Page 15 - C.A.L.L. #29 - Winter 2007

KALEIDOSCOPE
something which strained the constructs of
my education but which offered aspects of
understanding from an entirely different
point of view.
This year went far beyond the often stated
simple goals of progress in English language
skills and getting to know a different culture.
In retrospect I can say that this helped my
personal development tremendously. Self
control, personal stress management,
showing initiative, lots of patience are a short
list of key skills which I developed there and
are preconditions in nowadays job market.
Looking back I couldn't imagine the
possibility of starting my studies right away
as is usually proposed in order to enter the
rat race as soon as possible. I couldn't help
but see this year in Camphill as a great
growth point for a pre-student's horizon.
Due to living together with lots of others
your age, a nice and homogenous group is
created by itself in this community. This is
the place and the year to build up very
strong, perhaps even lifelong, friendships.
Talking to
other
Camphill-
experienced
young
people you
always feel a
kind of
connection
and of
course you
can relate
easily to them
but there's
something else, there's something special
about all these people. It’s not easy to
explain!
Needless to say that you can have in a group
like that loads and loads of fun with your
mates, but Camphill shows you that there's
something else as well, which opens us,
young persons, gradually the eyes and we see
that the time comes when we have to stop
this life in a bubble with a horizon barely
reaching the two next obligations of
debauched enjoyment.
A very important thing for me personally was
this total freedom in respect to the
philosophy underlying the whole concept.
Just as Steiner did not intend to inspire belief,
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each co-worker was free to concern himself
with the fundamental idea or just leave it,
for, thanks to the good instructions, each co-
worker was capable to do a good job without
any specific anthroposophical knowledge.
Of course this whole thing depends pretty
much on the quality of its staff, probably far
more than in usual establishments. Thanks to
my houseparents this was an extremely
pleasant year and I learned beyond the daily
routine a lot about life itself.
Back in Germany I started university, but
trying to build up a new daily routine wasn't
easy. I didn't expect it but having talked to
the other young co-workers back home, at
first most of us felt a bit uncomfortable and
alienated. Then I remembered a line I read
long time ago in Camphill Pages: '”When you
make peace with the urban jungle you almost
forget the vision of Camphill special schools
as an island of sanity in a maddening world”.
Having learned in Camphill to appreciate and
to be grateful for the small things in life I
consider it a big step to true happiness.
All in all it's a
healthy
progress of
giving and
taking in
Camphill. A
giving of the
idea of
Camphill, a
giving from
the
community's
Sheiling School, Thornbury staff, but
above all a
giving from the residents themselves. It's up
to you to seize these chances and to have this
great feeling of giving back all these
wonderful things by doing a good job with
your students. For these reasons a year at
Camphill is a unique chance for each young
person considering time abroad.
Sebastian is a student of economics at
Mannheim University, Germany. He was a co-
worker at the Sheiling School, Thornbury, UK, for
a year.
That's it, folks.
Yalla Bye.
Joel Dorkam