Camphill Village provides a safe environment in which to live and work for between 90 and 100 intellectually challenged adults, giving them the opportunity to experience a meaningful and fulfilling life. The village is located on a farm, 40km north of Cape Town and comprises of 13 houses and working Enterprises which facilitate daily interactive work for the Residents.
Residents live in a life-sharing environment with home leaders (and their children) and young volunteers, independently or as married couples. They work in the homes, enterprises (Bakery, Dairy, Herbal Workshop), on the farm or in the vegetable gardens, learning ethical practices to produce quality products. Each resident is respected as an individual with individual needs. A range of therapies and education is offered to further the development and skills of each person. Camphill endeavours to create a culturally rich and wholesome life for all its people.
We eat what we produce. All the products made in the various enterprises are used to feed the residents. We have a faithful following of customers who buy our products from a number of outlets across Cape Town. The revenue generated forms part of the income and financial stability of the organisation. On the 1st Sunday of each month (except January), there is a market in which all Camphill products are sold.
Volunteers, both local and from oversees, spend a year doing practical work and training. Staff are employed from the surrounding communities and empowered through training.
Camphill Village is part of a worldwide movement that was started in Scotland in 1939 by Karl Konig, an Austrian paediatrician and educator, and several colleagues, inspired by the works of the philosopher and educator, Rudolf Steiner. Rudolf Steiner pioneered Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture, and new frontiers in science, the arts, sociology, medicine, and curative work.
In 1952, the mother of an intellectually challenged boy read about Camphill and invited Karl Konig to come to South Africa. She donated a piece of land in Hermanus as a site to start a school. Here a school for intellectually challenged children was created and still exists today. Once the children reached adulthood, a new need arose, which was to create a place for adults with intellectual disabilities to live and work.
As a result of the need created by Camphill Hermanus, in 1964, a group of pioneers started the Camphill Village on the West Coast with a group of young intellectually challenged adults. It had humble beginnings, on sandy farmland, but together they planted trees, built houses, a bakery, a dairy and a chapel. Today Camphill West Coast has developed into a beautiful, tree-filled village and a warm community.