PALAISEAU, France (AP) – When the Gandais family decided to host a refugee at their home in a middle class neighborhood outside Paris, they assumed their guest would be a Syrian or an Iraqi fleeing war.
Instead, a 25-year-old journalist with a young family in the former French colony of Guinea is the person sleeping gratefully in a spare bedroom, sharing unfamiliar food and nourishing hopes for a better life.
As anti-immigrant sentiment and anti-Muslim views find footing in Europe and elsewhere, the Gandais family has found welcoming a refugee into the house to be a source of happiness.
“The experience is much more enriching than costing,” says Loic Gandais, 56, a public servant for the Paris region.
His wife, Murielle Gandais, 54, first raised the idea last summer, responding to the French government’s call for solidarity amid the migrant crisis in Europe. She and Loic have three adult children in their 20s -two of them still living at home. Everyone quickly agreed they wanted to be a host family.