The Falcon

  P A S C A L    F A U T R A T

I am a social worker in New Delhi, India. I founded TARA Homes, which rescues, shelters and educates children in need of care and protection. I originate from France, where I studied social work, psychology and project management. 10 years ago, I was on holidays in India and I stepped by accident on a 4 years-old child living on the pavement. I decided to stay in India and to start my own NGO to take care of street children. I never returned to my country of origin and feel I am one of the luckiest people in the world.

I have chosen a superhero character called The Falcon because …

… he is the reason why I became a social worker. When I was a child, I used to read lots of comics and I was particularly interested by this character: he was the sidekick of Captain America and I always have been fascinated by Number 2s because of my personal story. In the “real” life, his alter-ego Sam Wilson is precisely a social worker and I had no idea of what this meant. I remember enquiring and thinking ‘Oh, helping people, this is the coolest job in the world!’.

I loved the complementarity of saving people literally as a superhero and saving them metaphorically as a social worker. The Falcon is able to fly, which is also something I do every night in my night and day dreams, with a lot of consistency. He is able to connect to birds and see through their eyes which is also something I can do as a social worker – I see through the eyes of the street children of India. For some reason, they have not chosen me to play the role in The Avengers movie but there is no doubt: I am the Falcon.