Christian and Marie-France des Pallières’ Ordinary Courage: For a Child’s Smile, Part 1 of 2

Over the span of 20 years, Mr. and Mrs. des Pallières, a retired French couple, helped no less than 10,000 vulnerable Cambodian children and offered them a chance to live happily and productively. They are a beautiful example of showing that anyone, at any age, can make a real difference in the lives of people in need, with very simple means.

In his dreams of great voyages, Christian des Pallières did not travel alone. His future companion, Marie-France Bouchard, was a shy child who lacked self-confidence. From their very first day together, Christian des Pallières knew that they were going to live an extraordinary life and do extraordinary things together. They got married and had four children, Isabelle, Caroline, Bertrand, and Éric.

The musical drama film “The Sound of Music” sparked the imagination of the des Pallières family. One day, Mr. des Pallières said, “Why don’t we sing like them?” And that is exactly what they did. They began singing in small venues and eventually performed in large theatres. Some people even called them the “French Trapp family.” One day, Mr. des Pallières had an idea and asked, “What if we went to sing around the world?”

Accompanied by their four children, aged between 6 and 12 at the time, they departed in July 1977 and traveled all the way to Kathmandu, Nepal. There, they embarked on an 18-month journey, crossing Greece, Türkiye, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India along the way. During this trip, they never knew what was going to happen and who they were going to meet the following day. And so they went from one adventure to the next. In 1984, they documented their adventures in a book titled “Four Children and a Dream.”

At age 57, Christian des Pallières retired from his workplace. He was asked to run an association in Cambodia to help rebuild the primary schooling system in the country following years of conflict. During that period, he and his wife met children living on the streets of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. The kids were very scrawny and dirty. The couple wanted to help them, but they did not know how. One day in November 1995, the children mentioned a dump where a lot of them worked, so they decided to visit the site. This moment would change their lives forever.