TAZÍ

The day started out as any other day on the care farm. I came into the barn, inhaled the ammonia-scented air,  exhaled deeply and checked the cows. The water bin was almost empty. Oh, need to keep that in mind, I thought, while one of the cows started to moo in my direction and another went for number two. ‘Just another ordinary day at the farm’, I thought out loud with a smile. Then I went into the canteen were my colleagues were already waiting for their day about to begin. Everyday the same procedure – its all very structured.

When we were about to begin, we went back into the barn and to the mounted whiteboard. My job for the day was to feed the turkeys. Immediately one of my colleagues (needing a little extra support), asked if I could walk with him together to the turkeys, because he had the geese which were next to them. ‘Of course’, I said. And we walked together to that spot. We fed the geese and the turkeys and then it was his job to give the nearby animals hay. He again asked if I could help him. I couldn’t say no and so we first went to the sheep.

The gate of the sheep was left open a little too long and one of the sheep escaped. Well, then you had me. And the sheep. The one running after the other. I believe it was quite something to see; it was definitely the funny farm at that moment. Of course I was a bit smarter and so let it into the gate after a while.

Later we went to give hay to the alpacas as well. My colleague didnt like them, so it was my job to give it to them. While doing that, all the alpacas started to walk besides, in front and behind me, and when I ducked to pick some hay from the ground (which fell), one of the alpacas started nibbling on my hair with his dental pad, which was quite frankly a funny sensation. Of course she was just curious to what I was doing and who I was up close and nibbling on my hair is the way alpacas do that. When I stood up again, I did smell the bile in the alpacas breath, but no spitting occured! When I got back to the gate the colleague jokingly said he already closed it and was wondering where I was since he “only saw’ alpacas. I laughed and we went back to the barn.

This is just an ordinary day on the care farm, which I dubbed ‘the shire‘, because of its laid-back atmosphere and environment. You can see someone that has an intellectual disability is not only his disability – they can still make jokes and good pranks, as shown in the text above.

Moreover, not everyone who works at a care farm has a disability, some also suffer from mental health issues, like me. I know someone there who even went to university, but because of mental health issues was ushered back to this place. That person works here longer than I do, and is not about to go back studying anytime soon, simply because they do not have the ability to work for more than 2 hours a day, let alone study.

I hope I can break the stigma surrounding these places, for once I had the same prejudice, but I hope I can enlighten people to show this different side of mankind, not necessarily better or worse, just different. Like me.

That was it for this time. I hope you enjoyed it and see you next time. Bye!

Yours,

Rein