L’Arche Community, Canada

I learnt many things that university couldn’t teach me. I felt that my faith more of a base of its own through my time at L’Arche. It gave me a lot of time also to reflect on where I would like my life to go. I learned how to work better with others, to control myself, to enjoy time that I spent with other people.

What follows is a short  summery of my time in the L’Arche community in Canada in Nova Scota, in my own litereary style. The fact that I was about to commit myself to this organisation for the next six months as an assistant made it all the more daunting. On arrival, Abby my house leader, showed me around the house.

The first time that I met all the folk they were all congregated in the TV room, a usual ritual for Sunday nights. As I entered the room I ran into a brick wall of faces. Over the next week the faces started to gain names. The first two weeks were the most overloading. Between people’s names, becoming accustomed to names, all the people that make up the community, the mechanics of the community, all the correct behaviour that a L’Arche assistant should use, the folk and their personalities!, the assistants and their personalities and the culture change in itself the experience can be a little overwhelming.

The first month is the formation period of an assistant. First I was gradually was introduced to the folks, and their routines as well as my own routine. Most of the folks were so used to new assistants coming and going that they seemed to be very accepting. Though some of the members took more time than others; understandably, to accept new assistants. In the first month you are totally dependant on your house leader, they teach you everything from how Canadian washing machines work to the L’Arche system of washing up. They also help you become acquainted with the folks. As my accent made it hard for the average Canadian to understand me, I worried if it would also be a problem with the folks.

Over the next few months I gradually became more comfortable in my house, I got on with my fellow assistants, I felt I was making progress with the folks, enjoying the beautiful scenery and got into a generally good rhythm of life. This is the time when to really make progress (overtly) with the folks. I found from the first day that I was comfortable with the core members of L’Arche. After a while the seemed comfortable with me, or my presence in the house. Soon their disabilities faded into the background and their personalities took centre stage. In my house their were five core members, Gary, Tammy, Chris, Trevor and Dave.

In L’Arche male assistants were unable to help with female core members’ routines washing and dressing. So I helped with all the male members of my house. Chris was one of the folks that I felt that I could communicate to best as he was a similar age to me. Due to my being to so young I didn’t feel as though I had as much to offer at times but everyone has a role in the house however unexpected it my be.

During the week the chores and routines are divided between the assistants on a daily basis. So each day you have a different chore like laundry and are helping a different buddy. In the morning, on a weekday you usually woke to help your buddy with medication or their routine or to make breakfast, if that was your chore for the day. The mornings were a scramble to get all the folks ready for the mini bus which took them to their various destinations. Some to the folks took a little more convincing than others that this was a worthy enough reason to get out of bed. As the folk had got onto the mini bus they would either go to the workshop, to make crafts for the L’Arche gift shop or some to work locally. Others took part in activities in the community or as one of the younger core members did went to school. In the evening when the folk came back everyone just spent time in then living room listening to music or reading. Then there was usually some from of community event like pray or community night to finish the evening. With the folks it took time to get to know them and for them to know you.

Also to get to know the assistants in the community. As the community was one of the youngest, with respect to the assistants, in the federation, most of the assistants were a similar age to myself. This made it easier at the beginning to fit in. As relationships with the folks develop, naturally the relationships with the assistants did and the assistants in my house we knitted well and formed a good team.

It is hard to quantify each and every experience that I had with the folks but in my short time in the community I had a lot of fun which in hindsight overshadows difficulties. One memorable time was when my house went bowling. The bowling ally was full of groups of middle aged men, who obviously bowelled often, competitively cowling and cackling with each successive strike the hit. For me was wonderful to just watch the novelty of the event on the faces of the folks.

Winning or losing; the way that each of the core members enjoyed the sport in their own individual way. There were also hard times, with so many of the assistants coming and going, and my own temporary state ever present in my mind, the openness with which the folks initially received me gave way to the difficulty l felt at first. The folks relied on the more permanent folks for stability in an ever changing community, which gave the more short term assistants a feeling that there was only so much they could achieve.

When my time finally came for me to leave it was a sad time, though I longed to see my family again. Part of me was frustrated with the fact that I was still making progress in the community itself it all had to end. Still I was happy to be going to university, though during my time in L’Arche I learnt many things that university couldn’t teach me. I felt that my faith, though just weaning itself off of that to of my parents gained more of a base of its own through my time at L’Arche. It gave me a lot of time also to reflect on where I would like my life to go. I learned also how to work better with others, to control myself, to enjoy time that I spent with other people. Though I dislike listing things as I feel that it doesn’t do them justice, L’Arche was a challenging but overall a positive period of my as yet short life.