Welcome lunch break, this Wednesday, at 2:30 p.m. Abdoul Soumana looks drawn despite a quick and half-restorative nap. The last few nights have certainly been agitated by a 13-month-old little guy suffering from gastro and a cold. But above all, the one who is a breeding technician for Poulailles de Kerguilavant is working hard, like the whole team, during this pre-holiday period.
Abdoul, now 27 years old, knows music: he has worked for three years on this Pleuvenn farm renowned for its organic chickens. He arrived there thanks to a higher education course which took him from Niger to the Ploufragan Zoopôle, via Algeria and the agricultural high school of Kernilien, near Guingamp. With two BTS and a poultry specialization certificate in hand, the student quickly aroused the desires of farm managers who were having great difficulty recruiting.
Job satisfaction
For some, neither his skin color nor his African origin was a subject. “It was very easy to integrate into this company. Guénaël Kernévez's family is friendly and supportive. She helped me find accommodation and furniture,” comments the young man, quite happy with his job and the great trust built into a working relationship. “Anyway, if I hadn’t enjoyed my job, I would have left.”
My employer's family is friendly and supportive. She helped me find accommodation and furniture.
After signing a permanent contract, Abdoul Soumana quickly left the Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs de Quimper – where we met him almost three years ago to the day – for an apartment in the town of Pleuven. A guarantee of stability and serenity, he has settled into decent accommodation for a life of work. “I don't have much time to be part of a club or an association,” regrets the man who now says he is interested in volunteering with the firefighters.
Garden and apples to alleviate loneliness
The fact remains that, 6,000 km from home, the evenings in Fouesnant are sometimes very long, even with a day of work under your belt. To overcome this loneliness which sometimes made him doubt, Abdoul first rebuilt a relational network. The brother of his boss, now retired, with whom he gets along particularly well, for example. To which are added a few encounters throughout everyday life. “I also regularly see compatriots in Audierne, Brest or Morlaix.”
When I feel too blue, I take my car and go to Guingamp to find a family who welcomed me. It's true that the winters are long here.
Abdoul also knows how to activate the deep bond of friendship he has established with the Crenn family in the Guingamp region. “When I feel too blue, I take my car and go up. It’s true that the winters are long here.”
Solitary, curious and hardworking, the young poultry farmer got into the game of vegetable gardening during the good seasons with a little help from a professional market gardener from Mousterlin. Abdoul also knew how to collect the apples shunned in recent years by the owners of Kerguilavant, to make a juice whose manufacturing secrets he is beginning to understand.
Became a father and joined by his wife
Because Abdoul Soumana wants to continue learning. He discreetly harbors hope for his country: “Niger is rich in groundwater. If young people reinvest agricultural activity and the land with today's technologies and knowledge, there are possibilities for development and autonomy,” he argues. He also took action by purchasing 2,000 m2 near his parents' home, on the outskirts of Niamey. His brothers developed a small plantation of lemon and mango trees there. Abdoul visits his family once a year during his long vacation which he took in winter.
For the moment, my life plan is here with my wife and my son.
Calendar and major projects were shaken up by the birth in Niger of Billo, her little boy, now 13 months old. Redistribution of cards.
His wife, Nadia, 23, and his son joined him in Pleuven in September. She wants to finish her degree in social and family economics and work here. Abdoul initiated a procedure to obtain French nationality. “For the moment, my life plan is here with my wife and my son,” he smiles. “I need to find a little house with a garden. I need to be close to nature.”
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