Posted Jan 12, 2023, 5:57 PMUpdated on Jan 12, 2023 at 6:01 PM
Léa Langereau is the youngest of the thirteen women responsible for running one of the sixty-two community houses of the Compagnons du Devoir. This post of provost, she wanted it, moreover in a city – Rodez – and a department – Aveyron – that she did not know. A real challenge for this twenty-something who has always built her professional career with discernment.
Born in Angers, this daughter of a farmer and a landscape gardener developed a passion for food very early on and pastry specifically. “I like to showcase products, transform matter to make something beautiful and good, to bring pleasure to people, emotion”, she argues. But before getting down to business, she first decides to“Learning management skills”. She passed a hotel and restaurant techno baccalaureate in Saint-Nazaire and went on to a BTS in cooking in La Rochelle.
A family history
Pastry, she chose to train in a very special school. “My journeyman mechanic uncle told me a lot about companionship based on learning a trade, community and travel. I liked it “, remembers Leah. This badminton and hiking enthusiast felt above all “the need to belong to a group, even a family with values of generosity and mutual aid”, these values which she missed during her classic school career, she admits. When she joined the Compagnons du Devoir, she felt that she would find her place there and that she could « [s]flourish in [s] our job and with others”.
Like Léa, 11,000 young people (14% of whom are girls) are trained each year in one of the thirty manual trades offered by the organization, whether in construction, industry (bodywork, foundry, mechanics, etc.). ), flexible materials (shoemaking, leather goods, etc.) or the taste industry. From the end of the third, you can follow a course ranging from the CAP to the professional license through continuing education reserved for over 25s wishing to improve their skills or be reconverted . The training is always done alternately thanks to a partnership with more than 28,000 companies.
On the road to learn the trade
To perfect their craft, young people set off on the roads of France and/or abroad for three to five years. “It’s a unique human and professional adventure”exclaims Léa, who traveled the country from 2018 to 2022, changing city and company every year. “I discovered new techniques and know-how. » And on the way get a CAP Boulangerie, a CAP Pâtissier and the Mention Complémentaire Pâtisserie!
The young woman successively put down her luggage in Paris, Pau and Strasbourg to work in renowned bakeries and pastry shops, such as L’Essentiel created by companion Anthony Bosson, who was awarded for the quality of its breads, or the Gross pastry-chocolate factory, a Alsatian secular establishment. It is moreover in Strasbourg that Léa carried out her “masterpiece or reception work”an unmissable event. to prove that we know our job” and claim the title of companion.
“I made a brunch for a hundred people, with fifty different products: savory, pastries, confectionery, chocolate… and an artistic touch”, she enumerates proudly. A job that took him six weeks of preparation “on my personal time, in parallel with my work in the company”she insists.
Animate an intergenerational living space
Nourished by this experience, the young pastry chef decided to stay with the association. She volunteers for a position of salaried responsibility. At 24, she became provost of the House of Rodez and its six secondary sites in Aveyron, Lozère, Cantal and Lot. “My role is not to manageshe warns immediately. It is to bring out the best in everyone, to support and promote the links and the transmission of the values of solidarity and generosity between the generations who rub shoulders within the House. » A state of mind that is the strength of the companionship registered in the intangible cultural heritage of Unesco since 2010.
La Maison, nestled in a former 16th century mansion near Notre-Dame Cathedral, is entirely in keeping with this tradition. It offers board and lodging to 65 itinerant people on what they call the Tour de France, practicing around ten trades: carpenters, agricultural mechanics, saddlers, masons, plumbers roofers, etc. It also welcomes around twenty young people preparing for the Technical Certificate for Higher Professions in Stonemasonry, a diploma given only at the Institut de la Pierre de Rodez, close to the House. “I also take care of partnerships with local companies that take on these young people on a work-study program”, adds Lea.
Proximity and openness
The atmosphere is intended to be reassuring and friendly for these homeless people who, for the most part, have left their parents and find themselves alone far from home. The provost applies to it with benevolence. She organizes outings, “talks (theme evenings editor’s note)” and wants to promote actions of openness to others. Like, these Open House days planned for this weekend. “We hope for the arrival of 300 people and at least 30 pre-registrations”assesses Lea.
Living there, the young woman wants to leave the door of her office open and participate in collective meals. And the predominantly male environment (three quarters of homeless people are men) poses no problem for him. “I’m perfectly comfortable. It’s more a matter of character than gender.”she assures.
In her missions, she can count on her partner, ” the House maid “, a social worker and companion’s wife responsible for the accommodation, catering and well-being of young people. A “maternal function” present in all the houses of the institution and occupied by women, unlike the post of provost, which is 80% male. “Companionship was originally only reserved for menrecalls Lea. It only opened up to women in 2004 and they are gradually taking their place. »
The young companion will manage her provost for three years. At the same time, she intends to obtain her BTM Pâtissier (technical trades certificate), the sesame “to one day become my own boss”. An entrepreneurial choice adopted by one Compagnon du Devoir in two.
