ETHIOPIA:

The first Waldorf kindergarten in Ethiopia is finally being realized! It is intended to restore hope and help to overcome the horrible consequences of napalm bombing during the war. Through the initiative of Dr. Atasbaha Gebre-Selassie and Dorothea Roenpage, A German Waldorf educator who lived in Ethiopia for many years, a newly built kindergarten, Hiwotay Merebet, (“protected home”) with two Ethiopian kindergarten teachers, opened on the 1st of October 2006. They are waiting for care and help from experienced Waldorf pedagogues from Germany. An early childhood/kindergarten training program is developing at the same time, built up and supported by Ethiopians and a team of project leaders from Germany.

The kindergarten built to have six groups and to give the children affected from war a home. The initiative group is concerned to bring the background and possibilities of Waldorf education in line with living impulses in the Ethiopian culture.

This building initiative is led and very much supported by Dr. Atsbaha G. Selassie. Attention is being paid that during the construction of the kindergarten, an organic garden with vegetables and herbs is being developed, to serve as prophylaxis and support to healing of diseases and to offer a new perspective of the work of mothers.

Project leaders are Judith Dausend, Dorothea Roenpage, and Angelika Wagner, Germany. E-mail: wagnermail@gmx.de

SOUTH AFRICA:

The CENTRE FOR CREATIVE EDUCATION IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA- Iziko laBantu be Afrika/for the Peoples of Africa

Many young children in South Africa live in distressing conditions of poverty, overcrowding and squalor with all its attendant ills. We run training programmes for women who care for these young children from birth to school-going age (known as “Educare” in South Africa), in the belief that the young child whose life journey depends on these women will, through Waldorf education, be nurtured and find its own place in the world as a free creative human being. We believe that the cycle of poverty can be broken if early childhood education meets the needs of children, so that in time, they can lift themselves out of the grinding poverty they were born into.

Most of our students are Black women from the “township” (slum) areas which surround Cape Town, but we also have students from the Coloured, Muslim and White communities – we are truly representative of “the Rainbow Nation” as Desmond Tutu called it!

Our student body has grown. We have an average of 100 students each year at various levels of study. To cater for the different levels of educational background, we offer programmes for those who are almost illiterate as well as programmes for the better or highly educated, covering the care and education of young and kindergarten children.

Ann Sharfman, Cape Town, asharfman@mweb.co.za

OTHER PROJECTS IN AFRICA:

The International Association, together with the foundation Freunde der Erziehungskunst and partners and sponsors from several Member countries, are supporting other projects in Africa, including the mentoring and advising of early childhood educators in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania. For further information, contact Geseke Lundgren, Coordinating Group member, at g.lundgren@iaswece.org.