Chantale Fouquet.

Photograph taken by Evelyn Whitfield (née Sime) whilst on holiday staying with her penfriend Francoise Fouquet.

“This stable-type door was the only door into the house which was very small, basically one large room with stone floor, where family life took place, and two little lean-to rooms added. As the visitor, I had one of these little rooms to myself. I think the little girl slept with her parents in the other, my penfriend and her teenage sister slept behind a curtained-off area of the main room, and her teenage brother was boarded-out to extended family to make room for me. The little girl was about four years old and I remember being impressed that the mother did not wash ‘la petite’ with soap and water, but with a sponge soaked in olive oil. The family’s toilet was a boarded-off section in the barn, with pigs and goats alongside.” – Evelyn Whitfield

Donor number: 0101-025