Stories

 One day we welcomed into our L'Arche home in Bangalore, India, a young lad with severe disabilities who had been living in the streets. He was hungry and covered with dirt. By the little hat he was wearing, we knew he was Muslim. Cham, one of the men with disabilities who had been living in the home for quite some time and who was from a Brahman family, offered to share his room with...

October 1980. I had been in Braerannoch, the L'Arche community in Inverness, for about a month. It was a Saturday, and for the first time, the house leader had asked me to go down town with Cathol for a haircut. We didn’t know each other much at that point, Cathol and I. That would come later. So that Saturday, understandably, I was a bit nervous. The questioning looks we attracted on the...

In our L'Arche community in the Ivory Coast we welcomed Innocente. She has a severe mental handicap. She will never be able to speak or walk or grow very much. She remains in many ways like a child only a few months old. But her eyes and whole body quiver with love whenever she is held with love; a beautiful smile unfolds in her face and her whole being radiates peace and joy. Innocente is...

Vickie Cammack
Canadians from coast to coast learned about Colin Sawyer’s network when he joined his mother Beryl in conversation with the CBC’s Sheila Rogers to talk about his circle of friends and the effect they’ve had on his life. Among other things, radio listeners heard about Colin’s job at Chapters which came about when, with support from his network, Colin decided to find employment. While filling out...

Sophie Côté
We are a small group of people, some with intellectual disabilities, others without, who have decided to live together as a community. Our community is still young; it includes only one house. Recently, we welcomed André, a kind and reserved man. We certainly hope that he will fit well in our collective life and, especially, that he will feel at home here. We asked him how long it would...

Where there are lively people or situations, people who are the most fragile are often the first to discover and frequent them, reinforcing their sense of belonging to society. Between 1970 and 1990, an oasis comparable – on a smaller scale – to the Jean Talon Market in Montreal, operated in North Hatley, a village in the Eastern Townships: it was a bakery and restaurant called Chez...

In the centre of Magog, a working-class town in the Estrie region of Quebec, near Lake Memphremagog, where the multi-millionaires of Québec gather, there is a modest business, a smoke den and a restaurant, frequented by neighbourhood workers who find food and a warm home there. They also used to be able to buy lottery tickets there, until the day Loto Quebec withdrew the owners’ license....

Donna Thomson
In the UK this week, newspapers are full of public grief over the death of a six year old boy with severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Ivan Cameron was the son of David and his wife Samantha. David Cameron is leader of the official opposition party - the Conservatives. Every paper and news channel has carried a close-up photo of Cameron gently kissing the cheek of young Ivan. The nation’s...

Here is a story where one can find all the meanings of the word gift :   At Ron's wake, each member of the community left a red rose in a vase beside the coffin in remembrance of his life with us. Marie Claire was hesitant about coming forward, but later, on her own, she took a rose and went toward the coffin. When she came to the vase she turned to face Ron's parents, walked over and...

Jacques Dufresne
Yesterday evening I had one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. Where? In the Montreal underground subway. With whom? With Marie Antoinette Parisio and other members of L'Arche London, especially Janet. We had participated together in an evening of Taize prayer. Fifteen hundred people, mainly young people, had filled the Church of St. Alphonse in Montreal. In Taize prayer gatherings...

Jean-Louis Munn
  Mr. Potet pulling Dominique in the street of Trosly on his anniversary   Arthur is a big, white rabbit whose long, black, soft ears cover his cheeks and trail on the ground. He lives in a cage that is much too big for a rabbit of his kind, but...

Jim Cargin
A few years ago, some folk from L'Arche Brecon took a holiday in Dublin. One day, on the street, a beggar approached them. “Give me some money,” she demanded. As usual in these situations, people weren’t sure how to handle it. They shrunk back a little, wondering what to do. All except Steve. Steve was already putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out his purse: ‘Money…sure…how much do...

Vickie Cammack
The shades of the small room with the parking lot view were drawn and the stale air of the nursing home stopped me in my tracks at the doorway. I looked at the familiar knickknacks that godmother Martha has chosen to surround herself with here in what is sure to be the last place she lives. I think perhaps it is a blessing that she has lost her sight. At least she can't see how the dim light...

I'm sitting in a bright south-facing room, drinking a perfectly steeped cup of tea. The sea is a mile away; the mountains ­- snowy, precipitous, fantastic - frame my days in the city, glowing in changing light. When I was working, I didn't actually have time for the mountains. They stood there while I dashed through my days. I appreciated them, but let's face it, it's hard to identify...

Josephine MacEachern
As parents, we want our children to succeed and to find their place in life. When you are a parent of a child with a disability, in a society that values money and power above all else, it is very hard to imagine your son or daughter finding happiness and a sense of belonging in this world. It is almost two years since my son went to live in L’Arche Cape Breton. Jonathan is a member of...