Camphill tour in the USA (Part 2)

Philadelphia

After the Camphill Association meeting we flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to visit three neighboring Camphill Communities: The Camphill School at Beaver Run, Soltane and Kimberton Hills.

At The Camphill School several different programs are offered: at Beaver Run a school for children with disabilities and a community with an inclusive kindergarten, and at Beaver Farm a Transition Program, which prepares the students to enter adult life.

Kimberton Hills provides land based agricultural work, workshops, and intentional community living. Camphill Soltane has gone through different transformations. Out of Soltane developed for instance supported living places in Phoenixville and the Soltane Café.

Sonja and Bart visited the Camphill Academy and contributed on the point-circle-meditation. In Beaver Run’s Village Circle the three of us presented the Council’s work and invited participation in our conferences and working groups.

During our visits we had conversations with people connected with the Camphill impulse and shared experiences and perspectives for future developments in social therapy, our working groups and the School of Spiritual Science.

To learn about the history of Pennsylvania, we took a cultural trip to historic Ephrata Cloister, which is an example of a religious settlement of anabaptists who fled Germany in the 18th Century to find a place where they could safely practice a spiritual community life. Penn, who inherited Pennsylvania, was a Quaker and an active promotor of freedom of religion. For the realization of his “Holy Experiment”, he welcomed such communities to live and practice their religious life in his colony.