On August 4, 1964, Jean moved to the small house that he called L’Arche, the French word for Noah’s Ark. Raphael, Philippe, and Dany arrived the next day. Imagine the former navy officer and former professor of philosophy living in this little house with three people he did not know but for whom he wanted to “do something".

From the very beginning, the adventure brought the small group to its limits. Having spent years in confinement living under rules and a strict routine, Dany was completely lost, beside himself, and aggressive. After a sleepless night, Jean was forced to admit that Dany would not be able to live in the structure he was providing. What was to become an international federation, giving life to many, began with great fragility and the conclusion that neither Jean nor his work could offer a solution for everyone.

Fortunately, Raphael and Philippe settled in much better and the three slowly got to know each other. The small community quickly attracted a lot of young people from all over the world. Indeed, even in the very beginnings of L’Arche, Jean was surrounded and helped by people who were inspired by the project.

Years later, Jean remembers a change in his attitude in those first days of L’Arche. He had started the house because he wanted “to do something for…” Then he realized he was becoming “the friend of…” Jean says, “Raphael and Philippe were not so much men with mental handicaps as friends”*. In fact, the three residents of the house shared a relationship of mutuality. The former navy officer was not only giving to others; he was also receiving.

The theory of the mutuality of relationships, the discovery of strength at the heart of weakness, the philosophy that would become the foundation of Jean Vanier’s work, these developed gradually, as time went by. In his own words, “The idea of living together was there from day one. The idea of living happily together, of celebrating and laughing a lot, came very quickly and spontaneously. When the idea of the poor educating us came, I don’t know exactly. The words of St Vincent de Paul, ‘The poor are our masters,’ were always there, but when they became a reality is uncertain."**

*Jean VANIER, Our Journey Home, Orbis Books, 1997, p.9