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Left to right: Laurent Champsaur, Gian Piero Sommaruga, and Henriette ChampsaurReported by Gian Piero Sommaruga
Translation for BabelFAmily by Marion Clark
Milan, August 19, 2010 - Dear friends, I’d like to share with you a brief but rewarding experience I had recently thanks to a French friend, Henriette Champsaur, who has worked with BabelFAmily as a volunteer translator for nearly three years. Henriette invited me to spend several days at her family’s home in Gap, a small town in the beautiful region of the Hautes Alpes (High Alps) in southeastern France.
The Champsaurs’ homeAfter years of exchanging emails and longs talks on the phone, we finally met face-to-face in early August. I had the pleasure of meeting her husband Laurent, a great fellow but somewhat reserved, and we got along well from the start, because I’m not a big talker, either. I was absolutely enchanted by the splendor of the mountain landscape around Gap, which I was able to visit and photograph during our several long outings in the car. I had not been to the mountains for more than 20 years, so it was really wonderful to rediscover the beauty of the landscape. In the evenings, once we got back to their house, we usually stayed in the garden visiting, with Lana and Flora, the Champsaurs’ cat and dog, for company. Even though I’m useless at cooking, I learned to make potatoes au gratin and crepes with jelly.
With Henriette and Laurent, we talked about all sorts of things, but especially about Friedreich’s ataxia and about our friends in BabelFAmily. Henriette confided that she dreams of someday having a visit all at one time from MariLuz Gonzalez Casas, Marion Clark, and myself, since her beautiful home is set up with three guest rooms.Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet Claudine, Henriette and Laurent’s daughter who has FA, because Claudine and her husband and their two children were vacationing at the beach, so that will have to wait till next time. My French friends would have liked for me to stay longer than I did, but I had commitments to get back to in Milan. The day I left Gap, I was showered with gifts to take home: three jars of raspberry jam that Henriette had made, pork liver pâté made by Laurent, some pâté de foie gras, and a “French bolster,” one of those long, really comfortable pillows that you can’t find anywhere in Italy. The strongest feeling I had was that of having found some real, true friends with whom I will stay in contact, and whom I hope to have visit in my own home very soon.As soon as I got back to Milan, I made a bank transfer to the BabelFAmily Association, specifying “BabelTravels, for my stay with the Champsaurs”. This way, I won’t be the only one to have benefited from this vacation. Through BabelTravels, the magnificent hospitality that I received free of charge from the Champsaurs will go to increase BabelFAmily’s budget for research. I hope that through the BabelTravels Project, more and more people around the world will be able to travel, meet up, and get to know each other, while at the same time contributing to this innovative way of funding research into Friedreich’s ataxia.
My best to you all,
Gian Piero Sommaruga, president of BabelFAmily
PS -Those who would like to make a donation to BabelFamily can complete a bank transfer using the following information:
Asociación BabelFAmily: IBAN: ES81 0049 4429 8925 9000 6013 - SWIFT: BSCH ES MM
Thank you.
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