Core Group of the Camphill Movement Group meets in South Africa

The Camphill Movement Group brings together representatives of the worldwide Camphill movement every year, usually in May or June. The Camphill movement is made up of independent communities, organizations and regional associations. There is no international association. The Camphill Movement Group has the task of keeping the regions in touch with each other and in dialogue. The Core Group of the Camphill Movement Group is responsible for preparing this annual meeting and shaping its content.

In the week of January 14-18, 2019, the Core Group met in Cape Town and Camphill Village West Coastfor this purpose. The meeting included James Sleigh from South Africa, Noortje van Dursen from Ireland, Michael Motz from Switzerland, Henrik Hammer from Norway, Steven Clee from the USA and Jan Göschel from the USA and also representatives of the Council, as well as guest Agas Groth of the Camphill Community Trust Botswana. The meeting was also an opportunity to perceive the Southern Africa region of the Camphill movement, which includes Camphill School Hermanusand Camphill Farm Community Hermanus, in addition to the two communities mentioned.

The area around the small coastal town of Hermanus, on the southern coast of Africa, east of Cape Town, has been hit by several strong bushfires since New Year’s Day, turning entire swathes of land and mountainsides into moonscapes. One of those fires had also devastated the site of the two Camphill communities there. All residents had evacuated and stayed in part in neighborhood vacation homes that had been generously provided. When the Core Group visited the site, tree stumps were still smoldering in several places. Luckily, apart from the stable and some sheds, the houses and buildings remained largely undamaged – unlike in the neighborhood, where residences also burned out. Even so, it will surely take a while for the two communities to overcome this incisive experience. Together with them, we can now hope for rain, so that the green will return soon.

The village community Camphill Village West Coast then welcomed us for our meetings with a lot of hospitality, a potato harvest and good food. Here, the Core Group prepared the summer meeting of the Movement Group, which will take place this year from May 13 to 17 at Tinh Truc Gia in Hue, Vietnam. The delegates of the regions will be working on the question of how the impulse of Camphill manifests itself in different cultural contexts and in the process also develops itself, fertilized by its surroundings, but also fertilizing them. More on this in May!

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