French Crème Glacée // MOBIL'douche.
- Jul 6, 2016
- 3 min read
Has anyone ever told you how incredible Parisian ice cream is?
I was lucky, because my fantastic cousin Rachael gave me the what's what before I arrived, and let me tell you: Parisian ice cream is incredible. It's almost as if God himself, after spending the day inside
the immaculate,
breathtaking Notre Dame Cathedral, walked down the beautifully uneven cobblestone streets to a crowded corner shop, had whipped it up.
I kid you not, my new friend Taylor and I stopped for cones in the middle of the island, polished them off in a matter of minutes, and were *THISCLOSE* to buying a second cone each before we even crossed the bridge back to town. Like, we legitimately even stopped for a few seconds and greeted the sweet little round man behind the cart, both hesitating to see if the other would give in a order another couple scoops.
We didn't. One ice cream was enough (I guess...) for tonight. But we turned down a second treat with the promise of another tomorrow, and I never break my promises 🍦.
In other news: first mini-practicum today, and goodness gracious, it was EVEN MORE INCREDIBLE THAN THE INCREDIBLE ICE CREAM!
Not even exaggerating.
MOBIL'douche is a 'first of its kind' initiative: in 2006, founder Ranzika Faïd read about a survey that had been done in her city in a free Paris circular, which asked the people "what they needed most". The survey turned out 3 simple answers:
1. A Roof
2. Food to eat
3. To be clean
Feeling called to action, Ranzika spent the next three years building "Mama" - the very first MOBIL'douche, a fully-functioning shower on wheels, in which she could provide hot showers, as well as clothing, personal hygiene care products, coffee, and a kind conversation, to the street population in Paris. Today, MOBIL'douche has been driving through the heart of the city for three years, and Mama is now joined by two more revamped RV's, generously funded by local business sponsors and agency donors.
Today, I had the opportunity to hop onto Mama, pop on a M'd t-shirt, and cruise around some of the busiest, hottest, and grungiest parts of town, searching for individuals who may be in need of the service. In our short 3 hour visit to MOBIL'douche, we provided two hot showers, 5 cups of coffee, 4 good conversations, some care packages, a cellphone, and the reminder that every human on this earth is important, is worthy of the right to be healthy and clean, and deserves dignity. In fact, it's even MOBIL's tagline: "Dignité pour tous", dignity for all.
I left MOBIL'douche, and the genuinely passionate and caring team we were lucky enough to volunteer with today, being totally mind-blown by the ridiculously amazing work being done on the frontline in Paris, and wondering how I can bring this kind of love and consideration back home with me to Canada in a few weeks. Hopefully, some of the zest and enthusiasm will have rubbed off on me, because it's work like this that brought me to my BSW in the first place, and it's initiatives like MOBIL that make my heart beat with anticipation and restore my faith in humankind once again.
If you're interested (and maybe if you speak fluent French...), feel free to visit the organization's website here, or their Facebook page here!
Stay showered, my friends!
Jessica*.
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