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Le Café Monde

Le Café Monde is roo­ted in the inti­mate expe­rience of mee­ting others, for­ged through fami­ly hos­ting by Bel­gian citi­zens. It is based on the unders­tan­ding that true know­ledge of others is only pos­sible through encoun­ter. This lived expe­rience of mee­ting — by volun­teers and host fami­lies of the Plat­form, as much as by their guests — is the project’s pri­ma­ry fac­tor of success.

The expe­rience of citi­zen hos­ting in fami­lies has taught us the impor­tance of social ties and com­mu­ni­ty belon­ging in sha­ping a suc­cess­ful path in Bel­gium, and more broad­ly in Europe. The abi­li­ty to create connec­tions is intrin­si­cal­ly lin­ked to the oppor­tu­ni­ties offe­red to meet citi­zens — oppor­tu­ni­ties that are, unfor­tu­na­te­ly, very rare during the asy­lum pro­cess and even after obtai­ning papers.

Le Café Monde is a convi­vial space loca­ted on the ground floor of the branch, a kind of soli­da­ri­ty café-can­teen, open at lunch­time and some after­noons during the week and weekends.

Le Café Monde is open to all, eve­ry after­noon from Mon­day to Satur­day, and its pur­pose is to create connec­tions bet­ween people with migra­tion back­grounds — wha­te­ver their sta­tus — and citi­zens, stu­dents, pro­fes­sio­nals, and resi­dents of the area.

For people without finan­cial means, it is a place to rest free­ly and gather with friends. Visi­tors can play board games, read, lis­ten to music, or take part in work­shops and exhibitions.

Le Café Monde serves drinks and small dai­ly bites (soup, hum­mus, smoo­thies, cakes, etc.), pre­pa­red thanks to food reco­ve­ry (bake­ries, vege­tables, fruit). Contri­bu­tions are on a free and volun­ta­ry basis, allo­wing com­plete gra­tui­ty. No pur­chase is requi­red, and people are wel­come to bring their own food.

Le Café Monde creates a space of convi­via­li­ty and diver­si­ty where access is not deter­mi­ned by finan­cial resources, social or admi­nis­tra­tive sta­tus, ori­gin, reli­gion, skin color, or gen­der. Open to all, it prio­ri­tizes mee­ting, buil­ding ties, and sharing.

Fri­days at Le Café Monde are reser­ved exclu­si­ve­ly for women (non-mixed space).

A family gathering place for asylum seekers and refugees

Le Café Monde can be ren­ted free of charge by asy­lum see­kers to orga­nize pri­vate events and fami­ly cele­bra­tions. Since they live in col­lec­tive faci­li­ties throu­ghout the asy­lum pro­cess, they often lack access to spaces for fami­ly gatherings.

A space for awareness-raising

One of Le Café Monde’s mis­sions is also to raise awa­re­ness among citi­zens about migra­tion recep­tion, and more broad­ly to fight racism and pre­ju­dice, and to defend human rights in the migra­tion context.

Activities

Le Café Monde is also a space that users can make their own, orga­ni­zing acti­vi­ties and gathe­rings accor­ding to their needs and wishes. Part­ner­ships are offe­red to non-pro­fits and student asso­cia­tions active in the muni­ci­pa­li­ty in the fight against pre­ju­dice and racism, in migra­tion recep­tion, and more gene­ral­ly in fos­te­ring open­ness to others as a dri­ver of social cohesion.

The Café makes its space avai­lable free of charge to its part­ners for acti­vi­ties lin­ked to its mission.

  • Where ? Le Café Monde, Verte Voie 20 (ground floor), 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
  • For whom ? Anyone who wants to talk, meet, laugh, and remake the world over small dishes from around the globe
  • When ?
    • Mon­day to Thurs­day : 12 pm – 4 pm (kit­chen clo­sed, drinks only)
    • Fri­day : 1 pm – 4 pm (women only)
    • Satur­day : 12 pm – 5 pm (kit­chen open)
    • The first Thurs­day of each month : 6 pm – 10 pm

Chill Afternoon

The Chill After­noon is an open time for eve­ryone : eat your sand­wich, drink cof­fee, play board games, watch a movie, lis­ten to music, and relax. A moment to slow down, meet, and chill in the cozy chairs of Le Café Monde. You might find people playing cards, chat­ting about eve­ry­thing and nothing, over a bowl of dates and a cup of tea.

  • Where ? Le Café Monde, Verte Voie 20, Louvain-la-Neuve
  • When ? Eve­ry Thurs­day, 2 pm – 5 pm
  • For whom ? Anyone who wants to pause in a wel­co­ming, open space to meet, share, and connect — regard­less of coun­try of ori­gin, age, gen­der, or language.