If you have any preconceived notions about nuns, an encounter with the sisters of the Carmelite Convent in Drasty in Central Bohemia may change your view. These women drive tractors, use front loaders and work with weed eaters on a daily basis. For the past seven years, they have been renovating – largely on their own – a farmyard in Drasty to create a cultural and spiritual centre. Thanks to their hard work and the help of many volunteers and donors, they are now very close to their goal. Their current objective is to transform the last unrestored part of the site into a green oasis full of life. A Via Foundation grant from the Sustainable Living Fund, financed by the company JRD, will help them do just that.
As you drive along the narrow road between the rapeseed fields to Drasty in Central Bohemia, the tall tower of the brand new convent church of St. Teresa of Avila catches your eye from afar. It looks as if it has fallen from the sky. “The church has a symbolic layout: it represents a heart struck by an arrow,” explained Sister Mary as she guided me around the grounds.
The beauty and tranquillity of the convent grounds contrast sharply with the unrestored part of the former farmyard. The garbage, scraps of iron and old tires poking out from piles of rubble give a glimpse of what the site looked like only a few years ago.
“It’s hard to imagine that a green oasis could grow in a place like this, isn’t it?” asks Sister Marie. But the beauty is that the Carmelite sisters can imagine it. In recent years, in addition to repairing the convent buildings, the nuns have improved an overgrown park next to the main gate, created a water retention pond and planted a large number of trees and shrubs. “Where others see a dump, we see potential,” she says with a smile.
When we reach the part of the site that is currently under renovation, a tractor, loader and excavator are already in full swing. While the nuns can operate the first two machines themselves, they have to hire a professional to operate the excavator. “We are now facing a very difficult bulldozing job. In the 1990s this whole area was used as a dump. That’s why it’s very difficult to get the area into good enough condition to even begin planting anything on it. Via Foundation’s grant from the JRD Sustainable Living Fund will help us a lot with this challenging phase,” Sister Marie noted.
Another large part of the grant will go towards planting ornamental shrubs and trees to brighten up the former farmyard. “We are planning to plant traditional Czech trees: oaks, beeches and linden trees. We carefully select trees that thrive in our conditions,“ she explained. They definitely plan on involving volunteers in the planting. “Drasty has a history of work parties and tree planting has always been the most popular activity“.
In addition to the many volunteers who are lending a helping hand, a number of small donors have pitched in. “We owe everything we have done here to individuals, ordinary people who have found what we do here meaningful and wanted to support us,” says Sister Marie, who is in charge of fundraising at the monastery. She was excited about the matching incentive offered by the Via Foundation grant: every Czech crown the nuns fundraise from donors on Via’s online giving portal Darujme.cz will be matched by the Fund for Sustainable Living, up to CZK 100,000 ($4,500). “We have already raised more than CZK 160,000 ($7,200) in our fundraising drive for the restoration of the green spaces in Drasty,” said Sister Marie, noting that the drive will run until July. The Carmelite nuns plan on using this additional funding to plant trees and shrubs in other parts of the grounds, replant the lakeside area and perhaps purchase new benches or improve the paths. “We hope that by the middle of next year the transformation will be complete,” said Sister Marie.
