Page 27 - C.A.L.L. #36 - Summer 2013

Here at the Communes Desk, discovering new communities to add to our international
network is always exciting. When it’s the first such commune from a particular country, it’s
doubly so. The piece below comes from an ecumenical commune in Latvia called "Kristian
David School".

Since 1991, we have run a state accredited primary boarding school. We have 40 children in
total (including some pre-school age kids), plus about 20 adults. Most live in the
commune/school permanently, whilst some live in private homes. Many children are orphans
who have been adopted by one of our commune members/teachers. Apart from the school,
we have a farm with 20 cows, some pigs, chickens, ducks and a horse. We strive to be self-
sufficient, but we haven't yet succeeded in developing anything that can bring in enough
income; we are too busy with the day-to-day operation of the school. We therefore rely on
external donors to cover our bills which amount to about $4000 a month for the whole
commune. We have about 50 ha of land,
including a forest where we get wood to
heat our homes with.

Our day to day lives differ from person
to person. Some people work mostly in
the school, some primarily on the farm.
We have 2 locations 30 km apart. In one
we have a school which consists of a
dormitory and a school building. We
recently acquired another 2 storey
building to give
teachers/community members the
opportunity to have some privacy. The
second floor is uninhabitable, as it is in the process of being renovated. Ironically the
building is presently occupied by the children; they find a way to occupy every free space.

The second location was where our school was originally situated, but is now used for farming
and as a place for children to go to after school or on the weekends. We have a large farm
there, including buildings for storage. There is also a garage (we have old cars and tractors
which, as much as possible, we repair ourselves) and 3 houses where adults and children live.
One of the houses we tried to expand, but had to stop due to lack of funds, since we decided
to focus on investing in the school buildings. It has remained half-built for about 10 years.

We have two people in each location (the school and the farm) who do most of the repair and
maintenance work. They are overworked, but there are not many people who have appropriate
skills as well as the will and dedication to do such work without material rewards. Obviously,
other people help out with the more labour intensive or lighter repairs. We grow most of our
food organically – fruit and vegetables such as carrots, beets, beans, peas, potatoes,
cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins, apples and berries - strawberries, some cherries, and a
couple of hundred black currant and red currant bushes. We try to conserve this food for
winter by deep freezing it or by making jams, juices, marinades, pickling and the like. We
have about 10 dairy cows, the rest are calves or bulls. From the milk we make our own butter,
cheese, cream and cottage cheese, which can later be processed into pastries. We bought a
soft ice cream machine, and we have been treating our kids to ice-cream for some time now.
Bulls are grown for beef.

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