Home: Freunde Waldorf

Philippines: May 2014

In the Philippines as an anthroposophic doctor

Report by Martin Straube

The first group from the Friends of Waldorf Education went to Tacloban in November, a second followed in February; I came with the third group in May 2014 as team doctor. My task was to further educate the local pedagogues, who daily care for children on the ground in the set-up child protection centre. As anthroposophical doctor with diverse experience in the area of psychotraumatology and long-time employment in the training of curative pedagogues and Waldorf teachers specializing in curative education, my purpose was to help the local pedagogues develop an understanding of trauma and what a trauma does to a child, how to develop pedagogical interventions, which are helpful in preventing post traumatic stress disorder. Our help should be lasting and professionalise the pedagogical conduct; this is what our continuing education aims to do.  The conference, which we held on the island of Cebu, was also aimed at these goals.

In the afternoons, we worked with the children as emergency pedagogical specialists. Observe children, give advice, massage backs with bad pain, treat the many children’s legs full of scabies, examine a boy with serve, multiple handicaps, who had in his seven year life never seen a doctor and for whom we are now organising therapeutic assistance. Last but not least, I was there as a doctor for the team itself. There was a rather dramatic emergency, for which my intervention was necessary.

A trauma is an attack on the entire constitution of a person. Emergency pedagogy is an interface between pedagogy and therapy. This interface is my profession, which I would like to bring into appropriate missions more often!

Martin Straube has worked in varying settngs as an anthroposophishic doctor for 30 years. The treatment of traumatisised people is a focus of his work. To date, he has supported three emergency pedagogical missions.

Empower & donate now
Empower & donate now