The social therapy community in Roshni, Pakistan
A current report based on mail correspondence between Alexander Kühne – farmer and house representative in Roshni and country delegate from Pakistan for the Council – and Sonja Zausch – member of the Council’s leadership team.
Basically things are going very well on the island of the community. The supporting association responsibly takes over the tasks of taking care of the supply and security on site. Employees must pay more attention to hygiene regulations, local exit restrictions, health checks, preventive measures, etc. and take them into account in their tasks. The workshops are currently open half day.
“But a constant worry hangs over us: what to do if someone inside is infected with Corona?”
In the meantime, the situation in Pakistan appears to be more stable overall. The country has been relatively spared, if one believes the official figures.
“We don’t deal much with stigma and conspiracy myths here. There were periods when that used to fly, but now the staff and families cooperate.”
Fortunately, shortly before the first curfew, a doctor came to Roshni who has experience in disaster management and had just returned from a refugee camp in Yemen. He is temporarily working for the WHO.
The Waldorf School is completely closed. The teachers try to teach a couple of things on WhatsApp. The doctor plays a lot with the children, including many physical games, and therefore the children benefit greatly from his presence.
The doctor’s original idea of offering lectures and training courses on the subject of “caregiving” in order to improve the quality of the facilities is also implemented together with his colleagues.
It becomes difficult when you look at the financial situation of the families – especially the lowest income stratum like our cooks, cleaning staff and also some residents as well as the daily wage earners have it very hard.
In Roshni there are also additional costs, e.g. for precautionary better nutrition with more fruit, herbal teas, oils, homeopathic medicine etc. “Financially, despite Corona, we achieved only a slightly reduced economic result with our Ramadan Almos campaign in April, compared to the previous year. This was not to be expected.”
Alexander Kühne goes on to say that if the usual volume of donations is maintained over the rest of the year with the volume of donations from German-speaking countries, they can be very grateful. They are in close contact with their main supporters, GLS Bank and the Friends of Waldorf Education.
However, “developments remain to be seen.”
Currently another reality is added as a challenge: the heat. Alexander wrote about this on August 6:
“If it doesn’t rain and storm, the sultry heat depresses all life. Labour productivity is massively reduced. I try to catch my breath whenever I can. Everyone suffers from the weather conditions. This is the main issue – wherever you go. The first monsoon month is coming to an end, the second one is not quite as severe, partly because the days are getting shorter and the nights are lurking. But then the country has to be prepared for winter tillage, so that the workload increases again. At the moment only rice and weeds grow. The animals are also suffering, milk production is reduced and the hens hardly lay any eggs.”
We wish the colleagues in Roshni all the best to manage these polarities of everyday life well. It requires many creative, life-affirming ideas to cope with the various demands.
All the best with this!