- ATD Fourth World

The house of Louisette and Guy, in Angers in northwestern France, is always open to a large family and an even larger number of friends. Louisette has raised twelve children of her own and another four whose parents were in difficulty, including one for more than fourteen years. When the family moved to this house, a dozen years ago, the neighbours offered the family pancakes as a welcoming gift; a welcome that the family was not always accustomed to.

“My life is an everyday struggle,” says Louisette. “You take the knocks and you learn from them. I cry a lot. Sometimes I just burst out crying, but then I think it over. In life, you have to keep fighting. But you can’t mess about. If you want respect you have to give it to others as well.”

But respect has often been hard to come by for the family. One day, a neighbour’s criticisms led to a surprise home visit from a doctor. He examined the four corners of the one-room flat in which the family was living, inspected the cupboards and looked under the beds. “How can you live here?”, he asked. “I’m going to ask that the council rehouses you!” With the intervention of this doctor, the family was rehoused in a flat in a disadvantaged council estate. This did not stop the police arriving at their home one day and informing the family that they had “eight days” to vacate the premises. “They said that I hadn’t paid the rent,” explains Louisette, “but it wasn’t true. The police checked with the landlord and then came back and said, ’You’re right, you can keep your home.’” On a further occasion, a complaint was made about noise levels coming from the house and the police again came to the door. They found Louisette’s three year-old daughter playing with a stereo, which she soon turned off!

“All the neighbours were out to get me back then, and I didn’t know what to do about it. Then I got sick and had to go to hospital. I swore then that, if I got out of hospital, everything would be different. When we got our new home, I was really strict with the kids. One of my sons had a hard time with that and left home because of it. He hasn’t been back here in two years, but I’ve kept my eye on him. He’s done some training and learned a trade. I don’t know if he’d have done that if he’d stayed.”

For Louisette and her family, the battle for decent housing has been a long one. A number of organisations have supported her struggle, including Une famille, une toit, Agir logement and ATD Fourth World, and even though she now has good relations with her neighbours, they will not last much longer: the house is scheduled to be demolished within three years.

Under such conditions, family life has been a constant challenge. But ask Louisette where she gets her energy from and she does not hesitate: “My children.” She is proud to have kept the family together. “One day they aid, ’We’re going to find you a new home. But for you, not for your children. You should put them in care.’ I said, ’You find me a house for me and my kids or nothing at all.’ Later on, they even asked me to choose between either putting my kids in care or accepting supervision. I chose supervision. It lasted twenty years. I always had the same supervisor and we got on well.”

Louisette has also known when to ask for help and support. It is because she asked that Jeannine, a member of ATD Fourth World, works with the family to keep to their budget. Together, they negotiate with the utility companies and the landlord in order to pay off, little by little, their debts. For the future, Louisette now puts her faith in a computer course she has undertaken after discovering computers whilst participating in a European meeting with ATD Fourth World in the Netherlands.

In the eye of the storm each day, Louisette finds her strength and looks to build a better future. Her children and grandchildren are her reason for living; she is their rock.