Fernanda is a young girl in her twenties from Brazil with whom
we are sharing a house. She is an
architect who lives in Sao Paolo and has previously spent time in Italy
studying English. The globalisation of
our world today is astonishing but so are the individual stories of the people
I am meeting at Findhorn.
We have got to know Fernanda quite well, over making eggs and
toast for breakfast. Breakfast is not
provided at the conference venue but eaten together with your housemates. Being in the same group for our Findhorn
experience, we have also bonded over lots of laughs, shared stories and
dances.
Over lunch Fernanda tells us about a project that she volunteers at. During her spare time she is working with a
team to design a Steiner School in Sao Paolo.
The Steiner School or Waldorf
education system, is based on a humanistic approach to education. Rudolf Steiner is the founder of this method
of education and the first school opened in Stuttgart Germany, in 1919. It is an alternative method of education that
is popular here in Findhorn and across Europe.
The Waldorf education system identifies three broad stages
in child development, each lasting approximately seven years. The early years education
focuses on providing practical, hands-on activities and environments that
encourage creative play.
In the elementary school, the emphasis is on developing pupils' artistic
expression and social capacities, fostering both creative and analytical modes
of understanding. Secondary education focuses on developing critical
understanding and fostering idealism. Throughout, the approach stresses the
role of the imagination in learning and places a strong value on integrating
academic, practical and artistic pursuits (From Wikipedia)
Today, there are many of these school and kindergartens spread
over 60 countries across the world. This
system of education is also quite widely spread in Brazil where they are searching
for a Brazilian identity to this method of teaching. We pore over the photographs and drawings that
Fernanda shares with us. The land for
this school is in the middle of a forest and has been donated by a benefactor. The design of the buildings takes the form of
individual pods that can be connected together to foster a suitable learning
environment that is far less rigid that the traditional methods of teaching.
Fernanda works on this project during her spare time. As some of the Principles of her company are
also engaged in this project, volunteering your time on projects such as this
is encouraged amongst her peers and superiors. The parents of the kids who plan to go to
school there will help build the school together with the professionals such as
Fernanda who have helped design it. It
sounds like an amazing project and will provide an education to many
disadvantaged kids who might otherwise not have access to schooling. It is also so inspiring to hear that young
professional in Sao Paolo are willing to spend their spare time investing in
the future of others.
Fernanda, it was lovely to meet you and I wish you all the
best for the success of this project and for the future plans for your life…
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