La Poudrière is a French-speaking, income-sharing community of about 45 people living in three locations in Belgium: Brussels, Péruwelz and Rummen, and is a member of the Emmaus International network. We were founded in 1958. The five aims we gradually came to defining for ourselves are: 1. presence among people not sharing our lifestyle (we refuse to cut ourselves off from society), 2. friendship, 3. justice and equity among us and in the world, 4. utopia: hope to help building a new world, and 5. ascesis and personal growth. To realize these aims, we rely on four tools: 1. work; 2. sharing, especially incomes; 3. a simple lifestyle; 4. fidelity to the people and aims of the community.
Members work every working day from 8 am to 5.15 pm in the community business (collecting and reselling old furniture, clothes, etc.), in the various tasks involved by community life (maintenance of our equipments and buildings, office work…), or running our farm in Rummen. A few members have a job outside the community and give their salary to the community; as are given, as a rule, all regular incomes. Every member receives € 40,00 a week, but basic needs are provided by the community, including transportation inside the country. Vehicles are shared (to use them, one must be accepted as a community driver by our Monthly Meeting, see below) and fuel is payed by the community.
Assistance to meals on working days, to meetings, and to organized feasts is required. A core group holds a meeting once a month (the Monthly Meeting) to discuss more delicate matters and takes decisions by consensus only. These decisions are submitted to the approval of the whole community at our Spaghetti Meeting, also hold once a month. Some important decisions may be taken directly by the head of the community, Vanni Mocutti, who has been in charge since the death of the founder, Father Léon Van Hoorde, in 1996.
To prove that a new and better life is possible when people, even poor or without high education, decide to live together and put their forces in common.
There is no specific process.
Send an e-mail to br*******@*********re.be, and we will see.
One person or partnership has ultimate authority.
A single person, couple, or small group makes most major decisions.
Primary authority rests with the community’s founder(s) or designated leader(s).
All member income goes into common pool for community use.
Labor: Yes (38 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Regular incomes (unemployment or disability benefits, pensions, etc.) are expected to be given to the community on a monthly basis.
Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Vehicle Share, Workshop, Large Scale Kitchen, Internet
Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.
Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
kitchens, dining, and social areas.
Communal living with shared resources, property, and often income or work responsibilities
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).
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