Dear Mr. Scholl, you work with your colleagues for the LAG Berlin-Brandenburg, and you also support initiatives in Germany that want to set up as Waldorf schools by advising them on administrative law and pedagogical questions and procedures.
That's right. I spent most of my school time at the Waldorf School in Kassel, where I completed my high school diploma, and then I trained as a carpenter. I then worked in the artistic field, and after that, worked for a communications agency. It is a pleasure for me that I can now do meaningful work for the schools in Berlin and Brandenburg.
I always find the building of bridges between German Waldorf schools and Waldorf schools abroad particularly exciting. You and your family are part of our educational sponsorship program. What motivated you to take on a sponsorship?
Waldorf schools outside of Germany are important because they further develop Waldorf education in different contexts. They take up local cultural, religious, sociological and historical traditions in the places where the children live, and thus enrich what Waldorf education can be. It was important for us as a family to experience children of the same age (as our own children?) and see them grow up. Only in this way does the stranger lose the strangeness. We wanted to convey that to our children.
What surprised you after you took on the educational sponsorship?
I would describe it more as an “aha moment”, and less as a surprise. It was a valuable insight to see that children, regardless of their socio-cultural background, have very similar topics, questions, and problems in different phases of life.
How does communication work with your godchildren?
That is very different. In recent years we have sponsored six children in countries such as Brazil, Hungary, South Africa, and the Philippines. Every child is different. Some like to write and paint a lot, some less so. But the children develop over the course of the years of sponsorship, and their interests and abilities also change. Depending on their age, a child may find it particularly difficult to communicate. In any case, we are happy to receive every letter and every picture, but we also understand very much if there is less contact.
How can we as providers and brokers of educational sponsorships still improve?
I think that the Friends of Waldorf Education as an institution could see and present itself as more than just an aid organization, and more as a source of inspiration, innovation, or inspiration for the Waldorf movement.
What motivated you to support us as an organisation?
Because I am thrilled that the Friends of Waldorf Education have been passing on 100 percent of donations for 50 years. I don't know any organization that works like this. Of course, without financial support for their work it is impossible to continue this ideal. Ultimately, the structures in which your activities as an association function must also be financed. At this point I would also like to add a snippet of advice - to draw much more attention to the need to support your work, so that the fantastic work you do from your small Berlin office can continue in the future.
Would you recommend taking on an educational sponsorship through the Friends of Waldorf Education?
Indeed! At any time. It is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen Waldorf initiatives abroad and to take on the great challenge of helping to support children in attending a Waldorf school, where parents are in a parlous financial situation.
Interview: Fabian Michel