Water damage in the shelter at the Kryvyi Rih Waldorf School

The Kryvyi Rih school is one of the oldest Waldorf schools in Ukraine, having been founded in the 1990s. Despite the major challenges faced over the past four years, neither the school’s daily routine nor life in the school’s nursery has come to a standstill. To make this possible, the construction of a shelter was necessary, alongside other measures. The Friends of Waldorf Education supported this with two large donations totaling just over €120,000. Now, in her latest email sent in May, Marina Businarska, a teacher at the school, reports that the rainwater drainage systems were damaged during the last drone attack and that, as a consequence, water entered the shelter during the subsequent heavy rainfall:

Water in the shelter at the Waldorf School in Ukraine

Another school year has flown by. It has been an extraordinarily difficult year for our school, full of challenges and worry. Yet thanks to your incredible support – the help with building the shelter and the financial support for our teaching staff – we have been able to endure the hardships of these turbulent times that are so challenging for the Ukraine. Despite all the adversity, life at our Waldorf nursery and Waldorf school in Kryvyi Rih is not only moving forward but also pulsating with inspiration and joy. Amidst the difficulties of everyday life, the nursery teachers treat the children in the nursery by facilitating truly special celebrations and profound experiences, turning every birthday into a real fairy tale.

Along with these joys, however, May has also presented us with a major new problem. Our shelter is already in the final stages of construction; all that remained to be done was to paint the walls. But during the latest strike by explosive-laden Shahed drones near the school, the rainwater drainage systems were damaged.This was followed by persistent rainfall, and the walls of the shelter became wet. We now desperately need to waterproof the exterior. If we do not, water will pool inside the shelter, the children will not be able to remain there, and all our tremendous joint efforts to date will have been in vain.

This presents a new challenge for us. We have already approached the local authorities, but our request was turned down: we were told that many shelters are currently facing this problem and, as always, there is no money in the budget. We now urgently need a further €7,000 to complete the shelter with the waterproofing that has now become so necessary.

Marina Businarska

Please support the Ukrainian Waldorf schools and help us to finance the waterproofing of the Kryvyi Rih Waldorf School’s shelter with €7,000. Please donate now