2006-06-29

Angoulême: Res'EAU & MJC-Lous Aragon Ludothèque

I mentioned in my previous post that I would write in more detail about the work that Aude and Marie are doing in Angoulême, so here it is.

Res'EAU

Aude and Marie work in separate parts of the 12 associations of districts and suburbs of Angoulême that make up the Réseau d'Expériences Artistiques Urbaines[fr] (Urban Artistic Experience Network). This network works to create and carry out cultural projects for people who live in the more underpriviledged and/or unpleasant areas in and around Angoulême. These projects include film festivals, dance and music events, and various community centers.

Recently, Aude has been putting together a summer film festival, "Un été au ciné"[fr], that residents will be able to attend for free in various theatres around Angoulême. Here's a picture of her next to a poster advertising the event:

Films they will be showing include "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Howl's Moving Castle", "Singing in the Rain" and more.

MJC-Lous Aragon Ludothèque

Marie works as a volunteer at the Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture Louis Aragon Ludothèque (Youth Club and Culture Center "Louis Aragon" Game Library) with a very nice woman named Alex, short for Alexandra, who runs it.

Left: Alex; Center: a little boy I was playing with. Right: Marie;
behind them is one of the hand-made games, Mt. Everest

I think this is a very cool idea. Basically, it is a game room with commercial and hand-made games and toys for the young people of the community to use. It costs small fee to access (max. 20€ per year for an entire family, with lower individual prices for individuals, if I am reading the poster correctly). This poster details the costs, hours, etc. (in French)

Also, for a small fee, maybe 1€, children can check out toys and games for up to 2 weeks and take them home to play with them. Since the toys and games cannot be easily replaced, the children know to take care of them and not break them.

The children are learning some good lessons at the Ludothèque. As I said, the toys and games cannot be easily replaced, and for some children they may be the only ones that they have to play with. These children are learning to take care of the games and toys so that they will always have them. They are learning that it isn't only for themselves, but for everyone. They are learning to take care of things for the common good. They are learning to share. Hopefully, these ideas will stay with them throughout their lives.

Some photos of the Ludothèque:
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Alex helping some of the children on the computers:
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My very small contribution to the Ludothèque

On Wednesday, 21 June, Aude and Marie came back to Aude's place so we could have lunch together. After that, we drove out towards where they work. I had the intention of walking back from there, taking photos as I went, but it didn't work that way. When we got to the Ludothèque, Aude and Marie introduced me to Alex and we talked for a little bit. Aude had to go back to work and it turned out that Alex was having some computer problems, so I decided to see if I could help out.

Her computer, which was running Windows XP, turned out to be infested with various malware: spyware, some adware, a couple of viruses, something that had disabled the builtin firewall, and even one piece of garbage masquerading as antivirus software called WinAntiVirus. I downloaded the standard tools to clean things up: AdAware, Spybot S&D, and ClamWin (ClamAV for Windows). Then I spent the afternoon cleaning up the machine. I also downloaded Firefox and tweaked the security settings a bit to make browsing the web a bit safer.

Running all of the scans took some time, so I ended up playing with a little boy who seemed very interested to meet me. I tried teaching him to juggle a little, we played a few of the games around, and basically just had a good time. Of course, Alex and Marie helped out since my grasp of the French language is basically sub-beginner (thought it is improving little by little).

Eventually the scans all finished and the machine was clean, or at least as clean as it was going to be after running all of that software on it. The increase in speed and stability was noticable. Everything finished at just after 18:00, which was quitting time for Aude and Marie. Aude came back down to the Ludothèque. I said goodbye to Alex, who thanked me for my help, and said goodbye to the little boy, who told Marie that he was very happy to have met me, and then the three of us left.

I didn't do much there, but I'm glad I could contribute even a little bit. I think it is very important, very good work that they are doing there, and I am happy that I could contribute even a little with my computer knowledge (as limited as it is), as well as make a little boy happy.

Spread the Word

To anyone who is reading this: do any of you have these kinds of organisations in your communities? If so, please post links to them in the comments. If not, perhaps bring it up with your local governments. I think these kinds of organisations are very important and deserve as much exposure as they can get, so please, spread the word about this one, the ones in your communities, or any others that you know about.

(P.S. Audo, Marie, ou d'autres personnes de Res'EAU qui lisent ceci: si je me suis trompé dans mon explication de l'organisation ou si vous avez plus d'information à ajouter, m'envoyez un email ou écrivez dans les commentaires s'il vous plait. Merci.)

3 件のコメント:

匿名 さんのコメント...

salut Alex, tu as très bien expliqué ce qu'était la ludothèque et je pense qu'Alexandra sera contente de la pub que tu lui fais!! les photos sont bien choisies... j'espère que tu vas bien, nous parlons de toi souvent...
bises, marie

nathan さんのコメント...
このコメントはブログの管理者によって削除されました。
nathan さんのコメント...

Great stories, cool pics, lovin' your journey bro!

Caption under one of your images:

"Left: Alex; Center: a little boy I was playing with."

Just kidding, made me laugh though :)

Hope you're well, brother
peace