It was through a very gradual process, through the reading of fundamental texts written by the Josefa Foundation, through periodic meetings and, especially, long personal exchanges with Gilbert, that the real face of Josefa appeared to me, beyond the charitable works that one might expect of any number of philanthropic endeavours or actions…
- I found out that Josefa was proposing a real reciprocity through encounters and exchanges, asymmetric in their content but equivalent, through services, resources and wealth that are shared, without any form of superiority whatsoever, each person bringing what he or she has and what he or she is.
- Also the sharing of respective fragilities and vulnerabilities.
- I also understood that the search for financing was completely original: first, the desire to build up an initial capital which would allow the Foundation to be once and for all self-sufficient in a sustainable manner.
- Then, the proposal of the contributors’ commitment to an economic project, either through the purchase of sections of the Josefa House (property rights), or by becoming a sustainable partner beyond one’s financial contribution (donations).
- Above all, I found Josefa to be a real social undertaking, ambitious for its small scale, called to fundamentally change the viewpoints and relationships of those who are called to live together.
Certainly, what I found more difficult to accept was the term "migrant" itself, which, for me, connotes a remote one-off trip with, in a way, no return, even if it can take a very long time to go from one point to another. In my culture we are more familiar with other terms, such as "pilgrims", which connotes the image of the road, the route, the travelers, the missions… I completely accept and understand the symbolic aspect of migration for the home-body that I’ve become, and at the same time I stumbled over the word and its variations: "all migrants" which is the heart of the Josefa Foundation. But, the road continues and I have not lost hope to adhere to it more and more.
Jean-Louis
