10. {. 2010.
Rožkalni Village is a fairly young (1999) village community for adults with special needs. As a part of the Camphill Village Movement, we base our work on Anthroposophy and non-denominational Christianity.
We run a biologically managed farm and vegetable garden, have forestry activities (making fire wood), and we have a small dairy where we make cheese and other milk-products. We live and work together with adults with special needs, some of whom are mentally disabled.
Together we try to shape an environment where each individual, be he or she handicapped or not, can lead a meaningful life and have an opportunity to make friends, do meaningful and needed work, and to experience the sense of being appreciated and needed; of being an important and valued member of the community.
The house-community is home for all who live in the village. We wish to live together in the awareness of our fellow man and his individual needs. We try to listen to each other also where no words can be spoken. We try to look beyond the outer handicap and search for the true being of every man.
The home is the place of acceptance and confidence. Life is our teacher. Arts, science and religion are parts of our life. We want to learn about the earth, the stars, about ourselves.
We study together, read biographies, we sing and make music, we dance and act in a play together. We want to celebrate the festivals of the year and try to search for their inner meaning in our time.
In all these cultural and social activities the individual and the whole community can find themselves as an integral part of the world today. We work for each other and for the world around us. We work on the land, in the household or in workshops. Everybody can contribute with his/her abilities and through this be dignified as a person valuable in the village.
Only when we are allowed to have meaningful work can we truly experience ourselves as full members of society.
At the moment we are some 15 people living and working together in two family houses. Eight of us are villagers - adults with special needs, of whom some are mentally disabled. Rozkalni is in the very beginning of becoming a village community, and might in the future expand to include about 40 souls, all told.
Rozkalni lies in a rural area. The nearest town is Valmiera, some two hour’s drive north-east of Riga. The landscape is fairly flat, but since the farmland is interspersed with tracts of forest, it is not boring. Even though the village lies out in the country, the bus-service is good, so getting to the nearest town Valmiera, or to Riga is easy. Rozkalni might in some respects seem to be isolated, but life here is very engaging and fullfilling. We have good contact with local neighbours, they come and help us and we them, and there is a large flow-through of visitors from many parts of the world.
If one needs to get off the hook, or feel the need for some town air, Valmiera, our nearest town is not far away or one can take an occasional weekend off in Riga.
Latvia has some 2 million inhabitants, and is undergoing a tremendous crisis, in all fields of life. The market economy has come, for better or for worse, and most anything can be bought here, though you might have to search a bit for it.
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