In France, they are looking for introverts who will live on an island with seals, sheep and rabbits
The French government is looking for candidates who are willing to settle on the tiny uninhabited island of Kemenes off the coast of Brittany. The former couple, who lived on the island for ten years, plans to move to the mainland.
Kemenes is a small island one and a half kilometers long in the Molen archipelago. Seals, rabbits and a herd of black dwarf sheep of the Wessan breed live here. But there are no people. This island has been inhabited for at least a thousand years, but the last inhabitants left it 25 years ago. Then the French Coast Guard Agency (Conservatoire du Littoral) decided to buy Kemenes.
The agency could have simply created a nature reserve on the island, but it did otherwise. Conservatoire du Littoral decided to save the farm and started looking for volunteers who would live on the island and do farming.
In 2007, David and Suazique Cuisnier got perhaps the most romantic job: to live on a deserted island and keep an eye on it. Ten years later, the family, which had already managed to have children, wanted to move to the mainland, because they believe that children should live closer to school.
Now the authorities are choosing a couple from 20 candidates who will move to the island in 2018. According to David and Suazik, successful candidates will have a wonderful life.
The main condition for staying on the island was that the couple should earn their own living. Over the past ten years, the Cuisniers have excelled in various fields. David and Suazik grew potatoes, sold them over the Internet and sent them by mail from a neighboring island. They also hosted tourists in a guest house, raised sheep and collected edible algae.
The couple used only the resources that the island provides. Electricity was generated by wind turbines and solar panels, water was taken from a well, which was replenished with rainwater. "We have shown that it is possible to lead a normal life using only what nature gives. We have everything we need: gadgets and even an electric buggy that we drive around the island," David said.
An evening with the Cuisnier family is endless stories about the island and their adventures. One day, while walking with the children, Suazik found a large balloon in the bushes. Attached to it was a note from a couple from Dublin who lost a child who died of a genetic disease. Cuincier wrote to this couple and still keep in touch.
The Cuisniers insist that they are not Robinsons and are not cut off from the outside world.
Keywords: Volunteers | Desert island | Island | Couple | Work | France