaint Louverture, the precursor of the independence of Haiti. For once, speeches DIFFER the immediate present, to be worn on the fascinating story of how Haiti. Toussaint Louverture is central to all communication around the fort. His death is the most important fact to be held and there is an exhibition on the life of Toussaint Louverture. Can be found in the small shop postcards with portraits and general cell. Today, the fort is on the road to slavery because of this fact and receives 60,000 visitors each year. How many tourists visit Breda, where he was born?

A real exchange experience


In the first moments that preceded the invitation, I did not know what this experience would be and what form it would take. Upon my arrival in France November 16, 2010, I saw myself in a real integrated dynamic exchange. I learned many of my contacts who also sought to learn from me. Everyone wanted to see another side of Haiti as projected by the media. They wanted to discover its literature, its culture, history, painting, dance, etc.. And I was interested in other values of France.