Here is the Joujouthèque team’s account of their visit to Ciarus from 26 to 29 December 2007: “Just see how a trip to the pretty city of Strasbourg at Christmas time can become an unforgettable memory for a group of children and the staff from the Joujouthèque leisure centre in Aix-Noulette, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

We left on the morning of Wednesday, 26 December for a 4-day trip to Strasbourg to take part in cultural and cookery workshops. Throughout the journey, we reminisced with the supervisory team about meeting the Palestinian scouts in 2000. The evening we spent with the children from Aix-Noulette and the young Palestinians, the fun we had together, the dancing and the singing accompanied by Middle Eastern instruments all made us want to go back to Strasbourg and perhaps experience an encounter that would surprise us just as much as it did back then.

We arrived at CIARUS in the evening for a 4-day visit. During breakfast on Thursday morning, we met some people who greeted us with a hello and a smile, as they asked the children to fetch the water jugs and some cereal. All of these people were part of a group of disabled adults from a centre in Oise who the instructors were supervising.
Over 3 days, we met some extraordinary people who were happy, full of wisdom and attentive towards the children, especially when we were taking them in the lift. How could we fail to mention Philippe who knew all of the names of our current ministers, Nadège who told us all about her involvement in the workshops and was happy to be living in Strasbourg, Jean and Nadine who were really nice people and lived together, but were disappointed that they weren’t working on the same workshop.
We and the children had many rewarding experiences during our visit thanks to these people, whether it be during mealtimes, at the pancake party or at the cookery workshops.
How could we not be humbled by these people and what they are doing here. The children came back having thoroughly enjoyed their stay and having met such wonderful people. We would like to thank all of these people, their supervisors and CIARUS.
Our eyes and hearts have been opened thanks to their initiatives on tolerance, being different and sharing.”