A labyrinth of fruit trees

After over a year of existence, the Symphorien Inclusion Center will celebrate its “cohesion day” on Saturday September 10. The French Quarter association therefore received its various partners and guests in order to show the various actions that it conducts. The program of the afternoon: visit of the different sites (home and garden of hope), distribution of helmets under the pavilion…

Despite it being dark outdoors, it also provided the opportunity to inaugurate the labyrinth of fruit trees (pomegranate, papaya, mango, avocado, guava trees) which is located in the heart of the garden of hope."The purpose of this labyrinth is to attract tourists to this site. By developing ecotourism, we hope that they will stop by rather than simply cross the area." explained Marie-Paule Rousseau-Cornette, the association’s founder and director. She specified that the shrubs are one meter high for the moment, but the idea is that they will grow to two meters in height. The garden of hope stretches over a 10,000 m2 site and is located on the heights of Oyster Pond. It therefore offers a panoramic view of the ocean and the coast.

It was part of the CSI’s global project and was inaugurated in May 2016. Afterwards, they had to start working the land and do the landscaping, parcel after parcel. In July, the members of the association started to sow seeds and plant trees. The aim is to allow young people from French Quarter and the island in general to be able to go back to the sources by cultivating the earth, which is what Marie-Paule Rousseau calls "our wealth of days gone by". This project is being conducted with young people from the PJJ, the Fore center, the GRETA, as well as the middle school and high school as part of the SAS program which allows them to come and learn farming rather than to stay at home when they have been excluded from school. In addition to allowing the younger generations to learn a trade, this giant garden should please everyone. In the long term, you will be able to come pick the vegetables that you want to buy as is already the case on dozens of farms in the mainland. "There are already peas, peppers and spinach, but by October it will be even more beautiful" added the director.

(pictures'copyright : CSI)