Volunteer guide
L’Arche Bruxelles
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Summary
Welcome!
We hope you’ll soon feel yourself at home!
The founding of l'Arche
L’Arche
L’Arche in French-speaking Belgium
L’Arche Bruxelles
Role of volunteers at L’Arche Bruxelles
At l’Arche, the personwith handicap is in the heart of the community life.
Creating a relation with people with handicap
Entering the community
Working in a team
An average day of a volunteer
An average day of a volunteerin the homes
An average day of a volunteer in the daytime activity center
L’Arche International
This volunteer guide booklet was updated the02.03.2017.
Welcome!
Make yourself at home!
This guide was prepared to help you feel yourself at home from the moment you arrive to l’Arche Bruxelles, and so that you can take themost out of your time with us. No matter what, do not forget who you are. Be yourself, so that we can say together that we were, mutually an open window, one towards the other, one thanks to the other.
While reading the guide, please keep in mind this quote from the Charter of l’Arche:
«Each person, whatever shall be their gifts or limits shares a common humanity. He/she has a unique and sacred value, equal dignity and the same rights.The fundamental human rights are: the right to life and health, the right to education, the right to work, but also, as the most profound need of humans is to be loved, the right of friendship, to the community and spiritual life. »
This booklet, similarly to other informational material about l’Arche was written respecting the values shared by some 150 l’Arche communities worldwide, regardless the language, culture, religion, philosophy.
The Brussels-based community is just one example of the international movement founded by Jean Vanier in 1964.
You are now entering the history of a community, which was built up from day to day, sometimes facing challenges and even crises, like all the human communities: families, associations, youth movements.
L’Arche’s principal and only goal is to provide a place, an environment for people with intellectual disabilities where they feel like home, feel secure. We aim to provide all this without the aim of replacing the family.At l’Arche, the person is supported to grow in all means: relationships, belonging, recognition and self-confidence.
Even if you come from a world where education strives for efficiency, do not jump into a thousand things to secure yourself. Stop for a moment to look, listen, discover the people, discover lives. Take time to build bridges. Remember, we are all "unique", which implies: different!
A warm welcome at l’Arche!
The foundation of l’Arche
L’Archewas founded in1964by the Canadian Jean Vanier, son of a Canadian governor, ex-navy officer and philosophy teacher of the University of Toronto.
Jean Vanier, accompanied by a Dominican priest, Father Thomas Philippe, was deeply touched by the insufficient treatment ofpeople with intellectual disabilities and theirabandoned life behind the closed doors of psychiatric hospitals.
Committed to bring change, Jean Vanier decided to move to Trosly (a village in the countryside of Northern France) with 3 people with intellectual disabilities, to a house he called “Arche”. The third person didn’t stay more than 24 hours though, as his psychiatric condition didn’t allow him to live in a community. This first case stands as a good example tohow the program of l’Arche is only one among many different alternatives proposed for people with disabilities.
The name of the organization is referring to the biblical ark of Noé.
While l’Arche is professional, community-based and open, its values root in Christianity. It does not mean though that l’Arche would exclude anyone with differentbeliefs.
L’Arche’s vision is to show by the way it functions that it is possible to grow and build without exclusion, that every person, even if intellectually different brings a new colour to our profit-oriented, efficiency-based societies.
L’Arche’s mission is to accompany and assist these people in their daily routine and their activities.
Like Saint Vincent de Paul, Jean Vanier repeats to whoever wants to hear it: "the poor are our masters".
References:
Website: ,
A documentary directed by a L’Arche volunteer is available on «Youtube»link manque
L’Arche
“Being a part of l’Arche’s work means building a more empathic, more accepting society.”
L’Arche hosts and gathers people with diverse intellectual deficiencies by providing a community based living for them as an alternative. We are a professional host organization that treats personal competences with great curiosity, and aims for getting people closer to each other.
We work together with the people with handicap so that they can reach a higher level of authonomy in their everydays. We assist them, conform to their individual necessities so that they find their place and grow in the society.
The L’Arche concept roots in the values of relations, reciprocity and mutual respect among all the actors: the core members (people with handicap), volunteers, the friends of the organization, the parents and professionals. Our philosophy above all is to “be with” and “do with” in all four dimension of our organization: professional, communal, spiritual and openness towards the world.
People with intellectual disabilities help us to overcome prejudice and stereotypes which are so inherently part of our lives, by their simplicity,spontaneity, their hunger for new encounters. They remind us to the human values we share.
L’Arche in French-speaking Belgium
The first l’Arche community in Belgium was founded in 1973, in Brussels. Today, we are a non-profit organization with four communities in French-speaking Belgium: apart from Brussels, we are present in Aywaille, Bierges and Namur.
Each community consists of a daily activity center and homes; some of them offer an apartment supervising service. Our daytime centers welcome people from l’Arche homes, other centers, families or supervised apartments. The people living in our homes spend their days in our activity centers or other institutions, conform to their abilities.
We host the people with handicap in smaller homes with only a handful of residentials, in a homey surrounding. We make efforts to develop good relation with the neighbors, so that the hosted people can also have a contact with them, enabling another level of socialization.
L’Arche Brussels
L’Arche’sBrussels-based community was founded in 1971, by a Jesuit priest, FatherAndré Roberti, who created the first and still existing home called “Le Toit” (The Roof). In 1973, it became member of the Federation of l’Arche.
The Federation consists of people with and without intellectual disabilities. Together, strengthened by the skills and values each member enriches the community with, we aim to be a part of a world in permanent development. We wish to stay open, welcoming and supporting towards the challenges of our society.
L’Arche Brussels has four homes in the same district of the city(Le Toit, La Branche, La Ruche et Cana), a daily activity center (le Grain), and a house for the volunteers of le Grain (Bethléem). The offices of the organization are located in the building of the activity center. L’Arche is visible and well-known in its neighborhood.
Our community counts more than 150 members, which comprehend the people with disability, the professionals, the volunteers, the friends, the spiritual supporters, the families.
The Community has Christian roots, with routines like the communal Eucharist in the living spaces, the prayers together, the songs before the meals, but stays open towards every philosophic and spiritual opinion and belief.
This pluralism doesn’t mean the dilution of values though. The indispensable conditions of a working and real pluralism are mutual respect and tolerance.
A good example of where this pluralism flourishes is the monthly event of Bo Wen Son, where the whole community gathers to celebrate and meet.
As for the legal entity of the organization, l’Arche Bruxelles is a non-profit organization, led by an executive board and a director. Further colleagues are the Volunteer coordinator, four leaders of the homes and their deputies, a leader of the daytime center and its educational team and a maintenance team. For the organization of the community life, regular meetings take place, such as:
- The community council, which gathers to support the director by providing information to help him in decision-making.
- The “Rameau”, taking place every week, with the participation of the house leaders, the leader of the daytime center, the Volunteer coordinator and the psychopedagogue to assure the coordination of daily life with the director.
- The “Celebration Committee”, gathering monthly to organize communal and spiritual (religious and non-religious) activities.
As member of L’Arche in French-speaking Belgium, l’Arche Bruxelles is in close cooperation with thethree other communities in Namur, Bierges and Aywaille.All four communities are supported by a national officer.
As the member of the International Federation of l’Arche, l’Arche Brussels is engaged in solidarity and reciprocity with other l’Arche communities.
Role of volunteers at L’Arche Bruxelles
Your mission will be to support people with disabilities, which is the main reason of the establishment of l’Arche.
Respecting this, your tasks can be summed up as follows:
-Educational aspect
-The role of a listener (not to be confused with a psychologist)
-You share a period of your life with them
At l’Arche, the people with handicap are in the center of the community life.
This implies that during your volunteer program, you will support the people with handicap in the fulfillment of their basic needs, respecting their individual necessities and project, in accordance with the professional team.You also contribute to create a good ambiance, a welcoming space where the people can feel like home.
At l’Arche, the people with difficulties are not «patients».
As a volunteer, you provide an indispensable help that is much needed for a well-functioning project. The volunteers, professionals and the hosted people live in a relation based on mutuality.
Building a relationship with people with disabilities
Human relationships enrich our lives more than anything else, but to build new ones, one needs to take time. Don’t ever forget that a person with difficulties is a person just like you, with his own dreams, own wishes, emotions, sensitivity, an own life experience. Respect it, and work on it, as they do too!A real relationship is always based on mutuality. Listen to those who have been here before you, observe them, ask them, if you feel the need – it will help you avoid misunderstandings.
Make sure you live the relations in an honest way. Try to avoid creating a too close relationship, try to establish a balanced one: a fair proximity alongside with a fair distance.
Participation in community life
To ensure an active community life, you will participate at and contribute to weekly house meetings, meetings with the leader of the daytime center, meetings and workshops organized for volunteers and assistants (3 times a year), events and communal celebrations.
The first 3 months, you will get to know and learn the “l’Arche way of life”; how and by what values we live together. These months provide a chance both to you and the community to see whether volunteering for l’Arche in practice is really something that fits you. After these 3 months, you and the community together decide about whether you will stay longer. Even if you decide to stay longer (10-12 months), it still requires a common decision from the community.
Working in a team
At l’Arche, one of the fundamental values is the teamwork among volunteers, professional educators and friends. The variety of coworkers’ status enriches the community, should it be in the homes or the activity center.
Listening and reassessment both are essential for everyone, professional or not.
With his houses’s team, each volunteer is responsible for functional organizational tasks as follows:
- 2-4 wakeups a week: waking up the people with handicap and taking care of housework
- 2-3 hours a day for specific tasks, for example: grocery shopping, taking the hosted people to the doctor, etc. The tasks are distributed conform to the capacities of the volunteers.
- 2-5 evening a week, starting from the afternoon snack (comment traduireGOUTER? ), helping the people with their baths/showers, cooking dinner, helping them to prepare for the night.
- Working 2 weekends a month
- Presence at the homes some nights a week
- Participation in the activities of the homes, communal celebrations, the activities of the daily center.
- Accompany the people with disabilities to additional programs or occupations, conform to your skills (work, medical appointment, freetime activities, etc).
- Taking care of general tasks to ensure the smooth functioning of the homes: welcoming the people, cooking, grocery shopping, baths and general hygiene of the people, getting there and coming backfor the activity center, celebrations, keeping the rooms tidy.
- Accompany the people during their activities in the daily center.
- Participations at house meetings
With the daytime activity center’s team, every volunteer is responsible for functional organizational tasks as follows:
- Accompany the people with disabilities in their individual and collective projects
- Involvement in teaching and familiarizing with the teaching tools (eg presentation cards)
- Punctuality, full presence during breaks and meal time
- Discipline: in case of absence, let the managers know in advance
- Participation at the team meetings and meeting organized for volunteers
A typical day of the volunteer
A typical day of the volunteer in the homes
Wakeup: approx. From 6 am to 10am
Day:
Weekdays:
After the people with handicap left for the daytime center, you finish the housework in the home. Depending on the given day, afterwards you might have language classes or free time.
During the weekend:
The volunteer takes part in the community life, spends the whole day with the people with handicap.
Afternoon:approx. Between 4 pm to 8 pm
The people arrive back from the daytime center:snack, cokking, baths, etc.
Evening: approx. Between 8 pm and 10 pm
Bedtime:around 10 pm
Nights: approx. Between, 10 pm and 6-7 am
Important to know:
The volunteers sleep in the homes, sometimes without the presence of the home leaders.
In these cases, two of the volunteers has to be in the home.
In case of emergency, the house leader can be called during the night. When they are not available, the leader of another home can be contacted.
A typical day of the volunteer in the activity center
08h30 – 09h00:people arrive (morning walk or transport), welcoming them + preparation of sandwiches if necessary
09h00: start of the activities
10h30 – 1100 : break
11h00 – 12h30: activities
12h30 – 13h30: lunch
13h30 – 16h00: activities
16h00: return to the homes, by foot or another way of transport
(excepté les lundis en raison de la réunion d’équipe qui débute 15h45)??.
To each volunteer working in the daytime center, it is obligatory to:
- Participate at meetings with the manager of the daytime center
- Participate at team meetings or meeting of the daytime center’s volunteers and the community meeting on Fridays
- Participate at language classes
- Working 2 days a month in the home to which the volunteer is designated to (based on the necessities of the home)
- Participate at the community weekend, regional community day, the Christmas market and evaluations
To each volunteer working in the homes, it is obligatory to :
- Have meetings with the home leadersand to take part in team meetings
- Prepare activities, take part inhouse meetings, take language classes
- Participate at the community weekend, regional community day, the Christmas market and evaluations
Remarks:
Under no circumstances shall the weekly number of the volunteers’ working hours exceed the working hours of an employee.
Each volunteer has to be provided 6 hours of French class a week, deducted from his/her working hours. Occasionally it might happen that the language course and the working hours are not compatible. In these cases, the volunteer and the home leader try to find a solution together.
Summary:
Your project at l’Arche is built:
-With you
-With the leader of the home / daytime center
-And in cooperation with the volunteer coordinator
L’Arche International
L’Arche Bruxellesis also a part of an International Federation. This federation promotes diversity and solidarity, regardless of country, religion, spirituality, culture or age…
L’Arche is present worldwide in these countries:
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