Introduction

This information is meant to be of help for you to get acquainted with the different practical aspects of life and work in Camphill Vallersund Gård. On the one hand, to learn about the villagers and the special needs they might have in their work- and living-situation, and on the other hand to give you information that you will need to get your bearings as a helper, and co-worker. It will also help you to form a picture for yourself of life in the community and of the demands that will be put on you as a volunteer.
We hope that these pages of information will be of help for you to make a right decision about coming to Camphill Vallersund Gård as a volunteer, or not. We are aware that such a paper might give the impression that our community is a very strict and formal one, but real life is so very different, and you will be able to share your life with us and find challenging tasks, warm friends and lots of joy.
Please read this through, with care and consideration before filling in the application.
Please return it as soon as possible, and keep this information-booklet and bring it along when you come, if your application is accepted.

Life in a Camphill place is in many ways different from the life in society at large. It can be regarded as an alternative way of life, where the normal connection between work and money has been severed. We attempt to search for those human qualities that can become a source of energy and a driving force for each individual. But – the days can become long and human encounters strong and intense.

 

Anthroposophy

Anthroposophy lies at the base of what we try to bring about in Camphill Vallersund Gård. Antropos – Man, and Sophia – Wisdom; that is: the Wisdom of Man, or the wisdom of one's humanity. These are ideas, and ideals formulated by Rudolf Steiner, and is based upon the recognition that each human being is the bearer of an eternal spiritual individuality. An individuality which remains unchanged, regardless of handicap, race, religion or nationality.

Becoming a volunteer in a Camphill place does in no way require that one professes to be an anthroposophist, not even that one has heard of anthroposophy. On the other hand, the more open-minded you can be towards the ideas that you will meet, the more fruitful your stay in Camphill Vallersund Gård will be.

The Camphill movement, which was founded in Scotland in 1939 by the Austrian doctor Karl König, strives to build communities where children, youth, and adults in need of special care, can find a life- and working-situation together with others. A situation based on mutual respect and care.

 

Social Therapy – an inner attitude
We want to develop an attitude of working not for but rather with the villagers. Together we attempt to form a community that has Man as its archetypal image; a community where each individual can attain to his fullest potential, and at the same time give to the best of his abilities and possibilities for the goodness of the whole.

Regardless of the handicap a villager might have, it is of the greatest importance that you keep in mind that he is an adult – not a child – carrying the same rights that you do, and the same needs for respect and recognition. He or she needs your consideration, care and sensitivity to tackle the same kind of questions and worries, joys and sorrows with which you yourself have to wrestle.

The person with learning disabilities – the villager – must be able to relate to you as a friend; as one to whom he or she might turn in need of help, advice, and support.

Life in a Camphill community asks of us that we see it as a main task to cover the needs of the others, out of the best of our abilities.
There will be an older, experienced co-worker around to lead you into the rhythms and routines of daily life, but you will certainly also be called upon to use your own strength and initiative and in the tasks and responsibilities that you will be asked to take on.

 

The healthy social life is found

When in the mirror of each human being

The whole community finds its reflection,

And when in the community

The virtue of each one is living.

Rudolf Steiner: Motto of social ethics.

 

THE HOUSE COMMUNITY

Our aim is that each individual is active in creating an atmosphere of warmth and companion- ship. Tasks and responsibilities in the house are shared out amongst the people living there, and you will be expected to take your share. What they might be will depend upon the individual needs of those with whom you will be living and working.

You might be asked to take on the responsibility for the personal hygiene of a villager, like helping him or her to bathe or shower. Helping to help to change into clean clothes, and to put the dirty ones in the wash-bin, or to help someone look after his personal possessions are also likely tasks you might be asked to take on. All this will demand both tact and sensitivity on your part, in respecting the integrity of the other one.

You will, most certainly, be asked to cook a meal once or twice a week in your house- community. Making Sunday lunch is shared around. You will be guided in cooking so that it will be wholesome and nourishing and according to individual needs. Much of the vegetables come from our own bio-dynamic farm and garden.

 

WORK – developing the power of one's free will.
At Camphill Vallersund Gård we have a number of workplaces: a weavery, a herb and vegetable garden and a smallholding of some sheep and chickens, as well as a bakery. Helping and caring for the people with special needs, cooking and cleaning in the houses and caring for our flowerbeds etc. are also tasks which we share as members of the community.
You will be asked to work where the needs lie.

In an article written in 1905, Rudolf Steiner coined what he called The Fundamental Social Law:

The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work, i.e. the more of these proceeds he makes over to his
fellow-workers, and the more his own needs are satisfied, not out of his own work but out of the work done by others’.

“This fundamental law belongs to the social life with such a necessity as to exclude everything else; like a natural law belongs to a particular field of natural phenomena. One should not think, however, that it might be sufficient to accept this law as a general moral principle, or to translate it into the attitude that each man works in the service for his fellow men. This law finds its reality only when a group of people is able to create such conditions among themselves that never an individual can claim the proceeds of his own labor for himself, and when these proceeds, preferably without restrictions, become available for the community. The needs of the individual on the other hand have to be provided by the labor of his fellowmen. What matters is to realize that the work we do for others, and the money we need for our individual life, are two entirely different issues.”

We do try to live according to this law in so far as none of us living in Camphill Vallersund Gård receives a wage that relates to what he does.

 

CULTURAL LIFE – the pulse-beat of a Camphill place
As in all the Camphill villages, the celebration of the Christian and other festivals of the year are milestones through the year. They give community-life a flow of creative continuity. These festive days are the center of serious celebration, and we like to prepare them in different ways with singing, plays, music, or other artistic activities. Sometimes there will be cultural activities during the week, maybe even in work-hours. Cultural activities give us the opportunity to try out other sides of ourselves and can be of great value and importance in community building. Being situated in Trondheim there is also a choice of concerts, theatre, films and art- exhibitions for those who are interested.

A WEEKLY GATHERING – to share our equality as human beings and create community.
In each house we mark the end of the week by sharing a festive meal on Saturday evening. We attempt to lead a conversation together, lifted out of the sphere of every-day life, trying together to create a space where peace and reflection can find room in our otherwise so hectic lives. We also read a passage from the New Testament, and whoever that wishes to do so, can come with his or her thoughts and questions to the text. We all try to look our best to make this evening into a special rounding off of the week.