J'ai eu un autre mois très occupé, parce que à mon lycée nous avons actuellement les examens, donc il a été difficile pour moi de travail sur Shared Histories. Mais j'ai encore fait beaucoup des petites choses vers mon projet.

The senior students involved in our Shared Histories project at school went down to the Hocken Archives for an afternoon to spend time researching and finding resources for our school project. There were some amazing sources available to look at. For example, I spent most of my time reading through the correspondence of a soldier called Gerald Paulin to his family. 

When reading through the many letters, and handling the physical paper, it really struck me that these were written by an actual soldier, who had actually fought for his country almost 100 years ago.

Whilst I have been doing research already, the majority of my primary sources (e.g. letter/diary extracts) have been embedded in secondary sources such as books and theses, so it was certainly different to hold in my hands the primary sources, to know that they had been held by a loved one of/and Mr Paulin years ago.

One particular letter stood out for me, for the sheer fact that it was ended so sweetly. Gerald signed off his letter with:

“With love & xxxxxxxxxx [10 kisses!] to yourself & Dovy. From your loving brother Gerald”

My friend Emily and I also found out that we’ve won the Jeunes Auteurs 2014 writing competition! The premise of which is that you’re given a story starter in French, and that you have to finish writing a short story in French from what you are given.

Emily and I chose the starter about a man receiving notice that all able French men had to join the war effort (the Great War). We continued the story about Jules and his wife Felicity, through the form of letters to show the passing of time, and present events occurring during Jules’ time on the Front.

Here’s an exert from our story:

« 3 juillet 1916 : Mon cher Jules, cela me fait de la peine de penser que tu viens déjà de repartir et que je vais devoir attendre dieu sait combien de mois avant de te revoir. Prions pour que cette guerre finisse bientôt et que tous vous puissiez retrouver vos épouses et les soulager de l’inquiétude qui les ronge. Je me ferais moins de soucis si tu m’écrivais plus souvent, mon chéri… »

Cela commença comme n’importe quelle prise de quart. Simon et Jules se tenaient à leur poste. Jules prit un instant pour sortir la photo de Félicité, en toucher les bords à présent froissés avant de la remettre dans sa poche de poitrine intérieure, avec ses lettres les plus récentes. Mais la folie avait dû reprendre Simon, ou bien avait-il bu après tout, car il revenait d’une terrible bataille. Toujours est-il qu’il alluma une cigarette. Avant même que Jules ait eu le temps de se jeter sur lui pour le coucher à terre, il entendit un tir, puis un autre. Simon le regarda, un rictus jovial barrait son visage tandis qu’il s’effondrait de tout son poids sur Jules. Pour Jules, le temps s’était suspendu. Il entendit des cris sourds. Simon glissait sur lui, son sang se répandait sur ses mains. Jules ressentit une douleur aigue à l’épaule, lui aussi avait été touché par le coup de feu. Mais Simon avait eu plus de chance puisqu’il pouvait quitter cette maudite guerre.

Columba was lucky enough to have a visit from Pascale, who gave a presentation to the school on the Shared Histories project, and who also came to our usual Columba Shared Histories meeting!

Emma, Harriet, and I also met up with Pascale for lunch seeing as she was in Dunedin, and we had a lovely time, discussing the Shared Histories experience we’ve had so far, what the plans for the future are, and of course, the trip to France!

It was brilliant to have Pascale around as seeing her made the whole experience more real for me, in that in just over a month us Young Ambassadors will be going to France!