Wishes of Valentine's parents for 2020

20, Valentin you had just celebrated your 20th birthday when you disappeared on August 22nd, 2013 in the Dhauladar mountain in the Himalayas. 

So, with Christine, we are taking advantage of the transition to this symbolic figure to give you and your friends some news and to express wishes of hope for 2020 ,while continuing on our way as suggested by Jacques Prévert: "We should try to be happy if only to set an example. " 

Valentin, after reaching the summit of Moon Peak in the company of François-Xavier, on the way back you left without leaving an address.  

Since that day we have never stopped looking for you. We trust and hope that one day information will shed light on your disappearance. Admittedly we did not climb the mountains but as Christine says we moved them, day after day, tirelessly, to understand what happened to you. When I tell you that we have not climbed the mountains, it is from the summit of Moon Peak I am talking about, because in June 2014 with friends, Mireille, Jean-Marie and Joël we went up to the col d 'Indhara. We followed in your steps. I let you imagine what you did to our old bones, we were no longer 20 years old! During this magnificent ascent with constant view of the Moon Peak, we felt your presence and have an "incredible" memory of it.

It was at the very end of this stay at Mac Leod Ganj that your backpack, one of your shoes and the clothes you were wearing that day were brought back to the police station. 

This is the great mystery of your disappearance.

The multiple searches that we organized in the mountains, with teams of local trekkers or French high mountain guides, all of whom became our new friends from India and Savoy, did not find you.  So much so that at the start of 2020, with U2 I still have to sing or shout as you taught me in your car:

“I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For”.

To tell you where we are today in our research, I'm going to take inspiration from this anaphora by the writer Philippe Lançon:  

We are told that you had a fatal accident while descending from Moon Peak but we do not know. 

We are told that you fell into a crevasse but we do not know. 

We are told you would have died of hypothermia but we don't know. 

We are told that the torrent would have taken your things but we do not know.  

We are told that you could have had a bad encounter but we do not know. 

We are told that you would have been forced to live elsewhere but we do not know. 

We are told that you may be alive but we do not know.  

We are told what to think but we do not know.  

We are told that we should not dream, but that we do not believe it.

Following all the unsuccessful searches and the various hypotheses put forward, we requested French justice. A Request for International Criminal Mutual Assistance has been filed with the Indian authorities, it has been in progress since February 2019. For the past year, no information has been transmitted to us. From this procedure we await explanations on what could have happened on that afternoon of August 22nd and in the days that followed. We are always trying to understand, we are ready to accept reality whatever it is.

The wait is so long. The uncertainty is so heavy. Absence is so difficult.

We have been to Mac Leod Ganj five times in India since 2013 and we will return there in May 2020. We met beautiful people there and created a network of Indian and European friends who live there. They all helped us a lot and supported us in our research. We are still in their thoughts. 

You are still in their thoughts. 

Wherever you are, you are close to them.  

Your friends from Pouzauges, Nantes and Toulouse also greatly supported us with their presence and their words of friendship. Some are always present with us.

To help us live, to maintain relationships and exchanges with young people and to offer our affection, we regularly welcomed young students from China and India over the weekend. They have now completed their studies and we remain very close. They would have dreamed of knowing you.   

"Mum, I'm 20 years old, if I don't start my humanitarian commitments now when will I?" 

Christine listened to you, she is now retired and has engaged in training and humanitarian missions with migrants. She also walks on the Chemin de Compostelle.

I will finish my second term as a mayor in March and I have chosen not to stand for re-election. I hadn't been singing for six years, I couldn't. As I am also retired since January 1, I decided to join the choir « Les Chœurs de France ».

So, as a conclusion, I give you this extract from the song "Since you are leaving" by JJ Goldman:   

 Because there are pains that only cry inside 

Since your house 

is today the horizon 

In your exile try to learn to come back 

But not too late