(If you want to see what our kids are doing this week, Raia, Asya, and Bogdan are loving art camp. I'm taking photos there, at least some every day, and posting all of those here. Now back to my L'viv report....)
I really like this video for showing who we met and what we saw of L'Arche:
I left off writing where we had to leave the Smiles and the house. From there we went to the workshop that is shown most in the first half of the video above, the "Bees" workshop. Also, the church where "Dreamers" workshop meets was having a camp, so the Dreamers were working with the Bees that day, and we got to meet all of them. They were just finishing up their work for the day. We saw them making necklaces and cards, but I know they do other crafts at other times and seasons.
They put away all their craft supplies and then lit a candle and pulled us in for their closing prayer time. Since we were running a little late, there wasn't much time, but we sang a song together and prayed, and then they had to leave. It was just as beautiful as the morning time with the Smiles, but much shorter. One of the assistants put us on a bus to get to our next destination. This is when we got lost. (L'viv is huge!) Eventually--with lots of friendly help--we found ourselves and got to Ukraine Catholic University (an amazing place, by the way), just a little bit later than we should have.
At the University Christine from Emmaus met us and took us into a classroom that she had reserved. Emmaus and L'Arche are not the same organisation, but they are very close and work together. Christine and her colleague Olga showed us videos and a presentation that explained the history of Emmaus and L'Arche and several other related organisations (Faith and Light, and...?), and they told us about their philosophy and methods. Their organisation supports people with disabilities and their families in many ways, including: retreats, books, work placement, educating the public, and more. Christine is French, but she explained everything to us in English.
After that, Christine took us down to the amazing Emmaus Home. It's a dorm there at the university where students and people with disabilities live together. The setting itself is beautiful, a big, bright, modern apartment. The model is like L'Arche. During the days, the students are busy with their studies and the friends are at their workshops. In the mornings and evenings and other free times they live life together. They also host events like coffee times and French cooking classes for other students. When we got there some were preparing dinner and others were working on projects. They served us tea, showed us their home, and told us a little about themselves.
After such a full day, we were exhausted. We got a taxi back to the L'Arche house, took part in evening prayers, and collapsed into bed. That was our Tuesday in L'viv.
To be continued...
I really like this video for showing who we met and what we saw of L'Arche:
I left off writing where we had to leave the Smiles and the house. From there we went to the workshop that is shown most in the first half of the video above, the "Bees" workshop. Also, the church where "Dreamers" workshop meets was having a camp, so the Dreamers were working with the Bees that day, and we got to meet all of them. They were just finishing up their work for the day. We saw them making necklaces and cards, but I know they do other crafts at other times and seasons.
They put away all their craft supplies and then lit a candle and pulled us in for their closing prayer time. Since we were running a little late, there wasn't much time, but we sang a song together and prayed, and then they had to leave. It was just as beautiful as the morning time with the Smiles, but much shorter. One of the assistants put us on a bus to get to our next destination. This is when we got lost. (L'viv is huge!) Eventually--with lots of friendly help--we found ourselves and got to Ukraine Catholic University (an amazing place, by the way), just a little bit later than we should have.
At the University Christine from Emmaus met us and took us into a classroom that she had reserved. Emmaus and L'Arche are not the same organisation, but they are very close and work together. Christine and her colleague Olga showed us videos and a presentation that explained the history of Emmaus and L'Arche and several other related organisations (Faith and Light, and...?), and they told us about their philosophy and methods. Their organisation supports people with disabilities and their families in many ways, including: retreats, books, work placement, educating the public, and more. Christine is French, but she explained everything to us in English.
After that, Christine took us down to the amazing Emmaus Home. It's a dorm there at the university where students and people with disabilities live together. The setting itself is beautiful, a big, bright, modern apartment. The model is like L'Arche. During the days, the students are busy with their studies and the friends are at their workshops. In the mornings and evenings and other free times they live life together. They also host events like coffee times and French cooking classes for other students. When we got there some were preparing dinner and others were working on projects. They served us tea, showed us their home, and told us a little about themselves.
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| Christine and Volodya (Nila's photo) |
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| With Pavlo, the philosopher and reader |
To be continued...
1 comment:
There is such life and beauty here that I will need to return later to get a fuller view. I did look at all the photos of art camp--what a delightfully creative and active place! No wonder your children are enjoying it. Greatly do we appreciate the glimpses into your world; thank you for posting. Much love to you.
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