The Sentinels at the horticultural college of Moissac

On 21 May 2019, we organised and animated a Sentinels operation on the site of the horticultural college in the town of Moissac. Two groups of students participated. In parallel to this operation, exchanges with the teachers made it possible to discuss the possibility of an action linked to our project for the 2019-2020 school year.

The creation of a small permanent « Sentinel » garden could be envisaged, in the spirit of Japanese gardens associating mineral and vegetal elements, but also a work on the memory of the bombings with history and geography teachers. An exploratory meeting on this project is scheduled for June 6th in Moissac. Moreover, as the town of Moissac is considering joining the AFCDRP, the high school could also host seeds and seedlings from Hiroshima trees.

To be continued…

Graduation jury at the IUT Toulouse

On Thursday 16 May 2019, we attended and participated in the jury for the defence of the tutored project of the students of the IUT of Toulouse. Although the participation in the photo competition was disappointing with a very low number of participants, the students nevertheless made fruitful contacts with two cinemas in Toulouse and one in the town of Blagnac with a view to organising film screenings followed by debates on the theme of the abolition of nuclear weapons.

In addition, contacts have been made with bookshops which could at the same time organise a presentation of works on this theme. In addition, a conference could be organised at the beginning of the academic year on the IUT campus. For these various operations we can expect the participation of the AFCDRP.

Photo competition by IUT students

On April 5, 2019, students from the University Institute of Marketing Techniques in Toulouse launched a photo competition for Sentinels in connection with the project. It is requested to accompany the photos of sentinels with a short message or Haïku in memory of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The photos should be sent to the following address:

sentinellesconcours@gmail.com

You can win a menu with the Japanese restaurant Motchiya in Toulouse, partner of the competition. The competition will end on May 8th and the results will be published on our website.

Meeting at the municipality of Lafrançaise

On Tuesday 5 March 2019, we met Mr Delbreil, mayor of the municipality of Lafrançaise in the Tarn et Garonne. Alain Mila first of all reminded him of the objectives of our association and the fact that an operation had already taken place in one of the member towns of the community of communes. Then we presented him the project in which he seemed interested and planned to discuss it soon with the Municipal Youth Council. We also discussed the question of the municipality’s possible membership of the AFCDRP. Mr. Delbreil also mentioned the possibilities of intervention at the level of the community of municipalities and in the Castelsarrasin school where he works as a history teacher.

The Sentinels in Lasséran (Gers – Occitania)

On Tuesday 27th February 2019, we met Mr Soriano, mayor of the municipality of Lasséran, in the Gers, accompanied by 2 municipal councilors.

Mr Soriano first of all presented us the actions of the municipality of Lasséran, members of the AFCDRP, and in particular an operation that they organise every year on November 11th. We then presented the project and reported on the various meetings with Mr Michel Cibot and the representatives of the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. In the course of the exchanges, points of convergence emerged. A joint action could be envisaged in November 2019 and will be the subject of future meetings in order to refine the project to be implemented.

On the same day, we met members of the association which manages the associative bookstore of Sarrant in the Gers (indicated by Mr Soriano the same morning) to whom we presented our project and discussed a possible collaboration in the form of a presentation of works on the theme of peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons during an animation. To be continued ….

Collaboration with IUT Toulouse

Since the end of 2018, we have been in contact with students from the IUT Techniques de Commercialisation (University Institute of Marketing Techniques) in Toulouse. Motivated by the approach, their work is part of their training course. They are currently working on finding partners who could help finance the project. Contacts are envisaged with bookshops, art cinemas, the Toulouse Japan association, … A next working meeting is planned for the end of March in Toulouse.