France introduces commemorative coins

Gesture made as thanks for all essential workers

AT France’s (法國) minting factory, Monnaie de Paris, special anti-Covid-19 coins are being sold to thank the country’s essential workers. The coins were officially introduced in Bordeaux.

On one side is a picture with three silhouettes – a health worker, a firefighter and a Red Cross worker – with hands applauding at the bottom. They represent the essential workers who contributed much to the fight against Covid-19. Marc Schwartz, the head of the mint, pointed out that at the top of the picture is the word ‘merci’, which is French for ‘thank you’

The mint supposedly produced 40,000 ‘merci’ commemorative coins, 1,000 of which have been donated to the health workers at the hospital at Université de Bordeaux. The rest of the coins are sold for eight Euros each, with every six Euros being donated to the charity Fondation de France.

Couple gives out items from wedding ruined by Covid-19

A COUPLE in Sri Lanka (斯里蘭卡) was supposed to hold their wedding in April, but had to scale down because of Covid-19. But in order not to waste the food and the gifts, the couple decided to give it all to the poor.

The couple, 30-year-old Darshana Kumara Wijenarayana and 25-year-old Pawani Rasanga, was supposed to get married on 27 April, and had been planning for months. They had already invited 250 guests, with their rings, food and cake ready. But after the lockdown orders due to Covid-19 came, they decided to go through with the wedding, but on a much smaller scale.

Afterwards the pair, still in their wedding finery, put on face masks and began giving out the remaining food and any gifts they received. Darshana said, “When you see these people, especially the happiness on the kids’ faces, you’ll see … I don’t have words to describe this blessed feeling.” They also received much praise after the local press reported on their act of kindness.

(This article is published on Goodies on 3 Jun 2020)