Arkgemeenschap Antwerpen vzw

beschrijving van de organisatie

De Ark Antwerpen is a community-based care facility where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together. Relationships are at the heart of our approach. We try to empower people by building a network around them. We work on a small scale to create a more human society and give people opportunities to grow.
We have three community houses, one daycare center and some flats for assisted living.
In the community houses, people with and without intellectual disabilities share daily life activities. Each is home to 7 people with disabilities and 2-3 people without disabilities. They run the house together, share meals and do leisure activities. At the daycare center, a broad range of activities are organized: creative workshops, sports, music, recycling,... From swimming to the production of candles, from horseback riding to sewing, there's activities suited for the needs and interests of everyone.

De Ark Antwerpen is part of an international network of l'Arche communities, who all work according to the same principles. We are working close together with De Ark Moerkerke-Brugge, Gent and Gouda. De Ark Antwerpen is part of the big international network of l'Arche communities, originally founded in 1964.

Important accent of L'Arche are:
1. Mutual relationships are at the heart of our approach. We try to empower people by building a network around them.
2. We work on a small scale to create a more human and solidair society and give people opportunities to grow. All the houses are in Boechout or Mortsel, near Antwerpen .
3. Making known the gifts of people with disabilities. They have very often the talent of enthusiasm, spontaneity and accepting their vulnerability. They awaken the heart of people and make people more solidair, open, tolerant and gentle. These are gifts for the world.
4. Personal contact by sharing life: peacebuilding, being more tolerant and experiencing solidarity to people who are different, starts by personal contacts and sharing daily life. By sharing lives we promote a more peaceful and solidair world for every human being. Big changes starts little by little, one heart at a time.
5. Interdependency and mutuality: we also believe that bringing people with and without disabilities together benefits everyone involved. Working with people with intellectual disabilities does not mean one-way giving and helping. Our experience is that people who get a connection with disabled
people, also learn from them. They start seeing the world differently, taking more time to enjoy the smaller things in life, and looking at people in a different way. We want as many people as possible to experience this.

We have a lot of friends who are feeling at home in our houses. They come to drink coffee, to help with household tasks (f.e. ironing), going out,... We are open houses where everybody is welcome. We have several community gatherings during the year. On these moments, we invite people to come to our community and having a nice time together. We are very open to the neighbourhood and are participating as much as possible to activities in society like festivals, walks, barbecues,...