Celebrations.


7th Anniversary of our Community      [Picks]

At the end of March 2006 Friends of Camphill India could celebrate their 7th anniversary.

If we look around, we can find the number 7 with its symbolic significance almost everywhere: there are 7 colours in the rainbow, 7 days in the week, 7 notes in a musical scale, the 7 wonders of the world, the lucky number 7, the 7 dwarfs and 7 ravens in fairy tales, the 7 seas, 7 heavens, 7 planets, and, and, and.

There are also the 7- years cycles in the human life.

If we compare the first 7 years of a child with the first 7 years of our community, there are so many similarities. The community saw the light of day on 28th March 1999, after a long gestation period and hard labour in which many dedicated friends took part.  It was the beginning, the start into a future still vague and unknown. There was potential for growth, inward and outward, but first this newborn venture had to be carefully nurtured with love, perseverance and a great amount of patience.  We were fortunate to have the right parents who, with their experience and dedication soon helped the fledgling to grow, to stand on its feet, to find its identity.

In the late afternoon on 1st of April 2006 we celebrated our 7th birthday with an open-air festival to which the families of our residents and many friends were invited. For more than a month the whole community had busily prepared for this day and the programme showed so well with how much love and enthusiasm each one played his or her role. The youngest children, daughters of our co-workers, wrote and acted out a sweet little play about a cow, a milkmaid and a monkey. Folkdances paired off residents and co-workers in a joyful mood and it was moving to watch them play out the love story of “Lady Claire”, an English lyric. Padma, the daughter of our house-parents, gave a graceful Bharat Natyam performance, songs from a well-known musical gave our singers a chance to let us hear their melodious voices and a puppet theatre not only told us an interesting story but also showed us the beautiful puppets that were made in the community. A spirited skit by a group of clowns was received with much laughter, and then it was time for a break. A lovely spread of snacks was laid out in the workshop building and only too soon the platters were emptied. By now the evening sun had set, the first stars appeared in the sky above and all the guests assembled once more in a half circle in front of the Antaranga steps to watch the last part of the programme, a serious and quite dramatic play enacted by our foreign volunteers. It was the story of a Buddhist nun who, in her earlier life, had been murdered by her bridegroom moments before the marriage took place. Now she meets him again and can forgive him. The audience watched spellbound as the story unfolded and there was much applause for this beautiful performance. By now the guests and all our community members had worked up a good appetite and much enjoyed the wonderful dinner that our parents had prepared for this occasion. Once again we were witness to the special spirit that permeates our community. We are all fortunate to be a part of it.

The first 7 years are behind us. We stand firmly on the ground; we have made many valuable connections; our special friends have developed a strong sense of belonging and our co-workers gain more and more experience and knowledge. It could be tempting to be satisfied with what we have achieved. But - our two houses have now reached their limit with 26 men and women in need of special care and the many new parents who come to us for a seat for their children have to be turned away. We are not happy about this, because we realise that all these young people could have a much more fulfilled life in our midst. But at present we are helpless.

With a view to the future we are thinking of expansion. For this we require more and bigger land. We are searching and hope that we can soon find our dreamland.