Earlier this year, The Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland received a funding application from APISTSAB (Association for promoting special education, social therapy and biodynamic agriculture in Romania – Urlati Centre) for £19,000. The funding was requested to support two key aspects of the Samaria Hub Association Project, which aims to strengthen social pedagogy, inclusive education, and community development through workshops and collaboration in Romania.
Firstly, to help with the cost of refurbishing Samaria House and its immediate environment for use as the Hub base for the project, and secondly, to help modify their corporate structure and resolve several legal and administrative issues before the Hub can implement its planned activity effectively.
Although progress on the legal restructuring has been slow due to court strikes in Romania, we are pleased to share that the refurbishment work on Samaria House, to create a welcoming environment for Hub activities and their beneficiaries, is progressing as planned. John Byrde, chair of APISTSAB, has shared the following updates with us, and further interior refurbishment will take place later this autumn. Residents of the shared living community have played an active volunteer role in many of the renovations:
- A new central heating unit has been installed
- The interior has been improved by a team of volunteers, enabling visitors to begin Hub team-building activities
- The covered terrace has been extended to provide more shade and protection from inclement weather, for outdoor socialising
- The southside park area is being rejuvenated with hedges and benches, creating spaces for outdoor activities and socialising
- On the north side of the park, a US volunteer craftsman partially righted the neighbour’s concrete fence which was leaning dangerously over our garden and advised on how to complete the job. Once the old fence is stabilised, a screen will be created on the Hub side.
With this initial refurbishment work complete, some Hub activities have begun, aimed at establishing a network of potential Hub ‘activists’ and supporters as well as a range of Hub “spokes”:
- Educational through the visits of Peter Bateson. Peter’s programmes included:
- As ‘inreach’, working on the purpose and foundations of the Hub project and, through a series of online meetings, an introduction to ‘Ways to Quality’
- As ‘outreach’, holding lectures at Rudolf Steiner House in Bucharest, working with the teachers at the Corabia Centre for Curative Education (“Spiritual and social renewal of education – an ongoing necessity”) and the kindergarten training centre at Bucharest
- Graham Kennish, who also lectured at Rudolf Steiner House (“Waldorf education, science and freedom”) held courses with teachers and those interested on teaching chemistry and Goethean Psychology.
- Promoting the impulse of Inclusive Social Development (ISD), through a talk by John Byrde at Rudolf Steiner House, Bucharest, on “How can we deepen our care, understanding, and love for our fellow human beings, through the prism of human dignity? — Rudolf Steiner’s impulse for curative pedagogy, a century later”) in the context of a weekend event Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s Death – Renewing Impulses for Humanity.
- Anthroposophic medicine and psychotherapy, through the visit of Dr Michael and Marah Evans, with their lecture on the “Seven Life Processes – Supporting Life and Learning” at the Rudolf Steiner House.
- Biodynamic gardening, as well as the cultivation of Damask roses and medicinal herbs with the aim of establishing the production of remedial creams and essential oils, through the visit of Donna LaPré from USA and a well-attended seminar with her. The seminar was preceded by and is being followed up with regular online meetings on preparing the gardener and their gardens for BD.
- Ongoing online discussions with Bogdan Bucur, general manager of the Clervaux Trust and formerly at Botton Village, on Ruskin Mill methods and on how to develop land-based activities at the Hub, as well as an Inclusive Social Development trainer.
- Discussions are underway with a Waldorf-trained kindergarten teacher and a couple of Casa-Rozei-trained special education teachers to establish educational support services at the Hub for children in need. Last Advent, the latter put on puppet shows at a children’s afterschool and the secondary school at Urlati, as a Hub activity.
Through these activities and various seminars and lectures in Bucharest, many people have become interested to enter or renew their commitment to inclusive social development. Thus, Roxana and John Byrde, as the only trainers in Romania recognised by the ISD Section, were approached by the Romanian Anthroposophical Society president to help start an ISD training in Romania. To this end, Roxana and John attended the annual conference of ISD trainers at Kassel, Germany, in April, where they received encouragement and offers of help. They focused all summer on setting up this training which opened with its first module on the weekend before Michaelmas, with most of the potential Hub “activists” joining the training.
(Information lifted from John Byrde’s Report on the Urlaţi Hub Project progress to the Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland, 5.10.25)
Thank you to John Byrde for sharing these updates and project activity with us. The Camphill Foundation is delighted to see how this initiative continues to grow, strengthening inclusive education, social therapy, and biodynamic practice in Romania.
“Thanks to the Camphill Foundation grant, the Hub project is taking shape. There have been challenges and hiccups enough, which present an interesting (and we hope fruitful) learning curve. The planned timeframe is surely being stretched out, though this has allowed more content in. Grant fund usage is restricted to the agreed items, not for wider Hub activities, which have been self-sustaining or otherwise funded.” John Byrde
If you have a project or initiative on the horizon that you think may be eligible for financial support from The Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland, we’d love to hear from you. We can support you through the application process and we hope that we can help bring your community vision to life.
