Civic Service in Benin
This article discusses the arrival and adaptation of three young French individuals, Pacôme, Corto, and Maxime, as civic service volunteers at Emmaus Benin. Thanks to a partnership with the APPUIS association, they joined Emmaus Benin for a one-year mission. They reside in Cotonou and actively participate in the development of local communities, fundraising, and innovation. They have also created the website and manage the social media for Emmaus Benin.
The young civic service volunteers from Emmaus Benin, who arrived on September 17, 2023, seem to have well acclimated to their new mission and life.
For the first time, Emmaus Benin welcomes civic services volunteers, Pacome, Corto, and Maxime, three young French people, sent by the APPUIS association located in Chalon-sur-Saône in France (Association to Promote and Unify Solidarity Initiatives) to carry out a 1-year mission alongside us.
This partnership was made possible thanks to the APPUIS association and Maryse FAURE, a member of both the APPUIS association and the Emmaus friends committee of Chalon-sur-Saône, and a former member of the board of directors of Emmaus International, who have trusted us. Maryse, the director, Denise BOUQUET, and the president of APPUIS also came to visit us in October 2023 to discover some of the activities of Emmaus Benin and to meet the teams hosting Corto, Maxime, and Pacome, including their tutors Cynthia and Patrick.
Our three volunteers reside at the Emmaus Pahou headquarters located in the Sainte Rita district in Cotonou, a very dynamic and well-served city, which also allows them to travel and discover Benin and its culture.
Maxime, Pacome, and Corto have several missions:
Participate in the activities and development of the communities
Support the fundraising for different projects
Support the initiatives and innovations of each community
Create the website for the Emmaus Benin association
Feed the social networks of each group
Cynthia
Patrick
Maryse
Denise
Then, their first mission was the creation and launch of the website and social networks for Emmaus Benin and its affiliated communities. Concurrently, they organize extracurricular activities for the Sainte Helene de Castor School every week and participate in various events of the associations.
The presence of these three civic service volunteers brings an external vision to the association and a fresh look at the projects we are leading. Hosting is a fundamental value of our movement, and through the work we do with the volunteers, we wish to encourage these initiatives of reciprocal exchange, which are a mutual enrichment for those who participate.
Furthermore, in the past two months, Maxime, Corto, and Pacome had the opportunity to immerse themselves individually in the activities of the different Emmaus Benin associations. At the end of their visits, they each made a report which they presented in front of the presidents of the Emmaus Benin communities. These reports allowed the community presidents of Emmaus Benin to discuss the different issues that the civic services could observe during their weeks of immersion. To solve these problems, the civic services formulated projects based on their personal observations and the requests expressed by the communities.
