To mark the launch of her Foundation’s first “illiteracy” program, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, paid a visit to Maine-et-Loire to see things on the ground. She was accompanied by Marie-Thérèse Geffroy, director of ANLCI, the National Agency for the Fight against Illiteracy

First stop: the Francepal pallet factory, located near the rural town of Durtal. Its director Florent Joliveau has been running a campaign against illiteracy for two years. After noticing a series of mistakes, accidents or examples of clumsiness on the part of some of his employees, he became aware that a third of them had trouble deciphering control panels, instructions and measurements. A case of illiteracy? Be that as it may, “No one should be left behind” insists Joliveau. The training organization EnVol were called in. Trainer Olivier Galet observes, “In small teams like this, the biggest problem is having to face the others, to cope with the shame. It takes great courage to overcome this, to admit to not being able to read and write.”

Today, 22 months and 200 hours of training later, the seven volunteer employees have pulled through. For Eric, “It was tough before, I managed by fooling everyone, I never  even told my children.” “Now,” he adds, with a hint of mischief, “I can write notes to my wife.” Christian agrees, “It’s such a relief. I feel better at work; I’m not so stressed.”

“There is written text everywhere. Just because we’re involved in manual labour, it doesn’t mean we don’t need literacy,” says Joliveau, pointing out the measurement tables, the safety instructions and the production indicators.

Francepal is not an isolated example: more than half (56%) of France’s 3.1 million illiterate people are in work. These are not immigrants with a poor command of French, neither are they people who have never been taught to read or write: a large majority were educated in France, and speak no language other than French.

Olivier Galet then takes us to one of the EnVol sites, in Chateauneuf-sur-Sarthe, offering support classes for unemployed adults, families and pensioners. The approach is one in which beneficiaries opt to ask for support: all the “learners” have found their own way to the organisation, perhaps because a friend has told them about it or, in the case of Stéphane, “Because I wanted to read aloud on my wedding day.” Sophie, 25, explains: “I have two children in kindergarten and first year primary”. It was the beginning of a new chapter. “At first I didn’t sign up for activities, or interact with others. I was afraid of the way they would look at me, of being told I was a failure. Today I’m just one of the parents: I meet my children’s teachers and help out after school.”

The money donated to the organisation, who approached our Foundation for financial support in January, will be used to develop ‘reading for pleasure’ workshops around themes and fun activities, like drama, cooking classes, and Slam.

“Organisations like yours are the very reason we raise funds,” says Carla. “We want to give practical help the people closest at hand.  This is the goal of today’s launch of an appeal for projects in the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais regions.

Photo credits: Ouest-France.