Giving back to our new neighbours in France

The Amadeus Airline IT team recently moved to a new campus in Bel Air, near Nice, France. This new location happens to be within walking distance of the Henri Wallon Institute part of UGECAM PACA and Corsica group, a specialised institution that serves children, adolescents and young adults aged 4-20 years old with disabilities. You can actually see the institute from our new Airline IT campus.

Julia Sattel , our Airline IT SVP, wanted to organise a team building exercise that would go beyond just the fun aspect and serve our new local community as well. So we teamed up with Splash Community Projects to build a family friendly space where the children can play and relax, which is especially important for the kids who reside full time at the institute.
 

After much work, a little bit of anxiety (storms were looming for the first two days) and some logistical challenges, we built a travel themed play area that includes the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, Easter Island Moai statues, a desert island BBQ pit and of course an airplane centre piece complete with cockpit, seating and propellers.

The structures are also almost exclusively made of wood and the paints used are water based, which were important aspects for us from a sustainability viewpoint. There are also plenty of chairs and tables, so people can spend more time outdoors enjoying the weather our region is famous for.

The deadline was tight: we had 3 days to build the playground, from the foundations to the final touches. We worked hard, we worked fast, and even though we got bruises, cuts, blisters and sun burns, they were eased when the kids got involved by passing around the snacks they had baked especially for us. Seeing them really gave all of us that extra motivation to work even harder and build something that will truly make a difference to their daily lives.

Have a look at some of the pictures of the new play area and be sure to let us know what you thought of the project if you helped out!