Growing success of caring village
IT is a place where barriers are broken down and everyone has a part to play, no matter their level of expertise or ability.
Newton Dee is a community in Aberdeenshire that is home to more than 80 people with special needs and their carers, and they live together in mutual households where jobs and responsibilities are shared.
Instead of care in the community, it is a community of care where those with learning difficulties are placed at the heart of village life, not pushed to the margins.
It is also a place where they are free to follow their dreams into the workplace – be that as a baker, builder or candle-stick maker.
Newton Dee has recently become the subject of an hour-long documentary that centres on a year in the life of its inhabitants and which is to be broadcast on BBC Two Scotland.
The film follows the ups and downs of the families who call the village their home as they come together to work to keep the community going, forming relationships along the way.
Life revolves around the local farm, and around simple jobs such as cutting firewood in the nearby forrest, woodworking in the workshop and baking bread and cakes for sale in the village tearoom.
The residents talk about the impact being at the heart of a community has had on their lives and the confidence they have gained from learning new skills.
Moreover, regarding carers and villagers living together, resident John Fisher says: “There is this camaraderie and teamwork. They work together very well, and we encourage that. They are very close.
“You can see when you are around them that they are a team. They look out for one another.”
He adds: “Somebody might have a problem with something or doing something a particular way. So we look at that and try and work around that and make it the best for us, as a team and for the community.”
The village is part of the Camphill movement, which was set up in
Scotland during the Second World War by Austrian paediatrician Dr Karl Konig. Dr Konig fled Vienna when his country was annexed by the Nazis and, after settling in Scotland, he established a centre for children on the Camphill Estate near Aberdeen where he could put his theories of how to care for those with special needs into practice – in a community in which they could play a full role.
Demand for places boomed and by 1950 there were 222 youngsters with a further 156 on the waiting list. Dr Konig considered them social refugees, while he and his fellows were political ones.
Today the movement has grown worldwide, with villages similar to Newton Dee catering to hundreds of residents. Resident Ali says: “It is wonderful how this community has really brought us together. And we all look out and support each other.’
House co-ordinator Jake Vollrath has lived in Newton Dee for 11 years. The 34-year-old, who hails from Wisconsin in the US, originally arrived as a volunteer expecting to stay for a year.
However, he settled down and now lives with his wife and two children looking after a house that is home to three village residents.
He said: “What makes Newton Dee great is the people. Thecommunity is not just villagers or co-workers. If you took away the villagers, the community would fall apart. If you took away the co-workers, the community would fall apart.
“Our community is great because we carry it together, because we value what we each bring and give freely of ourselves to benefit the whole. We may not be perfect, we may not uphold this ideal at all times, but it is the striving to achieve this together that gives us our strength. It is hard work, but work that is worthwhile.”
There is camaraderie and teamwork... You can see they’re a team
Village of Dreams will be shown on BBC Two Scotland next Tuesday, June 12, from 9-10pm.