Monkhouse Monday

2nd Eden Europe Networking Conference in Denmark

It is eight years since I had seen Eden at work at Sherbrooke Community Center in Saskatoon, Canada. A few days later in 2000 I sat down with Bill Thomas in Upstate New York and we agreed that I can bring Eden to Europe. Last week Thursday and Friday Bill and I met again, together with 150 Eden-implementers from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Iceland and last but not least, a big group from Denmark. Aase Porsmose and Karin Dahl hosted the conference where new learning, thinking, celebrating, cross border networking were made possible by people talking to each other, managing three languages: Danish, German and English. We learned Faroe Island Dancing, savoured Danish cuisine and hospitality, met people who are on the same journey. The conference was opened by speeches from Alice Liber, Switzerland (New panther Club) and Anna Madsen, with her dog Monty, residents of a Danish Eden home. Bill Thomas gave us the history, the current and the future of Eden and many speakers shared their learning and insights.

Eden truly does not educate followers, it educates learners.

One of the most important lessons we learned is the one of close relationships. Aase Porsmose and her husband Vaugn started the conference with the new official Eden-hymn, a great song, everybody managed to sing in three languages:

It’s good to see you – so good to see you
Oh, how I’ve missed you, since I’ve been gone
........it’s good to see you, to be in your home

Nun Freunde, lasst es mich einmal sagen,
gut wieder hier zu sein,
gut Euch zu sehn.....

Det’ godt at se jer, sa godt at se jer
Hvor har jeg savnet jer – siden sidtst
.....Det’ godt a se je




Vaugn (Guitar)
Aase, Danish Eden national coordinator (together with Karin Dahl)

Christa Monkhouse