News 2023
Overview of the activities undertaken
by the Peter Hesse Foundation in 2023
In 2023 the Peter Hesse Foundation continued its quest to spread Montessori education to children in poor communities. The Foundation’s is achieving this goal by training teachers and assisting qualifying graduates with classroom furniture and Montessori materials to open their own schools in their own communities.
Many teachers from poor communities may not be able to attend a training center out of their home area. If the mountain cannot come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain. We take our mobile training to underserved areas and set up a model Montessori classroom environment for children and use the same environment for training teachers from that community. When we have trained a few promotions of teachers in one area, we move to another area. The model school is then passed on to a qualified teacher in that community.
During the last academic year, the Foundation conducted a mobile training In Senegal. 17 teachers completed the one-year training. This year we started a new promotion. Student-teachers from Senegal, Mali and DR Congo are attending this course. In addition to the mobile training in Senegal, the Foundation continues to support the schools in Abengourou, Ivory Coast, and in Haiti.
Visit Report
Fay Hendriksen
Head of Outreach
Association Montessori Internationale
Thank you very much for the invitation to visit the Peter Hesse Foundation Projects in Senegal. Thank you also to Carol for the hospitality, I very much enjoyed seeing the different activities and having further discussions around Montessori schools and training.
It is clear to see how much hard work and energy has been put into the training and collaboration with the schools and I think there is great potential for growth and further collaboration.
Hate Has No Place Here.
The Peter Hesse Foundation began training a new group of teachers in September 2023 in Senega Looking at our students-teachers, I feel proud. They come from 4 different countries and four different belief systems Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Agnostic. All working together in peace. A good example for the children at the school.
ALL MEN ARE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF GOD. WOULD THAT ALL GODS WERE EQUAL IN THE EYES OF MAN – Minshall
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OUR MONTESSORI WORK CONTINUES
OCT 2023 – Carol Guy-James
SENEGAL
In Dakar, Senegal the first-ever Montessori teacher training program in that country has successfully completed its first-year training cycle. 17 Senegalese teachers were trained in this first cycle with the lead and oversight by one of our senior Haitian trainers who spent the academic year in Senegal for that purpose. The training was carried out at the Senegalese American Bilingual School. The Foundation prepared the environment for the Montessori preschool and supplied the materials that would allow the class to function as a Montessori preschool. The trainee teachers were able to see how a Montessori school functions, as well as complete their practical teaching internship at the school. The program will train a second promotion of teachers this year.
HAITI
The school year 2022-2023 had its challenges. In Haiti the rise in gang violence made it difficult for schools in many areas to function. In Liancourt and many other communities, many residents had to leave their homes because of gang activity. Kidnapping, robberies, killings and rape have made daily life a nightmare for many.
This school year 2023-2024 is promising. According to CNN “The United Nations Security Council has greenlit the deployment of an armed multinational force to Haiti, as the Caribbean nation wrestles with rampant gang violence and political paralysis.” www.cnn.com › 2023/10/02 › americas. We will all watch closely to see if this multinational security force achieves its mission to stabilise the country. Some of our partner schools in remote areas are already opened, and we are hopeful that others would soon follow.
IVORY COAST
There are currently 5 partner schools in schools in Abengourou, Ivory Coast with a combined effective of over 400 children. One of our trainers from Haiti traveled to Abengourou to conduct a much-needed workshop on renewing Montessori materials and demonstration of proper classroom use of these materials. The Foundation will continue to support these schools.
MALI
Mali has one school in Tidanbougou that wishes to launch its first Montessori program in partnership with the Foundation. The country is in need of trained Montessori teachers so that they can open more schools. This year, 2 individuals from Mali will travel to Senegal to be trained in the Foundation’s second year training course there.
Short summer-report – August 2023 – by Peter Hesse.
Nature and our humanity face dramatic changes. – Global power-structures are becoming visibly unclear. Majorities suffer from egocentrism, from stoneage minds. Climate change affects all of us. We need to adjust to it. As individuals we are powerless – but we can develop survival-views, empathy, solidarity and LOVE in action. The Peter-Hesse-Foundation is effective beyond Haiti. –