December 2005
Monthly Archive
GRANNY TAKES CARE and we help her
Sick children can be a reoccurring problem for many parents who work. At Sjælland (DK) there are several initiatives to solve this problem. “Rent a grandparent” is a concept developed to offer contact between working parents and elderly who likes to spend time with children. For a small fee, a “grandparent” will happily come and take good care of your sick child.
Most parents today work and have their children in day-care, but when the children get ill, they are prevented to leave the home. It is not always easy for parents to take the day off. If the child’s grandparents live near by, this might not be a problem, but in today’s society it is no longer unusual to live far away from the rest of the family. In these cases it is practical to be able to – rent a grandparent! These are elderly people who might be lonely and have lots of spare time to help a family in need and spend some time with a sick child.
The organization in Hvidovre was founded in 1999 by the former school-nurse Kirsten Balzer Jepsen. She is today the “head-grandmother” of 12 grandmothers and two grandfathers. 160 families use this service regularly and 75 families hire the same grandmother every time. All the grandparents have been educated in child-diseases and the well-being of children. Further they each have their own bag of toys to bring.
The grandparents receive about 30 kr. per hour, which is a moderate fee. This initiative has no economic purpose, only a wish to help others in he local environment. The organization is however supported by the municipality to cover education and administration.
The initiative has great potential to be a supplement to the existing daycare service, as it solves a new kind of problem in today’s society with hard working parents. It does not only benefit the family, but also gives the elderly an opportunity to participate in society in a meaningful way after retirement.
The involved actors in the solution are families who would like a grandparent to spend time with their children an elderly who want to contribute with their life experience and time. These groups are matched by the “Headgrandmother”, who has the role as a facilitator for this meeting.
The solution involves people from different generations. It can be a worth-while experience to spend time and share experiences with people from different generations than yourself. Children are generally more spontaneous in their way of experiencing the surroundings and understanding life. Their joy, eager and curiosity to explore new things can inspire both teenagers, adults and elderly. Likewise, the elderly can make sure that the child can get a regularly and safe basis in chaotic daily life.
A centre for old and new crafting professions
Haandværkerhuset is home to associations and workshops that work to preserve the old traditional craft professions.
The main problem about Haandværkerhuset is that it is a closed and introvert system that does not expose the knowledge that it contains to a sufficient degree. This will eventually lead to the situation where the knowledge of the old craftsmen’s way of working has simply dyed out.
The goal is to pass on implicit knowledge about the use of old crafting techniques in order to maintain this important piece of cultural inheritance for coming generations. A way to do this is to turn Haandværkerhuset into a centre for the existing related crafting educations and workplaces. The involved institutions can use the centre as a historical reference and can come there to experience the living exposition of traditions. Haandværkerhuset can also send out a representative to tell their story at schools and other places.
The main actors in this case are the volunteers at Haandværkerhuset, the related institutions, the municipality of Aalborg / the society.
Social benefits are first and foremost the prevalence of the traditional craft professions (and the perseverance of cultural inheritance). The institutions involved get a new and more interesting aspect to their learning process and to their professions. The volunteers get to keep their hobbies and their hobbies become important to the society. If the system becomes a success the demand will increase and more (retired) people can be activated.
Haandværkerhuset puts focus on traditional techniques which are more sustainable and less resource demanding than modern techniques and machines. The environment also benefits from the reuse of old products and tools.
Aalborg Kommune benefits economically on tourists that come to visit the city and Haandværkerhuset.
Researchers:
Jens Vestergaard
Dorthe Andresen
Nordjysk Center for Håndværk, Arkitektur og Kulturmiljø
Haandværkerhuset is home to associations and workshops that work to preserve the old traditional craft professions. It is situated in an old half-timbered building from 1630 and is home to several endangered craftsman professions. It houses workshops for hand smiths, plumbers, saddlers, copper smiths, painters, turners, carpenters, watch- and cabinet makers where both young and old craftsmen can meet and pass on the old traditions for craft professions and restoration techniques using the original tools. The goal is to pass on knowledge about the use of old crafting techniques in order to maintain this important piece of culture inheritance for coming generations.
The building is owned by the Municipality of Aalborg, and the associations pay rent to stay there. They have about 80-100 supporting members who pay an annual fee of about 250 kr. It costs the same to get things repaired or built here as it would at a professional craftsman’s. This is to ensure that they do not undermine the existing professions. There are about 20 people involved with the daily work at Haandværkerhuset and they are all former professionals and they do not get paid to work there. The money from restorations goes to running the house and to preserve the professions and tools.
The most important benefits of Haandværkerhuset are socially and culturally related. The old traditions and stories are preserved and most of the associations in Haandværkerhuset are open to the public to come and learn how it was done in the old days. The ones working there definitely benefit socially from each other. Having all the different professions represented at Haandværkerhuset gives them the opportunity to be inspired by each other’s professions and can make them feel that they are a part of a common society.
Environmentally the benefits are that they repair and reuse old tools and of course restore things for people and in that way prolong the life of the objects and increase their value.
There are no immediate economical benefits.
Place:
Aalborg, Denmark
Promoters:
Håndværkerhuset, Kattesundet 20, 9000 Aalborg
9812 5232
http://www.haandvaerkerhuset-aalborg.dk/
Researchers:
Jens Vestergaard and Dorthe Andresen
Sources of information:
Visit to Haandværkerhuset, interviews, internet
http://www.haandvaerkerhuset-aalborg.dk/
http://www.bikingviking.dk/byloeb/katsu.htm
http://www.aalborg-hvf.dk/historie.phtml
http://www.oko-info.dk/dgs/detail.asp?thesection=2&dgstext=h%E5ndv%E6rkerhuset&listoffset=0&offset=0
http://www.visitaalborg.com/page535.aspx
The place that gives the possibilities you do not have at home
It is possible to use the café for your dinner, together with all the workshops.
In the workshops can both be used for creative projects but also for making more functional things to your home.
Forstrup-Jutland-Denmark.
More and more, people are looking for way to get out of the capitalist system, returning to nature and a more primitive way of life. Even though they cannot get away completely, they have a different way of life, a personal choice, that should be analyzed. These observations were all made during my trip to the camp, from my own experience.
The idea for the camp was born 50 years ago. It is the oldest “hippie Camp” in Denmark and it now has 56 members (of which 15 are children). After a long struggle with the Danish government the state has given it 400 m3 of land in deep countryside, just outside of Forstrup. Everybody there has his own story. Some of them are more autonomous then others. In general, they do not trust society.
They produce much of what they need themselves. They help each other solve problems of
everyday-life. Everyone participates and cooperates within their society. There is the Architect, really more like a Craftsmen, who builds and designs the houses and the built environment. His perspective is mainly environmental, meaning he thinks more about their impact on the surroundings. There are also farmers who grow fruits, cereals, potatoes, etc. There is the cook etc.
and there are the children who are the hope for the future. They have realized a modern form of the “state of nature.”
The theme of the commune is its primitive style of life that involves some important values.
Their ideals are Friendship, Respect, Peace and Love. If you respect these values, you are free to do as you want. They have 4oo m3 where they can built their own houses. The village is populated by many artists, which city life seems more unable to support. They are looking for peace and inspiration. This quiet place in the countryside is their space to do this.
They advocate the agriculture of biological food. Their renunciation of modern industrialized society has given them the freedom to create a different, but not perfect, way of life.
Society will not just let them be, but attempt by society to come to them and improve them would destroy their whole idea.
AoD, Id7 Goup 3 :
Mattia Calore,
Mad Meller,
Michel Mygind Petersen,
Simon Sondzrby Nielsen.
1000Fryds “Folkekøkken” - vegan, ecological kitchen
Synthesis: volunteers make vegan and ecological food and sell it inexpensively in the café at the activity house 1000Fryd.
Description: every Tuesday a group of volunteers makes vegan and ecological food in 1000Fryd. The food is sold in the café for 20 DKK, which is a very small amount. This gives all kinds of people the opportunity to come here and eat. The café area is non-smoking, so it also is a good environment for children and allergy sufferers. Music at a listener-friendly level makes a delightful atmosphere.
Context: The background of the initiative is a wish to promote the concept of making food, and eating, together. Another aspect is that the production of meat and milk products is very energy-demanding. It is more sustainable correct to eat grain products and vegetables, and in addition the living conditions of the animals at the farms are unacceptable.
Development phase: There is room for 50 persons to eat at the Folkekøkken every Tuesday, and the meaning is that everyody is supposed to take their turn in the kitchen, but in reality it is a group of 10 persons that make the food. There is seldom any economic return, and it is not a main drive for the Folkekøkken to make money.
Social benefit: the ideology is to create a counterweight to the individualism in society today, and to provide alternatives to meat and milk products; to show people that they can make good food in other ways than they might be used to.
Environmental benefits: when people see (and taste) that vegan, ecological food is just as good as the food they are used to, maybe they will start eating more of it. This leads to smaller energy-demand in food production, and less animals being kept under horrible conditions at the farms.
Economic benefit: no-one is supposed to make any money on any event arranged in 1000Fryd – all the surplus money goes to new events. If there is any money left when the food is bought for the Folkekøkken they decide what to do with it in one of their Monday meetings. The money can typically be given to someone who has been imprisoned on a background that the volunteers do not agree with, or someone who has thrown paint at the prime minister etc.
References:
• Place: Aalborg, Denmark
• Promoters/contact:
1000Fryd
Kattesundet 10
DK-9000 Aalborg
Denmark
Phone (office): +45 98 13 72 55
Phone (café): +45 98 13 22 21
Email: 1000fryd@1000fryd.dk
• Researchers: Elin Wrengler, Janni Wibert, Borghild Lampe Bjørnstad
• Source: www.1000fryd.dk
1000Fryds “Folkekøkken” - vegan, ecological kitchen
Synthesis: volunteers make vegan and ecological food and sell it inexpensively in the café at the activity house 1000Fryd.
Description: every Tuesday a group of volunteers makes vegan and ecological food in 1000Fryd. The food is sold in the café for 20 DKK, which is a very small amount. This gives all kinds of people the opportunity to come here and eat. The café area is non-smoking, so it also is a good environment for children and allergy sufferers. Music at a listener-friendly level makes a delightful atmosphere.
Context: The background of the initiative is a wish to promote the concept of making food, and eating, together. Another aspect is that the production of meat and milk products is very energy-demanding. It is more sustainable correct to eat grain products and vegetables, and in addition the living conditions of the animals at the farms are unacceptable.
Development phase: There is room for 50 persons to eat at the Folkekøkken every Tuesday, and the meaning is that everyody is supposed to take their turn in the kitchen, but in reality it is a group of 10 persons that make the food. There is seldom any economic return, and it is not a main drive for the Folkekøkken to make money.
Social benefit: the ideology is to create a counterweight to the individualism in society today, and to provide alternatives to meat and milk products; to show people that they can make good food in other ways than they might be used to.
Environmental benefits: when people see (and taste) that vegan, ecological food is just as good as the food they are used to, maybe they will start eating more of it. This leads to smaller energy-demand in food production, and less animals being kept under horrible conditions at the farms.
Economic benefit: no-one is supposed to make any money on any event arranged in 1000Fryd – all the surplus money goes to new events. If there is any money left when the food is bought for the Folkekøkken they decide what to do with it in one of their Monday meetings. The money can typically be given to someone who has been imprisoned on a background that the volunteers do not agree with, or someone who has thrown paint at the prime minister etc.
References:
• Place: Aalborg, Denmark
• Promoters/contact:
1000Fryd
Kattesundet 10
DK-9000 Aalborg
Denmark
Phone (office): +45 98 13 72 55
Phone (café): +45 98 13 22 21
Email: 1000fryd@1000fryd.dk
• Researchers: Elin Wrengler, Janni Wibert, Borghild Lampe Bjørnstad
• Source: www.1000fryd.dk
What is the question?
How do mental disabled people get a job where they feel needed?
Where do people with less financial means have the possibility to go out for dinner and music.
Where do lonesome people go to find a friend or just being together with other if they do not fell like they belong in this society?
If you do not have financial possibilities or facilities at home, where can you go to make clothes of your own, make pottery, draw after models, use wood shop facilities and so on?
What is the solution idea?
The connection between the café and the workshop makes a unique combination. They gain from each other and this forms a basis of existence for both.
It is a place where everybody is welcome and where there is many different activities and facilities.
What is the most evident quality?
Both the café and the workshops attract different social classes and the environment makes them connect across the classes. This creates new social contacts.
What are the main drivers?
The economic driver is mostly the municipality and privates payments, but the most significance is the passion within the people working there, both the employed and the volunteers.
What are the main difficulties?
The economic part of this system is not very secure; it depends of the municipalities and the private persons. They do only get in contact with a very small group of their target group and they could benefit in getting in contact with a larger group.
What are the possible improvements?
To find private investor that can benefit from supporting HUSET, like business that can benefit from improvement in the local society and using their facilities.
For example Panduro Hobby, they sell materials to do different things yourself, fabric, paint, beads etcetera.
There could also be some kind of discount agreement, so if you by your materials in Panduro you get a discount at the house, or the other way around.
Another possibility is to improve their advertisement in the local society, for an example they could produce some kind of merchandise, like shopping bags in fabric, with the house’s name and logo on it. It could be sold to the people using the facilities and work like free advertisement. Other similar products could be produced, maybe by the disabled people working at the house.
group
Nanna Gram,
Sinja Svarrer,
Sinne Nielsen,
Maja Ohana
RENT A GRANDPARENT/ MORMORORDNINGEN
Sick children can be a reoccurring problem for many parents who work. At Sjælland (DK) there are several initiatives to solve this problem. “Rent a grandparent” is a concept developed to offer contact between working parents and elderly who likes to spend time with children. For a small fee, a “grandparent” will happily come and take good care of your sick child.
Most parents today work and have their children in day-care, but when the children get ill, they are prevented to leave the home. It is not always easy for parents to take the day off. If the child’s grandparents live near by, this might not be a problem, but in today’s society it is no longer unusual to live far away from the rest of the family. In these cases it is practical to be able to – rent a grandparent! These are elderly people who might be lonely and have lots of spare time to help a family in need and spend some time with a sick child.
The organization in Hvidovre was founded in 1999 by the former school-nurse Kirsten Balzer Jepsen. She is today the “head-grandmother” of 12 grandmothers and two grandfathers. 160 families use this service regularly and 75 families hire the same grandmother every time. All the grandparents have been educated in child-diseases and the well-being of children. Further they each have their own bag of toys to bring.
The grandparents receive about 30 kr. per hour, which is a moderate fee. This initiative has no economic purpose, only a wish to help others in he local environment. The organization is however supported by the municipality to cover education and administration.
The initiative has great potential to be a supplement to the existing daycare service, as it solves a new kind of problem in today’s society with hard working parents. It does not only benefit the family, but also gives the elderly an opportunity to participate in society in a meaningful way after retirement.
www.mormorordningen.dk
Heidi Møller
Kaja Misvær
Camilla Krogh