For more than three years, the Tenna Hospice Association has been trying, with hope and various strategies, to find enough active people to fill the four full-time positions required to adequately run the residential care community for the last stage of life in the ‘Alte Sennerei’ in Tenna.

“Domestic help”, “caring flatmate”, “caring co-entrepreneur”

The more the required responsibility, as a counterweight to freedom, was mentioned in the adverts, the fewer the enquiries and applications became. The salary level did not change this dynamic. The romantic village of 100 people in a remote mountain valley was proving to be a disadvantage in terms of location.

Some members of the board of the Tenna Hospice association wanted to close the communal residence even before it opened. They took the view that all full-time positions had to be filled in order to become operational. The commitment already made to future residents could be cancelled. As CEO, I understand the corporate logic behind this attitude. However, it is untenable for the vision of a co-living community!

As a person directly affected, I have always relied on confidence: the proverbial ‘needle in the haystack’ will show itself – and will be found. This requires patience and humility.

‘And it happened in the remote Safien valley – in those days of elected populists and self-proclaimed big capitalists. Her job required a year-end holiday and it was Christmas Eve. She was still sitting in the hostel, enjoying the peace and quiet and the herbal tea – as well as the conversations and brief encounters. And it was getting dark and cold – a winter’s night at 1,657 metres above sea level. The innkeepers didn’t turn her away, but invited her to stay for dinner.’

DA SII UND ZIIT HA FÜRÄNAND – GASTLICH SII’ (“to be present and to have time for each other – to be hospitable”) reads the slogan on the façade of the “Alte Sennerei” in Tenna/GR.

Bread, cheese, fruit salad – and time together.

No child was born to become a saviour. After further visits to the café following sunny winter hikes, as well as after meaningful and unspectacular interactions with fellow residents, a job interview took place shortly before leaving for the usual everyday working life.

A testimony of confidence and faith, as I always wished for. ‘What remains when the grand designs crumble?’ (Thorsten Dietz, Publik-Forum 13/2024)

There are alternatives – we are living them!

With the confidence that we make a difference – that we let our light shine when the world seems dark – not with the hope that an authority or a committee will fix everything for the better. Believing that it is possible, even today, to live a piece of heaven on earth.

‘The many stories of defiant confidence against the small faith of the time remain.’

Read the German version here: https://tennahospiz.ch/zuversicht-die-kleine-schwester-der-hoffnung/