Testimony Rudi Bollen
Anyone who has an eye for the figures of the benefit recipients in health insurance cannot escape the conclusion that it is necessary to work on caring for the mental health of our society. This insight has been alive for some time among those who are concerned about the mental well-being of the population. Here too, one can assume that prevention is better than cure.
Already in the 80s of the last century, Father Phil Bosmans of the Bond Zonder Naam and the Bruges doctor couple Vandewalle-Verwimp made a visionary effort to create an offer for people who were looking for that psychological support. A farmyard was found in Moerkerke-Damme for this purpose.
After the death of Phil Bosmans, Patrick Hanjoul took over the leading torch at BZN (Movement Without a Name). Under his leadership the mission and infrastructure of the old farm were thoroughly overhauled. The classic farmhouse was transformed into a Silence Farm. An offer for young and old, poor and rich was created with numerous enthusiastic employees.
What should never happen, did happen. But nothing is irreversible. The operation of the Silence Farm ended abruptly. A socially valuable and innovative mental health project was cancelled before it could reach cruising speed.
The friendly invitation to restore the "Silence Farm" to its former glory is repeated. With Silence@Work, we share the conviction that all stakeholders who have an interest in a society that works to restore and improve the mental health of our community are willing and able to take an important responsibility in that process, when they are guided by experts of integrity. The "Silence Farm" located at ‘De Grote Wateringe’ in Moerkerke-Damme was designated as a "care centre-care farm with temporary accommodation units". This place is the perfect location to become a center of expertise for the promotion of the mental health of our society. We aspire to develop a research and knowledge centre where expertise is built up and shared, where care providers are trained, where mental health is preventively strengthened and where care is provided when it is needed.
The farm was purchased more than half a century ago, inspired by the idealism of the then BZN (Movement Without a Name), thanks to and through the support of numerous BZN sympathizers who were seeking a better world.
The beautifully situated, yet once dilapidated and polluted, farmyard was remediated and-both stylishly and sustainably-transformed by Patrick Hanjoul, with the help of many silent idealists, volunteers, donors of valuable and sometimes restored items, and investors in the intangible asset of silence. Together, they turned it into a fertile, tranquil space where "silence" was both sown and harvested. Participants in days and weeks of silence report that their stay at the Silence Farm has significantly improved their mental well-being.
With this "who is who," I present myself as a board member of SAW (Silence@Work). Through SAW, we wish to advocate for returning the farm to Silence.
But SAW does more. Our non-profit organization continues to work creatively-even without a farm-using Silence as a precious raw material. Silence is part of a heritage that cannot be taken from anyone. Even those in power, who removed the farm from our stewardship in an unkind manner, cannot take away the richness of immaterial silence.
The resilience and perseverance that Marleen Dejonckheere shows with a dynamic team to develop an instrument with an ever-growing team gets my immense respect. The search for the right form of the virtual instrument to give everyone the opportunity to get acquainted with silence virtually is pioneering work.
Together with the board of SAW, I dare to express the hope that the virtual instrument that is being developed will be embedded in the Silence Farm again, sooner or later, when that farm has regained its strengthened mission. The call to fight against depression, burnout and other mental challenges has never been more necessary than today. Everyone who wants to shape this mission is asked to unite cooperatively, responsibly and democratically in the Silence Farm.
Rudi Bollen
