So in my earlier blog, I told you all about AIME65 and the work we do.
Thursday and Friday of this week, saw the Association at La Maison des Chameaux in Castelnau Rivière-Basse. As some of you already know, Sarah Bird, a fellow SFNer and owner of La Maison des Chameaux with her husband Paul, were severely touched by January's floods.
They thankfully managed to save all but one of the animals, mainly by bringing them indoors, but the majority of the enclosures, the grounds and the fences were all severely damaged.
AIME65 decided to step in and lend a helping hand to Sarah and so we came armed with boots, gloves and tools. On Thursday there were 15 of us present and helped along by Sarah's coffee breaks, yummy pea and ham soup and Garbure, great progress was made. The local press also turned up to see what was occuring and an article appeared in La Republique des Pyrénées and La Depeche du Midi.
Day 2 saw 6 volunteers return under a cloudy sky and despite the frequent showers we managed to get the animal encloures finished and the fencing up. Sarah's home made stew and dumplings followed by a Waitrose Christmas Pudding and Figs in Armagnanc, during the worst of the downpour made everyone's day and my fellow French volunteers declared it all to be "excellent!".. Sarah, we have finally found some French people who like dumplings!!! Hoorah!!!
Below are a selection of photos that were taken over the 2 days. If I could win the lottery, I'd be a volunteer everyday. We choose to be there and I think that makes us even more effective. Plus we have a great time. If anyone fancies joining us, you can of course become an "adherent" by downloading the form on this site http://aimemeteo65.wix.com/aime65#!adherent/c1a7a
or by visiting our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/aime65?ref=ts&fref=ts
Or if you fancy making a donation, you can visit our Go Fund Me page here http://www.gofundme.com/6x1lec
All the money we make goes towards tools and safety gear for the volunteers. We pay 10€ per annum to be part of the association and this goes towards the cost of our insurance. We operate a co-voiturage system wherever possible to help keep costs down and allow a maximum of people to participate.
