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THE HUMBLE HEROES
presents
One "Humble Heroes" Couple
What is a "Humble Hero"?
A person who is not looking for the light, not claiming to be a model.
A person who is determined to give love
And giving love, no matter what, is a truly heroic feat!
There is a “Humble HERO” in each and every one of us
"One needn't wait to be perfect to start something good!"
Abbot Pierre, founder of the Emmaus movement
I could have been a good family man.
I could have been just a good Swiss citizen with his own property...
with his 2 children, a boy and a girl,
a small car for the Mrs, a big car for the man of the house.
I could have been like that and maybe,
I might have been perfectly happy.
It would have been enough for me.
Marie-Anne, to me, is very very important,
and because This is what she truly wanted in her life,
I told myself : " I really must help her so that she can live her dream."
And in helping her, in fact I had the greatest fun!
It is true that my father is very imposing, his voice alone is imposing.
The word " passionate " always comes to mind.
I think that is the word that...
Both of them, that really describes them.
My mother was...
She was terrific and also with her children.
She always took the time to listen
to what we had to say to her.
They are really exceptional people.
She has wisdom, and she knows how to comfort
everyone, at any time.
I am totally on board right now.
I understand what they are doing. And I think it's great.
In a big family like that, out in the country,
that is not ordinary, and especially all shapes and colors.
We didn't go unnoticed.
They are an unusual couple, this is an unusual story.
I believe I'm incredibly lucky to know these people.
This is the story of a big man with a big voice,
and a big build and a happy personality,
and a dainty-looking wife with very intense eyes.
His name is Jean-Pierre, and her name is Marie-Anne.
They are Swiss nationals but Hamburg is the city
where they met on a fine day in 1963.
They discovered that they had the same ideals, believed in tolerance,
they were unconventional and above all, they loved people.
And that is the beginning.
What came next turned both Jean-Pierre and Marie-Anne
into a couple of Humble Heroes.
Biafra, 1968.
In this war, children were the first victims.
The Nigerian federal troops imposed a ruthless blockade
to force secessionist Biafra into submission.
There is one person, of course, who played a key part in your life:
Edmond Kaiser, founder of "Terre des hommes".
Seeing the carnage involving children,
it seemed impossible to just sit quietly in our own homes
content to think that somehow they were being taken care of
in hospitals that were destroyed or barely functional,
we absolutely needed to remove them from this carnage,
any children we could, any children still alive, and take them to Europe to be treated.
This was at the height of the Vietnam period and especially the Biafra situation.
There was no more food, nothing to drink, nothing left to eat,
and people were dying.
It was unacceptable.
At the time, we were being shown pictures in the magazines, in the press,
they showed us skeleton-thin kids
who had nothing to eat, it made us sick to our stomachs.
and that is when, actually at the time...
Marie-Anne and you must have been about 26, 27 years old, something like that.
Marie-Anne was a little younger.
And because of all this we started asking some questions.
There are so many children, in the world
who were going to become orphans, who were going to be alone,
who were going to need a great deal of care and a lot of love.
And we felt strong enough to give them what they needed.
So we decided not to have children.
We wanted to take care of other people's children.
That is how our awareness was born.
In fact it really started there,
because we didn't know about its existence.
Edmond Keiser had recently founded "Terre des hommes",
and Marie-Anne applied to work with Edmond Keiser,
and as soon as we had seen the in-depth work done by "Terre des hommes",
we thought: "We cannot take money from them",
and so we decided to work as volunteers,
and that is when we began to see all the misery
in our world,
and we realized that something had to be done.
How did the story of adoption begin in your family?
When we first applied for adoption,
the social worker who was investigating us
to see whether we were a good family
deserving to be entrusted with children,
asked us why we wanted to adopt foreign children.
We said : "We don't have a preference ".
"All we want is to take care of children
"who need us."
She told us that she knew about a little girl
who was in an institution
for children suffering from cerebral palsy.
She was 9 years old.
And it so happens that... Now, she has been with us for 40 years.
He says nice things to me, he says:
"Oh, I have to make something to eat for...
"Have to make something to eat for the old lady."
And also, he is... Oh, I am so happy to have him.
Personally, my satisfaction comes from the children.
It comes from their wellbeing,
their smile, everything about them.
They are the ones who give us the energy
to go the extra mile.
We were capable of loving even more children,
so we had to find another solution.
We were still living in Lausanne.
I began to look for houses not too far away.
And in 1972,
we found this house.
And that is when we really started
to have a few more children.
The job we are doing now as parents,
is really to provide the children with care,
to support them, to love them,
to give them everything they need.
First and foremost, affection, and food,
rest, education,
joy, sports,
basically, to give them as much as possible of what a child needs.
and once we were at that point,
we asked "Terre des hommes"
to entrust us, if the need arose, with children
who were deemed to be "unadoptable".
So on the one hand, you had, the children you had adopted,
who were living with you,
and then there were the babies who were coming in one after the other,
who needed care and who were given to you for a 6-month period,
sometimes a whole year.
It was a little like being a foster family
that took care of babies requiring special care
for different health issues.
His role was to take care of us because we are his children,
and he took care of the little babies.
Once they got well, they would go back home.
These are babies that could not be treated
in their own countries.
They would come for 1, 2, 3 operations for a few months.
We always told ourselves that we were the only people that these babies saw here.
And so we would say to ourselves that if our own child
were to have to undergo an operation,
we would go to see it every day.
And there was no reason, simply because this baby came from Africa,
that he wasn't " ours " that these babies shouldn't enjoy the same things.
So every day, either one of us or the other,
we would go to the hospitals and stay with the child.
It often happened that I would bring a child myself
to the operating room,
and put it to sleep myself,
so that the last face the child saw, was my own.
Then, after going to the recovery room,
The first face that child sees when it wakes up is my own.
We were a team,
together with the surgeons, the nurses
and us, to make sure the child was ok.
"Terre des hommes" A goodwill network.
Full surgical teams, Renowned physicians
who operate free of charge on children from all over the world.
Here, an Algerian child.
Do you operate on many of the little "Terre des hommes" children?
Yes. Many.
They come from everywhere, they have all sorts of heart lesions.
That is basically our way of contributing
to this movement which we feel very strongly about.
In 30 years, we have seen 250 children.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15, 16, 17, 18, 19.
Is it entirely normal to always have new babies around?
Because this makes you think of the cycle of life,
you have babies, then they grow,
you no longer have to get up at night, to feed them, heat the bottles, etc.
whereas for you,
it never stopped.
I guess you don't know Marie-Anne!
Some memories with Marie-Anne,
This is Marie-Anne with 3 babies then making food.
when she cooked, she always had a child in her arms,
one was on the dishwasher.
It is impossible to see her without a baby in her arms.
In Africa, they have a baby on their back,
and sometimes a second one on the front.
She had a 3rd one on her left arm
and is cooking with her right hand.
As far as I am concerned this choice goes way back.
I wanted to live with children.
It might be a different sort of life,
open to other people.
I have always been deeply struck by other people's misfortunes.
Maybe that is why, to a small extent...
those who have no-one,
have always touched my heart.
I have always wanted
to be closed to those who are really suffering.
She was passionate about children.
I don't know how she managed to have so much love to give.
I think this also came from her experience and the way she was raised.
Whereas I can testify that my own childhood
was very warm, whereas her childhood was the complete opposite.
She did not receive the love she should have when she was little.
and so she is giving it, she's giving it back,
to us and to other children who come from Africa.
Lastly, they might be different babies with different colors,
they might have health problems,
but I would like them to be able to live with the others,
despite their differences or their health challenges.
If we were tolerant, many things would never happen.
For me, that's important, and the older I get, the more important it is.
Having people who, at any point in time,
are capable of listening to someone,
this has unfortunately become very rare.
And then if you talk about this love,
which is unlimited,
for everyone.
It isn't just the children,
it's the family, the neighbor, your friends, your buddies,
People who drop in at 2 AM and who have problems.
She is there for them. She listens.
She gives them wisdom
and comforts them, whenever it is, whoever it is.
She loved people.
- That's right... - Yes...
- She is by your side. - I miss her.
Personally, I feel we were spoiled.
Yes, simply because of the fact...
...that we were lucky to have so many brothers and sisters.
The advantage we have, I'd say,
is the love we have for one another.
Well, of course, we fight, like everyone,
but what we learn more is to be tolerant,
to respect.
This is the way it should be more often,
that way, there would be children who wouldn't be alone.
There you are.
You have big brothers, you have little sisters,
you are bigger or smaller, so necessarily,
You're going to have more of a connection with some than with others.
If at one point things aren't good with someone, there is always someone else.
And growing up, you have the experience of your older brothers and sisters.
When there are only 2 children, they really have to get along.
When there are 15 of you, things can be easier.
It might be easier because they will always find
someone with whom they will have more affinities.
Between Martin and us, the difference is the tan,
otherwise, none.
Even he often said : "I too am adopted".
These are my brothers and sisters.
I couldn't say: "My adopted brothers and sisters",
or "my brothers and sisters in guardianship ".
For me, they are all my brothers and sisters. I appreciate them all.
Was it easy, to suddenly be invaded by other children
When you could have been an only son?
First of all, "invaded" isn't the right word.
In any case, it's not an invasion.
It happened little by little.
Children who were the same age as I,
Were playmates, and younger ones,
were also interesting to me.
An only child, I don't know what that is. I can't say.
Where were you?
I was outdoors.
We've always been this way, especially with the children
that we adopted.
Unfortunately, most of my children
started out in life, without any affection.
These are often children who were unwanted,
or who maybe have the experience of war.
These are children who have seen their parents die.
When they came to us, that is what they needed from us.
I think everyone needs affection.
we know what they have gone through.
I know what the children have gone through, my brothers and sisters.
So you think: "Maybe I'll leave a little bit more."
Jealous ? No. I don't think so.
But then we never forced our " permanent " children, let's say,
to take care of the babies, it was up to them...
If they felt like it, they would take care of them,
they would change their diapers, feed them...
They would decide to do it,
but we never gave them any instructions:
"Here, you go do this, you go do that."
I liked watching the babies or helping my parents
to either give them a milk bottle or feed them.
but it is true that it's quite a bit of work.
I admired my parents for that.
It really is a kind of real job.
They have to be changed,
you have to play with them, but you don't always have the time to play.
That's even.
9.
That's even. I mean uneven.
13.
Uneven.
18.
Even.
3.
Uneven.
10.
Uneven.
No, it isn't. You need to look at the last digit,
not the first one.
If I say 24,
or if I say 34,
don't look at the 3, look at the 4.
And 4 is an even number.
39.
Unev... Uh, even. Uneven?
Well obviously. If it isn't one, it's the other.
39, that ends with a 9. And 9 is uneven. Right?
143.
143 ? Uneven ?
- Yes! You see, you got it. - Yes.
Now there, you got it wrong at school. You hadn't understood it yet.
No, I hadn't understood.
A father who maybe Isn't like everyone else.
A father who stays at home, Taking care of things,
Helping out, who was doing a bit of what a mother does.
He took care of the children,
Fed everyone, cooked, Did a bit of everything.
Maybe this was a bit reckless.
I had a very good position In my oil company,
But now, I think that There is nothing for me to regret.
There was that revolutionary side
of Jean-Pierre's, at the time.
Working as he did in an oil company
Was maybe not exactly the kind of job That he could have stayed in
For his whole career In that company,
So he found a good way Of leaving
this multinational environment and moved into a multifamily situation.
Marie-Anne and you did not have any independent wealth,
so you had to juggle with finances.
Oh dear oh dear. That's a brawl right there.
But this was not
Marie-Anne's strong suit.
She trusted me entirely as far as that is concerned.
Financially, I was never afraid
because Jean-Pierre had the resources
to go and knock on the right doors.
So I always felt
certain that he would find a solution.
I told myself that even if we had 15 children,
I wanted my children to enjoy the same things
as did other children in their school.
So I wanted to go to the movies, go skiing, go on holidays.
I wanted...
In fact, they will tell you themselves.
They never had this feeling that there were so many of us.
We didn't want to be a clan,
on the contrary, we wanted to be open to other people.
We also received help from "Terre des hommes",
and through friends who had set up a non-profit association, which was a help.
We were not rich but we had everything we needed.
This non-profit association is called "Neocolors".
Yes.
That was probably at the end of the 1980s.
In our talks with Jean-Pierre, we realized
that he was finding it very difficult to make ends meet,
and we set up this association with the concept of sponsorship
in order to create a lasting foundation,
and not just look for one-shot donations
that would mean short-term survival,
but instead, get people to commit for a whole year.
When people started to know who we were and saw what we were doing,
it's incredible how generous People are.
And it just goes on.
You open the door, and you see 100 kg of potatoes,
you get carrots, salads, apples.
You don't know from whom, but there it is.
And then you have someone coming in who gives you an envelope
with 5 000 francs.
Why is it that you consider this problem to be your problem as well?
Just friendship, that's all.
You don't leave your friends in the lurch.
So we didn't even think twice about it.
We said, we've got to find a solution.
The real luck, in our case, was our friends from way back
who would drop in unannounced,
and even come eat at our house.
We would tell them: "Here, take a plate and come sit down."
Or others who would say: "We're coming tonight.
"Don't you do anything, we'll bring the meal. We'll make the food."
This friendship, this true friendship, This is... We need them.
I was involved in the life of the community as a member of the municipal council.
We talked about it with the people who were also on the council.
Everyone found it rather exceptional.
It was a political commitment, even if on a friendly basis,
but the underlying assumption was a political stance.
The world in which we live
generates an incredible number of inequalities,
and one of the most unfair situations is that of these neglected children
who Jean-Pierre and Marie-Anne have spent their lives taking care of
as best they could.
It is a wonderful satisfaction
to tell yourself that at the end of your life, in the "autumn of your age", as I say,
when, looking back, you can say:
"my goodness, we really did a good job."
We see our children, the way they are, how they live,
all that kindness, the respect they have for me.
And you can tell yourself: "well, at the end of the day,
"we were not useless on this earth."
That's right, I guess we are proud to think:
"looks like we weren't too bad."
Jean-Pierre, you and Marie-Anne,
you are a couple of Humble Heroes.
- It's an honor to know you. - Thank you.
And I thank you. It is a great pleasure to be here too.
Are you going to sleep up on the mountain?
On the mountain.
Are you going to go sleep with daddy Up on the mountain?
- Daddy. - That's right, and Maeva.
Maeva too.
Sub-titles by: Eclair Group