History
The Goderich Waldorf School, located in the Goderich Village district
of Freetown, was founded in 2001 by the charity Action for
Child Protection (ACP) in the final days of a bloody 10 year
civil war (ended 2002) which left many thousands of traumatized children
displaced. Many had been kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers,
some never to be reunited with their families, if their families survived.
Now only a few years on from the war, most children do not go to school
at all.
The school provides free education to children in a country where state education means fee-paying. They currently serve approximately 74 children (Classes 1-4) and are supported by a staff of 4 full-time and 3 part-time teachers, an administrator and a caretaker, as well as community-based social workers. Some, but not all, are paid as the school does not yet have enough of a regular income. They also do not receive any government funding.
According to a recent survey of the area, about 98% of this over-crowded
shanty town of about 25,000 are living in poverty. The central occupations
are fishing and fish mongering, petty trading, stone breaking, sex trading
and drug dealing. Many families are also affected by HIV and AIDS.
Leading up to the opening of the school, Action for Child Protection (founded in 1997) spent a long time building bridges with children affected by the war, many of whom began living as street children in the aftermath of the war and the complete breakdown of the society. All of the children now served by the school are either orphaned or fostered. Abu Mansaray, the school’s social worker and games teacher, spends a lot of time searching for these lost children in the streets and tries to reunite them with their families.
On the positive side, the school has now grown into a developmental project as opposed to merely a relief project. The director, Shannoh Kandoh, completed the 2 year Waldorf teacher training programme in London in 2004 and in 2006, Abu Mansaray was sponsored by the Ringwood Waldorf School in Hampshire and is using his time here researching Waldorf education and observing in the classroom, as well as taking part in various Waldorf teacher training programmes as a visiting guest. In 2007, class teacher Mohamed Conteh came to England, also sponsored by Ringwood, and pursued his studies at Steiner House in London.
It is hoped that more teachers will have the opportunity in the future to come to England and undertake Waldorf teacher training.