Member Highlight #1 Anne-Marie

Member Highlight #1 Anne-Marie

Allies of ATD Fourth World Movement are people of all walks of life acting in solidarity with people living in extreme poverty. They reach out to their neighbors and colleagues to engage them in building a more inclusive society.

In January as part of a worldwide effort to recognize and strengthen the personal commitments of ATD Fourth World Allies and their role in overcoming extreme poverty, Ally Anne-Marie Marais organized a meeting of Allies in New York City. The subject of the meeting was their experiences as allies, their personal journeys, the meaning of their commitment, and the expectations for working together in the future.As a long-time Ally, Anne-Marie has been involved with ATD Fourth World in her home country, France, later in Spain, and for the past three years in New York as her family has lived in these different places. During her stay in the United States she reached out to other Allies in the US as a part of the international initiative to strengthen the alliance between ATD Fourth World members around the world. Below, she shares the meaning of her involvement with ATD Fourth World and of this meeting.

I got to know ATD Fourth World when I was 18 years old in France. I started by transcribing tape records of ATD Fourth World Volunteer Corps member meetings. It was a very important first step because I jumped into a world that I didn’t know.Years later when my family moved to Madrid, Spain, I met ATD Fourth World again and started my involvement as a French teacher for people living in poverty. This is when I really became an Ally.

I understood that teaching French was not only about learning French but also about building relationships. It was a way of creating opportunities for people living in poverty to share what they always wanted to share with people who were not from their communities.

It was about creating links between people who did not know each other.

There was one time we went to the museum together. It was the first time for many people to visit the museum. I was thinking, “Wow, as an Ally we really can open doors.” But more than that, inside the museum, I felt the security guards and other visitors looking at us suspiciously.

It was this moment that I fully understood the meaning of being on the side of people living in poverty,

because I felt this different way of looking at us, this discrimination. It opened my mind and I felt really connected.

"The meaning of my commitment has been to open doors but also to share – because there’s always something to learn from people living in poverty."

I was also a part of the regional team that presented ATD Fourth World in schools. Our role was to start conversations with children and try to get them think about poverty, to plant some seeds. It was not very easy as I was not a teacher. But it was also a way to learn more about ATD Fourth World because I needed to be able to answer the very challenging questions children had. Questions like: “How is it different when you’re born into poverty or when you become poor?”

You can’t answer these questions with one word, and it’s difficult to answer on behalf of people living in poverty when you don’t have their experiences. We shared documents, movies, and testimonies to answer these questions. I had to try to deeply understand what is the meaning of extreme poverty.When our family moved to New York, it was interesting and also challenging for me to discover a society that I really didn’t know. I learned a lot through getting involved in Street Library, Festivals of Learning, and my mission to discover who the ATD Fourth World Allies are in New York and in the US. It was interesting to discover how it’s possible for Allies to work with the ATD Fourth World team here. I discovered how we could build a way of working together even with different cultures and personalities. Sometimes it can even be difficult to communicate. But even when it’s not easy, we try. It’s interesting to see how multi-cultures match ATD Fourth World.

Throughout my involvement, I have understood that people living in extreme poverty are excluded from the beauty of art and culture, and they have a curiosity and aspirations for that. The meaning of my commitment has been to open doors but also to share – because there’s always something to learn from people living in poverty. I’ve learned about perspectives that I could have never known without their experiences. This recent ATD Fourth World Allies meeting in New York, was an achievement for me – an achievement after three years of reaching out to different Allies. The meeting was so strong for me. There was a very high level of sharing and thinking together, as well as the need to be together to speak about our commitment. From our conversations, I also feel that ATD Fourth World Allies need to not only be connected with people living in poverty and Volunteer Corps Members, but also other Allies of ATD Fourth World in other countries.

I think we are starting the process of strengthening Allyship and in doing so building ATD Fourth World Movement. For me it’s what I really appreciate. I have a dream that Allies will be creative in different ways - about thinking, ideas, and in ways of working together. We are in this movement, and for me that’s different from other NGOs and non-profits. It’s meaningful that all of us can explore different ways to achieve the goal of eradicating poverty, and in this way we are all together in dignity.

If you're interested or would like more information on ATD  Fourth World Allies Meetings, please contact Lisa Moussalli at

lisa.steinbrueck@gmail.com.