L'Arche International Newsletter - November 2015 for Tuesday, 3 November 2015

L'Arche International Newsletter - November 2015 for Tuesday, 3 November 2015



L’Arche in France welcomes migrants…

A community leader from L’Arche in France explains:

‘At the community meeting we spoke about the idea of welcoming migrants for a while in a small unoccupied house. I was astounded to hear the response from people with disabilities. In particular, the expression of one young woman who is normally shy and discreet, when she said while staring in the eyes: ‘We’ve got to do it!’ No sentimentality, nor superficial show of emotion… just a great sense of responsibility.

So we got in touch with an association to see how we could take action: measure the risks involved, decide who does what because we aren’t competent in every domain, plan the different stages and remain discreet so as not to disturb, through clumsiness, an encounter where the lack of security makes each person feel fragile.

A small family arrived a couple of weeks ago. They are happy to settle for a few months in a place “that is theirs”, without having to share a room with 3 families and a shower for 30. We are happy to have them here, and happy to get to know them little by little.”

This short note, that cannot give further clarification out of discretion, would simply like to testify that it is possible to live this hospitality together.

Read more.


Al Safina, for the Sake of a shy smileHowever “normal” this crisis has become for Al Safina (L’Arche Syria), they shall never get used to it.
Faced with fuel and food shortages, lengthy power and water cuts, unsafe conditions, the deafening noise of planes and shooting, and the threat of rockets, the challenge is to find ways of coping:
• One is organizing retreats and courses, such as “First Aid” or “Self-Control and Adaptability”.
• Another is remaining faithful to the people in the house and workshop – 28 live-out members still turn up for work each day.
• Another is working with Caritas Damascus to support displaced families in distress, e.g. visiting shelters in order to work with disabled people and their families.

Lastly, there is welcoming a new life…
Imad Boutros, who is 20 and from Damascus, is now part of Al-Safina community. When his foster parents died, he was in urgent need of a new home, and the day he first visited Al Safina, his shy smile revealed that this was where he wanted to stay, among friends.

Read more.

United Nations welcomes L’Arche

As of July 2015, L’Arche International has been granted Special Consultative status at ECOSOC, the branch of the UN that promotes Social and Economic development. One advantage is that from now on, L’Arche will be consulted on all issues to do with disability, a priority area for the UN since the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in 2006.

Official recognition by the UN opens other doors as well, and L’Arche is likely to seek new ways of collaborating more closely with other NGO’s working with disability issues: our specific role will be to raise the profile of people with an intellectual disability, whose exceptional, yet often hidden, talents L’Arche has been encouraging for the last 50+ years, through shared life in community.

L’Arche is very grateful to the UN for recognizing our rare expertise, and looks forward to a constructive working relationship to the benefit of many gifted people, who, in spite of great progress in many countries, are often counted among the most disadvantaged on the planet.

Read more.

The day the President came to lunch!

“A model of social care in Lithuania” so said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė recently in describing the L’Arche community in Vilnius. So impressed was her government that they recommended L’Arche to receive a 480,000 Euros grant from the EU. This has enabled the community to welcome twice as many members with an intellectual disability -10 in total- through the opening of their new house on May 28th.

The President, clearly very touched by the L’Arche’s relationship-centred approach to care, made a point of sitting down for lunch with community members. Afterwards, community leader Rimas Ramonas, reported: “This is fantastic news for our community, as we are now able to double the number of people we welcome with a disability to 10 people. But just as important was seeing how the President of Lithuania has grasped the essence of L’Arche. You could see by the way that President Grybauskaitė was really engaging with each person, that she wasn’t interested in just a formal protocol visit, but looking for a genuine human encounter. You never hear of a Head of State, anywhere in the world, being prepared to take time chatting with the citizens with an intellectual disability. She told us that L’Arche is a model; but in a way, she too, is a model for how to be a humble President…”

Lithuania is in the process of shutting down some very large institutions left over from the Soviet era. L’Arche cannot welcome all the people needing a home. But it is good news for Lithuania that small community settings like L’Arche, on a human scale, where each has their place, is now seen as a way forward.

Read more.


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L'ARCHE INTERNATIONALE
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France
http://www.larche.org
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