Kriva Palanka, 11 August 2023 (MIA) — French adventure travelers driving 30-year-old Peugeot 205 cars through Europe as part of the Europ'Raid cultural and solidarity rally have brought and donated 1,600 kilograms of school supplies and sports equipment from France to Kriva Palanka's St. Joakim Krchovski Elementary.

According to MIA's Kriva Palanka correspondent, French Embassy chargée d'affaires Emmanuelle Gardille addressed Thursday an event welcoming the donation. She thanked the Europ'Raid participants on their solidarity and the elementary school French teacher Elena Nikolovska for contributing to French language learning in North Macedonia.

Kriva Palanka Mayor Sasho Mitovski gave thanks that the local elementary had been chosen to receive the Europ'Raid donation for the third time. He praised the tour organizers as being "role models for young people to be kind and care for each other, help and respect each other," adding that knowledge of foreign languages opened doors to Europe and the world.

Europ'Raid organizers Benjamin Laidin and Jérémy Blandin were present at the event. They conceived the rally in 2014, when twelve students from the west of France took part in the first tour across 19 countries in their four Peugeot 205 cars carrying 200 kilograms of medical and educational furniture to an orphanage in Ukraine.

Laidin and Blandin were joined by Europ'Raid logistics manager Juliette Bertrant.

"We are traveling to get to know the culture and tradition of twenty countries in twenty days and we are also bringing school supplies to Romania, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia," Bertrant said.

She said 23 teams each brought 70 kilograms of supplies to North Macedonia, or a total of over 1,600 kilograms for the needs of 800 students in Kriva Palanka.

"These charitable activities make us happy because we can make other people, the children, happy," Bertrant said, thanking the Kriva Palanka mayor, the French Embassy chargée d'affaires, and the school's French teacher for helping organize the event.

Pointing out that the donated supplies in 2019 and 2022 had been given to underprivileged children from the community, Nikolovska said the school supplies from France were an additional motivation for her students to continue learning French.

After the open-air cultural event ended, the Europ'Raid participants set up a temporary camp at the Kriva Palanka stadium where they spent the night.

The participants in the eighth Europ'Raid began their tour of 20 countries in Europe on July 29 and will travel through Aug. 19. Each team has collected and will donate 70 kilograms of school or sports equipment, including school backpacks, writing supplies, notebooks, balls, board games, picture books and books in French, sports clothes, and shoes to young francophones, MIA's correspondent wrote. mr/