In 1956, more than a thousand French people from Indochina were housed in the reception center at Sainte-Livrade, in Lot-et-Garonne. In a soft and touching sound creation, they remember.
The reception center for French people from Indochina in Sainte-Livrade, Lot-et-Garonne, in June 2008. The “camp” has been renovated but little has changed since 1956. AFP photo
Published on April 04, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
AAmid the songs of birds, an elderly woman recounts an uprooting. That of the little girl she was between 1954 and 1956, when the French from Indochina were repatriated following the War of Independence. Then, a Buddhist tune, dogs and the sound of footsteps lead us to the reception center for French people from Indochina in Sainte-Livrade, in Lot-et-Garonne, an internment camp in which people repatriated from ‘Indochina and their children.
At the microphone of sound creators Benoît Bories and Aurélien Caillaux, the inhabitants deliver their memories, often sweet and joyful: “It was like a little Vietnam”, “a big playground”, “a summer camp”. Today, they maintain the pagodas, reproduce traditional recipes… The Guardians of the Temple thus puts on the air, with delicacy and respect, the way in which these children, who have grown up, feed their “memory tank” and honor their culture, with an almost mystical devotion. Fascinating and touching.
