Marie-Madeleine Bindault presents the Ark community

Originally from Louvières and a specialized educator by training, Marie-Madeleine Bindault lived for seven years in La Merci, a community of the Arche located in Courbillac, near Cognac. She devoted her activity to the support of people with disabilities. The article presents the Ark as a place of welcome allowing tried or distressed people to regain their dignity.

Created twenty-five years earlier by Canadian Jean Vanier, the movement then had, according to the cut, fifteen communities in France and ninety in twenty-two countries.

One Sunday afternoon, Marie-Madeleine Bindault, accompanied by three people welcomed, presented an audiovisual montage in Vierville-sur-Mer. She was to continue these meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Isigny and then in Bayeux. The film was devoted more specifically to La Merci, an approved work assistance center and accommodation home.

The residents lived there in small groups of about ten people, close to a family unit, where everyone could contribute their abilities. Marie-Madeleine Bindault emphasized the role of work in their development. She opposed this approach of hope to the inactivity and feeling of exclusion of people then welcomed in psychiatric hospitals. The proposed activities included mosaic, basketry, weaving, masonry and painting: they were supposed to help everyone find their place and bond.

These meetings were also intended to raise awareness of future Ark assistants. The article indicated that the movement was established in fifteen French regions, but not yet in Lower Normandy.

Archive image: https://vierville.cordelle.eu/PhDoc10/1989-janv19-LArche.jpg