10 September 2003
COMMUNITY HOUSE
PROJECT REPORT
2002-3
BEDROOMS
individuals within the whole
A place where people go to rest and have personal space away from others. A place where we can reflect and do our work thoughtfully and quietly.
What will we each take away from this experience of living in community? What are the fruits of this experience? What does each individual contribute?
As a community we planned and participated in many events and actions. Just as important, were the things we were involved with individually.
Some of us participated in the University’s inter-faith group. Others were involved with specific congregations in town. Still others were active in the local anti-poverty coalition and refugee agencies.
The work we did, as individuals is important because of course we can’t all be involved in every social justice group. I think we learned from what each other were active in. It felt easy for me to be involved in social justice activism when I was surrounded by people who listened, supported and encouraged me. I hope we can say that we all did this for each other.
Just living with people who held similar values to my own spurred a cascade of creativity and motivation to continue activism as a part of daily life. I think the others share this feeling.
In North America I find we are taught to be very individualistic. We are encouraged to think only of our bank accounts and ourselves. Money is worshiped and idolized. We spend more time watching television than listening to one another.
When I am living in community life makes sense. Living in the Community House gave me a sense of family with both positive and negative aspects.
After some time living with one another we decided to dedicate two evenings where we would give and receive personal feedback. For me this was a unique experience to hear honest, thoughtful and in depth feedback about how I affect others, how others perceive me in group settings, positive and negative behaviors others notice in addition to affirmations about my role in the house. Creating this challenging opportunity for ourselves to be honest and reflective is one of the major rewards we take from this experience.
Each of us had opportunities to facilitate group meetings, share prayerful reflection before meals or during a liturgy, practice healthy communication skills, make decisions by consensus, resolve conflict one on one or with mediation as well as everyday responsibilities around the house to maintain a happy and functioning home.
All of these things contributed to our growth as people.
NEXT > ecumenism & community life
CONTENTS | Introduction
front entrance | how we got started
bathroom | owning the project
bedrooms | individuals within the whole
living room | ecumenism & community life
kitchen | outreach & hospitality
closets | challenges along the way
balcony | methods & details
dock | looking ahead
