Triform Coworkers are from all over the world.
Here are some from Germany, Holland, Korea, America and Spain.
Triform warmly welcomes volunteer coworkers who wish to live and work in our community. We are primarily seeking applicants who can arrive in the last week of August, and who can stay for twelve months. We will also consider applicants for shorter stays, particularly if you need a Camphill experience to fulfill a requirement for a course or practicum. Also, every summer we need volunteers for the summer months, for stays of six weeks or more. An experience in a Camphill Community can be very rich and rewarding, but can also be very demanding and challenging. It is very likely that it will be different from anything you have experienced before. Your contribution will be deeply appreciated. All of us in the community recognize the enormous importance of our short-term volunteers, who invariably bring energy, enthusiasm, and questions that are most beneficial for the future of Triform. You will be living in a house, usually with a family, one or two coworkers (volunteers), and four to six young adults with special needs. In other words, you may live with ten to twelve people. You will have your own bedroom, but you might not have a lot of privacy. The students and apprentices at Triform (generally we call residents with special needs “students and apprentices”) are always quite interested in new coworkers. The practical and social aspects of the household will demand a lot of your time and participation, but you will also have some time in each day for yourself. Each year there are usually ten young coworker volunteers in Triform from all parts of the world. You will meet as well, and become colleagues with, some twelve long-term committed coworkers for whom Triform is a permanent home. While the long-term coworkers bear primary responsibility for carrying out the mission of Triform, you will join them in shouldering the daily work and social rhythms that comprise community life.
Heather and Seonji clean out the garden truck.
“Em” and Teresa enjoy the nice weather
while finishing their work.
Almost anything in Triform is done for and with our students and apprentices. Their ages range from 18-35 and they have been living at Triform for varying lengths of time. Everyone in Triform is asked and expected to do what they can to help run the community. You will be asked to help with household chores: dishwashing, cooking, laundry, and cleaning. The household routine is similar to any family household, but on a larger scale, with each member holding some level of responsibility. You will be asked as well to assist the students and apprentices to perform their chores. Some volunteers are expected to help the residents with special needs with their personal hygiene, such as supervising, bathing, tooth brushing, or dressing. In the morning you will be working in one of the work areas with some of the students and apprentices, sometimes under the guidance of a more experienced coworker. Triform’s work areas are the farm, garden, estate, weavery, bakery, and home economics (mostly cooking). You will work alongside the students, apprentices and perhaps other coworkers, applying your skills or learning by doing. Our life very much revolves around the practical, rather than the theoretical side of social therapy.
Jacob is responsible for meal
preparation and setting the table today.
Coworkers and students and apprentices work
together to harvest the garden vegetables.
In the afternoon, work continues for the “apprentice” group, and the”student group” has courses in, for example, painting, history, eurythmy, handwork, drama, and botany. You may be asked either to continue working in the work areas or to assist (or even teach!) in the courses. In the evening, you may be responsible for helping with supper, or you may be invited out to eat at another house, or occasionally to go to a restaurant with people from your house. Evenings are open for social activities, necessary community or house meetings, study groups, or recreation. Because our days are full, it is common for the students and apprentices to retreat to their own rooms by 9 pm or even earlier, to listen to music or tend to personal needs. We do not have regular television viewing at Triform, although some houses may sometimes rent movies. Your social initiative and involvement in the evenings is greatly appreciated, for example, you could spend an hour one evening reading aloud for people in your house, or helping them write letters, or playing your guitar (or whatever your instrument may be). Weekends usually have ample time for relaxing. We clean our houses on Saturday mornings and have Bible evenings on most Saturday nights. There is usually an outing: a shopping trip, a hike, a trip to a museum or historical site, or concerts, plays or movies.
Michael and Sebastian take
time to pose with Pierre.
You will be asked to be responsible for the house for one day a week with one other short-term-volunteer, when the houseparents have a rest day. Many of the people who are attracted to live in a Camphill community are consciously striving on a spiritual path, and connect with anthroposophy, the world view that underlies our work. Spiritual striving is manifest in many ways in our daily life. We attempt to permeate our work with a living consciousness of the spiritual behind the physical. We begin each meal with a grace, and it is common to have a daily Bible reading in each house. The weekly Bible evening is an occasion when everyone can contribute to discussions of the reading, in an atmosphere of utmost respect for each other. We hold our own services, and we celebrate the Christian festivals in a creative and living way, often with plays, music or pageantry.
Michael demonstrates his gardening ability.
The daily rituals and rhythms, and the yearly cycle of festivals are essential aspects of the therapeutic environment that we try to create for our young people with special needs. We hope our spiritual striving is also mainfest in the very attitude we hold towards each other, towards the environment and the ethical and cultural development of the future. We try with conscious deliberation to deal with each aspect of our lives, whether it is the difficult destiny of the person with special needs, or how much to plant in the garden. Some new coworkers, whatever, their age, may feel uneasy about the religious and spiritual component of community life. It does indeed present an inner challenge. You may be asked to support the needs of the individual with special needs in this realm if needed. An example of this would be to accompany someone who physically needs a helping hand to the Sunday Service. However, your own freedom to think and feel as you wish will be absolutely respected. You will be given an opportunity to develop an understanding of our work and philosophy through study groups and orientation sessions. To volunteer, contact Meg Henderson at volunteer@triform.org or call 518-851-9320.
