MOFA donated several hundred books to the Senegalese Ministry of Education in order to promote the use of the Spanish language in the West African nation.

The first stage of the operation was handled by AGS Movers Spain in July last year. AGS Spain secured the safe transportation of the books to an airbase in Madrid (see our previous short article on this subject). This second intervention, supported by AGS Senegal, consisted of transporting books from the Ouakam Air Base in Dakar to the offices of the Senegalese Ministry of Education.

A main sponsor of this operation, AGS delivered over seven pallets of dictionaries and encyclopaedias totaling 1759 books.

The official donation ceremony took place on 14 December 2018 at the Senegalese Ministry of Education, in the presence of Mr. Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, Minister of Education, Mr. Alberto Antonio Virella Gomes, Ambassador of Spain in Senegal and Mr Jean-François Philippon-Bue, AGS Senegal Manager (pictured above, from left to right).

The school, which is a member of the AEFE network (Agency for French teaching abroad), held its annual cross-country running competition.

About ten AGS-branded tents were lent to the international school and marked out the course of the race. Nearly 2000 high school and college students participated in the event.

AGS Morocco partnered with the school for the second year and will take part in many other outdoor high school and college sports events in future.

Ibrahim Ingar launched 1,000 Sourires in 2006 with the aim to broaden the horizons of children who have never had the opportunity to escape their daily circumstances.

Children take a journey to mainland France

In May this year, for the ninth time in twelve years, the organisation took a group of children on a trip to France. The nine little football enthusiasts undertook their first flight and enjoyed a programme fit for a prince during their stay in France.

From Paris to Marseille, travelling through Lyon and Albertville, they attended League 1 soccer games at the Parc des Princes and Vélodrome Stadium in Marseille, visited Disneyland, tested a helicopter simulator, ice skated, met famous personalities involved with the association, rode horses and swam in the champions swimming-pool at the Le Cercle des nageurs de Marseille.

The association also organises many events on the island throughout the year. Since 2006, 215 operations have been orchestrated, which were directed at the overall well-being of children. AGS Reunion has made a long-term commitment and will support 1,000 Sourires again next year.

Planète Urgence visited Madagascar in June this year and Fabris, together with the organisation’s ambassadors – Partnerships and Development Director, Muriel Roy and Executive Director, Thomas Boisserie – visited one of the reforestation projects created in Madagascar, before engaging with local business leaders about the project.

MOBILITAS, Planete Urgence partner since 2009

The MOBILITAS Group is always looking into ways to reduce our carbon footprint and has joined forces with Planète Urgence in 2009 by participating in a tree planting project as trees are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Through its branches, the group has committed to planting a tree for each international move completed, and for every 15 boxes of archives stored in our warehouses.

Reforestation and community development

The “Environment and Development” programme supported by Planète Urgence in Madagascar is used to reforest degraded forests from slash and burn agriculture, illegal logging and the production of fuel for domestic use. In line with reforestation activities, the programme also makes it possible to set up developmental projects for the island’s rural communities (poultry farming, beekeeping and breeding of wild silkworms).

Visit to a nursery in the Itasy region

During their visit to the Itasy region, about two and a half hours’ drive from Antananarivo, Fabris visited a nursery and met with local representatives of the association. The Itasy region is one of the regions where the Planète Urgence programme operates, in partnership with several grassroots community organisations, where they focus on the enrichment of the tapias forest, an endemic tree from Madagascar.

The restoration of this forest goes beyond a purely environmental aspect, it also allows the villagers to find resources that naturally grow in the forest such as fruits, medicinal plants, mushrooms and even silkworms – which is generating a booming farming business. Equally important to growing tapias trees are trees planted to meet some of the basic needs including the need for fuel (eucalyptus, acacias trees) and fruit trees to increase the incomes of local farmers. Fabris was excited to see the result of this action in the field:

“I’ve heard about the operation “a move = a planted tree” when I first started at the company. I thought it was good, but it seemed virtual to me. After witnessing the work completed by Planète Urgence I can testify that there are many trees in nurseries and trees planted, and this operation has a real positive impact on the environment and on the people who live in this region.”

 

Presentation to the French-Malagasy Chamber of Commerce

Later that day, Planète Urgence was invited to present their operations to the member companies of the French-Malagasy Chamber of Commerce (CCIFM), to encourage them to become involved in the financing of the association’s work locally. The presence of the AGS Madagascar Manager was welcomed and Fabris accompanied them on this mission. Fabris presented to 25 company representatives and talked about the MOBILITAS Group’s involvement in this environmental cause and the concrete evidence he had discovered during his visit.

The Planète Urgence project in a few figures

Planète Urgence planted 7,458,847 trees worldwide between 2007 and 2017, including 1,821,609 in Madagascar. MOBILITAS has contributed to the planting of 220,000 trees since its commitment in 2009, including 71,900 in Madagascar.

Read more:

http://www.planete-urgence.org/environnement-et-developpement/environment-and-development-madagascar.htm?langue=en

The books, which mainly consisted of dictionaries and encyclopedias, were taken to an air force base in Madrid before being transported to Senegal.

“We are very proud to have been part of this great initiative. We are always eager to offer our services for humanitarian and educational purposes,” AGS Movers Madrid Branch Manager Antonio Gonzalez said.

AGS Singapore had a lot of fun and look forward to similar events within the French community in Singapore!

An unusually high rainfall during the monsoon season, which started in July 2018, has led to severe floods and has affected the south Indian state of Kerala. It has been the worst flooding in Kerala in nearly a century with over 483 people reportedly dead and 14 missing.

On 29 August, AGS Hyderabad collaborated with several good Samaritans within the city to arrange collections of food supplies, clothes, linen and tarpaulin to be donated to flood victims through Goonj.

The school provided the venue for the event while a local company provided warm meals for the children. AGS Movers Bucharest was happy to participate in the initiative by donating gift bags consisting of chocolates, toys, fruits, cakes and candy to each child.

AGS Movers Bucharest was also excited to be a part of the International Women’s Association’s (IWA) Christmas bazaar this year.

The IWA aims to promote exchanges between expatriate and Romanian women through meetings, charitable activities and to discover trips to the country. The annual Christmas event brings together representatives of the business world and the diplomatic sphere. The aim of the event was to raise funds to help people from disadvantaged communities.

This year, 49 countries were represented through food stands, crafts and entertainment. Profits from sales and other contributions collected throughout the day were donated to charities in the Bucharest region. The grants will used to support various short-term projects.

AGS Movers Bucharest contributed to the event by means of a financial donation.

Related:

Team Introduction: AGS Bucharest and AGS Coordination
Secure storage for your personal effects – AGS Bucharest

The three-day event, which took place from 17^th to 19^th November 2017, covered a total of 300 kilometres through the mountainous terrain of the Vietnamese central highlands to the coastal city of Nha Trang.

The 8^th Annual Saigon Children Charity Cycle Adventure welcomed enthusiastic cyclists from all over the world. Founded in 1992, the Saigon Children Charity (SCC) supports over 2000 disadvantaged Vietnamese children with scholarships every year.

This year the event raised a total amount of US$70,000, which is an incredible achievement. AGS Vietnam Manager, Kevin Hamilton said:

“The event presented an opportunity for me to support the local community as well as the physical challenge to cycle 300 kilometres through the mountainous terrain of Vietnam. I’ve always had a desire to contribute and help the children of Vietnam. The SCC event provided the perfect opportunity for me to make a difference.”

“The organisation was founded to help disadvantaged Vietnamese children get an education, a fairer start in life and escape from poverty through education and training. It is well known that education has the power to break the cycle of poverty and help children realise their dreams. However, there are still many children in Vietnam who have limited educational opportunities and are at risk of leaving school due to poverty and other social related issues.”

“Thanks to the generous support of our donors, the SCC Child Development Programme provides scholarships to around 2000 disadvantaged children and young people, from kindergarten to university. It enables them to continue their education and reach their full potential,” Kevin said.

Created in 1985, ADIFLOR aims to promote reading and cultural diversity around the world. The association donated 11,000 new books to the Alliances Françaises in Madagascar and the Madagascar library. The association handed over the books to the Malagasy beneficiaries at the 16th Summit of the Francophonie held in Antananarivo in November 2016.

The official donation ceremony took place on 23 November 2016 at the premises of the Alliance Française of Antananarivo, in the presence of Gilles Tonelly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Monaco, several representatives of the Alliance Française, Christine de Gunzbourg, ambassador for ADIFLOR, and Fabris Grujic, Manager of AGS Madagascar.

AGS, together with the Monaco Government, assisted with the transportation of the cargo from Le Havre to Antananarivo. The 11,000 books, which were distributed amongst the 29 French Alliances of the island, will fuel the thirst for learning from some 42,000 members of the Alliance Française network and thus promote the teaching of French and the development of schooling.