Title : Holy Lola - Dominique Sampiero, Tiffany Tavernier - book
A plane lands in a land of rice paddies, a couple bickers over a lost hotel address: Jacques and Isabelle Cessac have just landed in Cambodia! Barely have they crossed the airport corridors when the monsoon hits. A taxi driver steps forward and grabs their luggage: Adopter? Married for ten years, Jacques, 34, a rural general practitioner, and Isabelle, 29, live in Auvergne. Until the day everything falls apart... Isabelle discovers her sterility. A few months later, and to put an end to the vicious circle of medicalization, they send a file to the MAI (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and, like all adopters, leave unconscious, pumped up. It's their first trip abroad, and their arrival in Phnom Penh is a measure of their change of scenery! A ballet of traffic, children playing on the sidewalks despite the rain, contrasting neighborhoods, colorful crowds at the markets, clusters of Moby Dop zigzagging across the road. The reception is frosty. The official, in a hurry, doesn't even look up from his desk. When Jacques asks for information about the procedure, he offers them a list of steps written by an adopter, giving them a fragile thread of guidance. And the grueling round of orphanages begins. Then the confrontation with the Cambodian authorities, also overwhelmed by work. The mistrust and jealousy of other adopters. The false joys, the endless discussions about the price of a taxi ride, the twists and turns surrounding signatures, the resourcefulness, the fear of networks and the temptation of trafficking. And above all, the anxiety of failure and returning childless. Every day, the trivial rubs shoulders with depression. After a month, when everything suggested they were going to fail, luck smiled on them: by bringing toys to the children of HOLY BABY, an orphanage they had visited several times, Jacques and Isabelle were given a little Lola, aged eight months. But first they had to pass the tests at the Pasteur Institute, find out if she was HIV positive or negative, have her lung x-rays done and finally spend an indefinite period dealing with the bakshish, the various Cambodian ministries, to obtain their approval for this adoption, with the anxiety until the last minute that it would all fail. Holy Lola is the story of a successful adoption but also of an initiatory journey to the heart of a country martyred by history, a journey to the heart of oneself and selfishness, fears to overcome: just to become parents.
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EAN : 9782246656913
- Used book
- Book in good condition
- The book matches the photo
