International Waldorf Fund: Helping small seeds grow

Donations that have not been allocated to a specific Waldorf school by our donors regularly flow into the International Waldorf Fund of the Friends of Waldorf Education. Nana Goebel explains how important these free donations are.

What a joy it is when we hear about the founding of a Waldorf school in a country where there is no Waldorf education yet. Recently, for example, some interested people from the small landlocked African country of Malawi came forward and asked how it might be possible for them to establish a Waldorf school. After exchanging a few letters, and when I was convinced that this was a serious concern, I suggested to two colleagues from Dar es Salaam that they travel to Malawi and during the course of a weekend they presented Waldorf Education and gave an introduction into the educational practice and got to know the interested people in the Zomba District, and sought to find out whether there are people there who actually want to become Waldorf teachers. The Tanzanian colleagues agreed and so the first exchange will take place at the end of May. But who will pay for the trip? Since the staff of the school in Tanzania is dependent on our donations to finance their salaries, there is no chance of funding from the Hekima Waldorf School. And the interested parties in Malawi can provide their guests with food, but cannot contribute anything to the travel costs. So we need our International Waldorf Fund.

There is also no Waldorf school in Panama so far. The initial consultation with a woman who desperately wants to set up a Waldorf school was done through a Zoom conversation and did not incur any costs. This technology is really excellent for carrying out our work in direct contact, and is also inexpensive. The case is different when a school, such as the young Waldorf school in Bandung, Indonesia, is in urgent need of mentoring, as most of the women teachers have not had a chance to attend any training. The nearest full-time training is in Australia and the tuition fees are expensive. The accompaniment of a mentor is then the substitute for training, which simply does not exist in Indonesia. The young school is able to accommodate and provide for mentors, but cannot afford the travel costs. We then support the trip from the International Waldorf Fund.

In neighbouring Thailand, the founding team of the Panyotai Waldorf School in Bangkok is currently setting up a modular training course that can also be attended by participants from neighbouring countries. We were also asked to find lecturers for the training in Bangkok. I am very happy that Henning Kullak-Ublick, experienced class teacher and in the meantime speaker of the supervisory board of the Friends of Waldorf Education, has agreed to participate. For the time being, the travel expenses of the teachers can be paid from the International Waldorf Fund.

One of the countries most affected by the Covid pandemic is Peru. The shutdown lasted for over two years in kindergartens and schools, with only online classes or forbidden encounters in the park. The economic consequences were particularly devastating for kindergartens, because people naturally stopped paying fees when their children were no longer allowed to come to kindergartens. The kindergartens located in the richer districts of Lima survived, but not so the Inyikusiryi kindergarten in San Juan de Lurigancho, a district located in the north of the Lima metropolitan region with over one million inhabitants. In this district, crime has been very high for years, which is why parents do not like to let their children play on the already rather ugly streets. The Inyikusiryi Kindergarten has been a shining example since its inception, a beautiful little children's paradise in the middle of the dusty city. During the Covid pandemic, the kindergarten teachers received their salaries from the Covid Fund of the Friends of Waldorf Education. After the end of the pandemic, the rent was raised by the owner to such an extent that it was no longer possible to continue working at this place. We were not able to raise about 1.4 million USD to buy the property. At least we were able to support the move to another plot of land and the reconstruction of the existing simple houses from the International Waldorf Fund, so that the Inyikusiryi Kindergarten will soon be able to continue its work.

It is these kinds of requests that we are able to support from the International Waldorf Fund. And we receive many of these seemingly small and manageable requests, that so necessary for the children and for the development of the kindergartens and schools. That is why we are so happy when we receive free donations for the International Waldorf Fund, because they allow us to support new initiatives and to accompany some older initiatives.

The International Cooperation Fund is an independent donation fund, with which the Friends of Waldorf Education can react to urgent requests from abroad. Currently, the means of the International Cooperation Fund amount to only 3-4% of the total volume of donations. To respond in a timely manner, we urgently need more independent donations! Get involved! Help us answer important requests from Waldorf educational initiatives. By doing so you can help create vibrant learning environments for children.