Brought up and educated in Brazzaville, The Congo, by missionaries. A war has broken out... Everything is destroyed, the town devastated, there is nothing to be found anywhere. However with courage the sisters go back to work, open the nursery and primary schools without any materials. They send out an SOS to ex-pupils of which I am one. Since that time I am running around the shops with my limited means of a retired person. Paints, folding books, etc. etc.... meetings with the people who will carry my packages to Brazza. And in return I receive letters and drawings from little children thanking me and calling me godmother and sometimes mother, this is happiness !!!

How to propagate the Virus of Happiness?

In fact, it's quite simple !

  1. Answer this question; "What makes, or has made you, happy?" and become a Happiness Agent
  2. You earn some "Points Of Presence" (POP)
  3. You invest your Points in the city of your choice
  4. You spead the Virus of Happiness around the world.

What is the virus of happiness and how it works?

What is Happython?

And how does it work?

About Happython

Happython was founded in 1998 on this simple question: "What makes you, or has made you, happy?".
The answers of many people were printed and then exposed-pinned on clothes dryers called "Porte-Bonheurs".
These exhibitions took place in galleries, public places, post offices and finally on the web.
The idea of a Happening Record of happy moments has germinated: the Happython and the Happiness Virus have been created!
For more than 20 years, tens of thousands of people between the ages of 2 and 109 from all over the world have testified about what makes them happy.
Now it’s your turn!

What makes them or has made them happy?

I am happy when I am loved for what I am.

Marcella , 37 years old, Cagliari (Italy)

What makes me happy is seeing my reflection in the eyes of my son.

Vincent , 25 years old, Madrid (Espagne)
Exposition citatine

To take the time to eat in a fine restaurant in Marseille and to savour the different meals…

It's my children that make me happy : my son Samuel, who is 1, and my daughter Mélissa-Jade, who is 14, they are the most precious things I have on Earth.

Guylaine , 38 years old, Montréal (Canada)

All my travels.

Cécile , 34 years old, Gosselies (Belgique)

Laughing and playing with my son and swimming in the ocean

Tracey , 43 years old, Cowes (Australie)

Wednesday afternoon, I visit my grand mother at the old folks home. Our walk in the park brings us closer. Seeing her smile and her joy makes me happy.

Hello everyone, what made me happy this summer was just swimming in the lake with warm sunbeams... letting myself be carried softly away by small waves.I find that that's complete happiness.. it's peace, calm, joy, it's relaxing... it's being happy... and all of that accompanied by my dear husband xxx -ps: the heat is much easier to stand that way hmm...

Sylvie , 35 years old, Marieville (Canada)

What makes me happy is thinking of the happy future waiting for me somewhere in the universe.

Isabelle , 21 years old, Toulouse (France)

What makes me happy is to be in Italy.

Vanessa , 21 years old, Rome (Italie)
Exposition citatine

My five year old daughter told me : « Mommy, when you die, I will take all my treasures and I will give them to you when you return as a little baby. » That day, I felt a great surge of happiness

Rebecca , 34 years old, Melun (France)

Brought up and educated in Brazzaville, The Congo, by missionaries. A war has broken out... Everything is destroyed, the town devastated, there is nothing to be found anywhere. However with courage the sisters go back to work, open the nursery and primary schools without any materials. They send out an SOS to ex-pupils of which I am one. Since that time I am running around the shops with my limited means of a retired person. Paints, folding books, etc. etc.... meetings with the people who will carry my packages to Brazza. And in return I receive letters and drawings from little children thanking me and calling me godmother and sometimes mother, this is happiness !!!

Exposition citatine

I'm against peoples' oppression and I want them to be free, so I am happy when there is justice on earth,…

Siham , 32 years old, Casablanca (Maroc)

What really makes me happiest is seeing happy people around me, and what makes my heart smile is sharing my happiness with others.

Suzie , 31 years old, Candiac (Canada)

What makes me happy is feeling so small in front of a stormy ocean, smelling the spray on my face : I simply feel content, and I realize the futility of all my little everyday worries.

Soizic , 24 years old, Montréal (Canada)

I'm a naturally happy person because I've learnt to see only the nice and positive side of what happens.

Mustapha , 56 years old, Oran (Algérie)

My relationship makes me very happy. I really have the impression that I create that every day. What allowed me to live this relationship, was when I started to respect myself and to listen to myself. Of course the other person senses that and naturally comes to you without effort. Afterwards the secret is not to tie the net, not to become a living prison, but on the contrary to open up the space with kind attention and love. Programme for a beautiful relationship: - Respect it – Listen to oneself (and the other too !) – Encourage light thoughts towards the other – Continue as if you were alone - Love the other person tenderly - Have fun together.

Having a cat makes me happy.

What makes me happy is the generosity of people who support Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanoun. Finally solidarity doesn't end.

Lulu , 21 years old, Aubenas (France)

What makes me happy is eating calamari beignets in the university restaurant.

Lora , 18 years old, Versailles (France)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy : family meetings, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren…

Lucienne , 85 years old, Chatellerault (France)

What makes me happy is doing a task that, I feel, fits with me and my personnality.

Anna , 45 years old, Naples (Italie)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is to eat everyday with my friends, each bite is for me a breath of life.

Estefania , 18 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes my happy is that , currently, I only come across friendly people : the optician and her manager, the sales assistants of the sporting goods store ,of the hardware store and at the cultural goods (cds, dvds, books and video games) and craft arts stores , and the waiters and cashiers at the chinese restaurant).

Maxime , 28 years old, Amiens (France)

What makes me the happiest is to see the people I love happy.

Noélie , 16 years old, Mons (Belgique)

What makes me happy is thinking that I've succeeded in getting out of many decades of abuse by myself. Others will succeed as well.

Gentiane , 56 years old, Bordeaux (France)

An evening between friends, with a little to drink of course. One of them accompanies you back to your taxi, one of the ones with whom you share the same complicity and sensitivity. And on a « goodbye » you steal a kiss from him, instead of an ordinary « see ya soon ». A kiss that lasts for a little while, a kiss he returns. The kind of kiss that makes you smile each time you think about it again and makes you happy.

Aurore , 22 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me wild with happiness is to think that I get life ahead of me to make all my dreams come true, to meet ‘the' woman willing to offer me some kids, to see my babies grow, to make a contribution to tolerance for everyone, and mostly do my best not to wake up one day and think that I have made a mess of my life…

Jean-Daniel , 24 years old, Bastogne (Belgique)

Each morning on my way to work, I read the newspaper and I hurry up to read the Happython. Often I find myself in what was said. Today, it's my turn. What makes me happy is going to bed early and waking up late when I don't have to work.

Aline , 45 years old, Villepinte (France)

What made me happy was when she showed me the stars and blew on my neck to warm me up.

Rémi , 19 years old, Ferte-Bernard (France)
Exposition citatine

What made me happy: Over, my first boyfriend at school, which I'll never forget.

What makes me happy is listening to Metallica while petting a kitten.

Pauline , 20 years old, Toulouse (France)
Exposition citatine

To feel loved by my surroundings and to be able to return that love makes me happy.

Maria-Selva , 26 years old, Madrid (Espagne)

What makes me happy is the sunset above the sea.

Andrade , 52 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

I am happy when I do well in my studies.

Merieme , 20 years old, Agadir (Maroc)

What warms my heart and makes me happy is when nothing relents, seeing that my ideas come back stronger and more definite.

Jeff , 22 years old, Marseille (France)

What makes me happy is the enthusiasm I feel when I'm doing my work properly. I think that living for your vocation is the best way to be happy.

Aderrazak , 31 years old, Alger (Algérie)

What makes me happy is when I find myself in the mountains again, simply in nature.

Manon , 36 years old, Verdun (France)

What makes me happy is having being able to create and form a happy couple with children.

What makes me happy is the idea that people would learn to love each other, without any feeling of racism. The world is everybody's…

Hilm-Lamiae , 35 years old, Fès (Maroc)
Exposition citatine

The purest moment of happiness was my fiance's return to France after eight months spent in prison, in Turkey... All that because he had taken some papers! For now, it's my most beautiful moment.

Amélie , 27 years old, Herouville-Saint-Clair (France)

What makes me happy is writing a message to Happython and knowing that one day, maybe, my testimony with help spread the virus of happiness.

Hélène , 20 years old, Toulouse (France)
Exposition citatine

My referee diploma made me happy.

Bilal , 14 years old, Vaulx-en-Velin (France)

What makes me happy is being able to hold onto my freedom that I can use again and again.

Anne , 36 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy is learning that my parents are going to leave for a lover's weekend. After 23 years of marriage, isn't it still really cute?

Pierre , 18 years old, Marseille (France)

Tomorrow's day is already making me happy.

Julie , 23 years old, Marseille (France)

Cultivating my friendships is what makes me happy.

What makes me happy is seeing a smile erase the wrinkles on my husband's face.

Agnès , 53 years old, Ayvelles (France)

Breathing everyday and going with the flow of my dailyjourney enjoying a beautiful sunny day and if possible near the sea, the lake or a river.

Monique , 46 years old, Heisdorf (Luxembourg)

What makes me happy is life in general  Lots of good things happen to me, like my three boys...

Céline , 33 years old, Montréal (Canada)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy is seeing all the different colors and ethnicities in the metro when I run errands in the morning…

Mathieu , 22 years old, Toulouse (France)

What makes me happy ? To be a granny, nothing is more beautiful than to see your family grow larger and be able to play the doting mother again. It makes you feel young again.

Liane , 54 years old, La Louvière (Belgique)
Exposition citatine

What makes me happy ? A bird singing in the morning when I get up.

Thérèse , 47 years old, Charleroi (Belgique)

What makes me happy is that each and every day, I live…

Andrade , 52 years old, Lisbonne (Portugal)

What makes me happy is getting back home after a long day at college, putting my hand in my mailbox and discovering a postcard from someone I love.

Adrien , 18 years old, Marseille (France)

What makes me happy is to live without any worries.

Soufiane , 28 years old, Tébessa (Algérie)

What makes me happy ? Scouting when I was young, then my commitment to a trade-union and a political party, my family – children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and hearing that my great-grandson Guillaume will soon be christened.

Louis , 88 years old, Chatellerault (France)

I'm happy when my pupils smile in class and when they seem to be happy to be at school.

What makes me happy is to have a cat.

Ping , 35 years old, Pékin (Chine)

I am learning to develop my ability to « not define » life, to melt into it rather than dominate it… and by so doing… I learn to love… and the more I love… the happier I am every day!

Exposition citatine

Walking barefoot and feeling the sun under my feet.

Mary , 21 years old, Aix-en-Provence (France)

What makes me happy is when my boyfriend tells me he loves me.

Exposition citatine

Overall, my friends (boys or girls) are the ones who make me happy, because they're always there for me.

Asma , 37 years old, Rabat (Maroc)

What makes me feel really happy is to be free to act, speak and realise my dreams.

Hazar , 26 years old, Tunis (Tunisie)

What made me happy is when my boyfriend proposed to me, but also when the Americans demonstrated against war in Irak.

Maud , 21 years old, Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois (France)

To take the time to eat in a fine restaurant in Marseille and to savour the different meals…

What makes me happy : Luigi who plays the guitar !

Vanessa , 21 years old, Rome (Italie)

This morning, while feeding my fish, the ingrates finally recognized me ! I was crazy with joy ! (laughs)

Marie , 31 years old, Paris (France)

What makes me happy is to love and be loved

Safae , 22 years old, Meknès (Maroc)

What makes me happy? The sun, books, wine, when I have a good idea, a good conversation

Exposition citatine

The day I decided to take myself by the hand again (I was quite depressed) made it so that, during this time, life itself made me happy...

Marie , 23 years old, Thetford Mines (Canada)

I am happy to have a large family and a girlfriend who shares my vision. I am happy to have a lucky star in my life professionally, financially, and for leisure, love and health.

Exposition citatine

My happiness has already lasted for a long time. It renews itself every morning when I go to sample a cup of tea in one of the many Parisian cafés. It's a moment of pure joy, I let myself lapse into dreams in the ambiance of the cafes, and I can no longer do without it.

Nicole , 57 years old, Paris (France)

A child's spinning top on the carpet. What a pleasure to approach it, having watched it from afar, the memories coming back of those exquisite moments where colours mingled and filled rainbow eyes. I lean over, touch the top and play with it and that simple pleasure warms my heart, it turns, turns, turns...

What makes me happy is to skid and slide in front of the tobacco shop !

Mélanie , 12 years old, Epinay-sous-Senart (France)