For Peace and Understanding

 
 

This week the école vivante had been visited by our Swiss partner school Scuola Vivante.

A group of young students and teachers came to revive the friendship between our schools and to live together what we stand for: peace, respect and intercultural understanding.

It was a most blessed time of joy. Although both groups of students, the Moroccans and the Swiss, do not talk each others language and come from very different cultural and religious backgrounds, they were all learning, singing, discovering and communicating together and renewing the connection between us, deeply feeling the rope of a common philosophy that binds us, subhanallah.

Interested to know more about this project?

Go and read the new blog of Scuola Vivante, a testimonial of 20 years of free pedagogic work.

Happy New Year 1434 after Hijrah to all Muslims and peace to all of you!

The school – école vivante’s late SUMMER NEWS

Dear readers,
Dear friends, sponsors and supporters of the école vivante Morocco,
Peace be with you.

The summer holidays are nearly over and in a few days the école vivante will open its doors again to start the third year of school.

I am happy to share with you today some news from the High Atlas Mountains.

At the very beginning of the école vivante, many years ago, there was the love for this valley, the respect for nature and people, the appreciation of the ancient Berber culture and the vision to offer to the children here an opportunity to develop at their full potential.

In 2007 we started the project with our Swiss friends and with the small seed of a common idea. Over the last five years this seed came to grow up- thanks to the great commitment of all people involved- to be already a little tree with roots and branches,
rooted in this remote and rough location, which bloom different offers and chances for local children and young people,
and with branches that are eagerly seeking contact with the wider world.

The first two school years of the école vivante were successfully completed with children who have (re)discovered and kept their pleasure of learning, and we start now in our third year of school.

Currently, the demand for placements is greater than the effective capacity of the elementary school. The project has become a centre of education and work for men and women of different social levels. In this remote valley in which jobs and further educational offers are scarce, our school and related projects are active contributions to the local economy and a reason for families to stay in the valley.

Thanks to your contributions we are able to realize the vision of a peaceful and mindful togetherness and to develop the école vivante which already became a global educational project with four different but related areas:

  1. The free primary school
  2. The workshops
  3. The public community centre
  4. The centre for special needs 

  

1. The free primary school

Since its opening in 2010, the primary school école vivante is growing along with the children, level by level, from 1st to 6th class. The Moroccan curriculum is being implemented with a mindful pedagogy, and in respect of cultural conditions. The customized education is supplemented with a creative learning content. The children experience a learning environment in which they feel accepted and supported according to their abilities and their personal level of development. To discover and to explore the world, to move and to create something, to get support, to develop a strong self is the daily practiced reality. Various activities and excursions strengthen the roots of the children. The opportunities to develop their imagination and the lively exchange with friends from Europe give the children wings.
The school is authorised by the Moroccan educational ministry.

NEWS: This autumn 6 new students are accepted, and two other teachers are incorporated into the team. Thus, 30 children are attending now the primary school and are accompanied by 6 educators in total.

The school, like all private schools in Morocco, does not get any financial governmental support; thus the école vivante is dependent on donations and sponsorships. The tuition fee of 25,- Euro per month/child is adjusted to the parents income level. In reality a school child costs the école vivante about 110,- Euro/month.

Why don’t we ask for the usual private school tuition, which in the Moroccan cities is at least 80,- Euros/month plus the cost of teaching materials?
Because the école vivante clearly wants to be a school for children of all social classes. The école vivante follows its vision and philosophy to be a place where children from different social backgrounds can learn and grow.
To pay all the running costs, such as the wages (which match those in public education), the materials, communication-fees, insurance, meals (daily snack and lunch 2 x weekly) and the facility rent, the school is currently in need of financial support from outside.

2. The creative workshops and sports facilities

On the existing sites of the école vivante should now emerge studios and workshops according to the example of the Swiss “Brütwerk” (www.bruetwerk.ch).
In a well prepared environment and accompanied by supporting adults, the children and young people of the valley will have the chance to discover their personal creative, handy  and sport talents.

The well-equipped workshops of different kinds (paint, wood, metal, electrical, textile, etc.) allow experimental work to be done. The young people will experience a respectful, careful contact and feel seriously accepted with their whole identity. These workshops will be a place to do exploratory work, to playfully try things and to realize ideas. The youth is encouraged to fill the space that is given to them with their personality and they will also get suggestions for shaping and organizing their own future.

Different kinds of sports classes offer participants the opportunity to train themselves, to challenge and to overcome their own limits and to learn to channel their energy.
In the various classes and workshops, the girls and boys learn to know themselves, to try and make new things, to value traditional crafts, to establish self-responsibility and mutual respect, and to grow stronger in the process of becoming an adult.

NEWS: The demand of the population for these leisure activities is huge. Several local developments in recent years have also shown how urgently such a place for young people is needed. Due to the lack of funding and a building, the leisure centre currently can not open even during the two long months of summer vacation, though the plans for the needed buildings are ready.

 

3. The community centre with library and educational course program

At the upper level of the workshops-building the public library and the community centre will be hosted.

With extensive educational opportunities for women and men of various ages, it will offer access to knowledge and be a platform for exchange and mutual learning. The courses encourage a more self-determined, responsible behaviour, they will communicate ideas to follow a sustainable way of life and strengthen the identity of the people living in the valley.

The cross-cultural encounters with visitors and speakers from different countries offer mutual learning opportunities and contribute to the promotion of peace, the appreciation of their own cultures and a life in tolerance towards others.
The education centre will regularly and realistically inform about migration, urban and rural life and livelihoods, as well as offering seminars, women groups and training on various topical issues (education, health, ecology, modern media, etc.). A multipurpose room also provides space for larger meetings and festivities. These rooms can be rented to guests for seminars and courses and become a small source of income for the project.

NEWS: The building site for the workshops and the community centre has been excavated and is currently used by the school as a sports field. The plans for the building are ready, but due to lack of financial resources, the actual construction could not be started. There is a need for funds for the construction to start, which will benefit the entire valley.

4. The centre for special needs

An educational program for people with special needs promotes the integration of children with disabilities into the regular school.
The prime focus is currently the promotion and inclusion of children with hearing impairments. Several volunteers from Europe teach and practice sign language with the children and their families, as well as with the teaching staff of the école vivante.
The formation of the local team is currently developing with the support and in interaction with international organisations. New methods of learning and teaching are established in respect to the deaf child’s individuality and adapted to the local language and communication conditions. The children’s families get service, knowledge and support in everyday life through consulting, as well as the opportunity to get in contact with other parents.

NEWS: The école vivante is looking for sign language-competent and preferably deaf / hearing impaired volunteers to work (on short or long-term basis) at the école vivante and to participate in developing this important area, which is also dependent on outside funding.

Over the last year 2011/12 the école vivante was able to realize the following:

• Extension of the primary school to 30 pupils, 6 teachers and a total of 4 grade levels.
• Organisation of trainings, both for the Moroccan teachers in the partner school (Switzerland), as well as for various European educators in Morocco, to encourage mutual professional and personal development.
• Repair of the school bus; first use expected for September’12.
• Active intercultural dialogue through the organisation of long-term family exchanges and regular meetings between locals and visitors.
• Trainings by various sign language competent people in Morocco to establish the education program for children with hearing impairment.
• Extra-curricular French language courses for women of the valley.
• Public tutoring for students of public schools.
• Naturopathy trainings (homeopathy for women done by the association “HSF France” and courses in the use of local medicinal herbs).
• Role modelling of ecological-sustainable lifestyle (all buildings in rammed-earth architecture and use of indigenous materials, use of composting toilets, recycling, bio-dynamic farming, in preparation: passive and active energy-use and solar technology).
• Raising public awareness (garbage collection campaigns, information on holistic living, hygiene, health, education, training and use of new media).

Conclusion and outlook:

With its local roots as well as the global orientation the project école vivante grew to be a role model and sets an innovative example.

In times of political and religious turmoil, the “Arab Spring” with its changes, the increasing hopelessness amongst young people in general and the growing fear of the unknown, the école vivante provides a concrete alternative.

The educational institution école vivante is a social development project that has grown from the real needs of the residents and in harmony with the local conditions.

Thanks to your support, the vision “with roots and wings” is implemented in daily action and interaction, and allows people here to access the tools at hand which enables them to build their futures with confidence.

The école vivante creates opportunities to act self-sustainable and offers opportunities for the future, it provides ideas and impulses, and it encourages a move forward which respects old values and opens new pathways.

The école vivante commits to a peaceful and fruitful exchange and a respectful coexistence of different religions and cultures, and is doing its part to make our world a little more colourful, tolerant and loving.

But the global project école vivante relies and depends on its existence and its development through donations and practical support!

A financial contribution will help us to work with all our energy, to do the daily educational job in the school, it helps children from low-income families to attend the école vivante, where they will develop their talents, and it allows the whole project to grow.

As a “self-help project” under construction, we are constantly dependent on donations in order to realize the next steps in planning:

  1. Expansion of the school building and lease of the entire project area (approximately 3,500 sqm). Cost: about 20,000,- Euro.
  2. Construction of the workshops which are at the heart of the community centre. The investment costs for the first construction step will be approximately 30,000,- Euro.
  3. Development of the existing teaching staff and training of new teachers. The training cost this year is about 8,000,- Euro.

As the project école vivante increasingly grows and expands, the tasks and areas of work increase as well and become more work to organize. We therefore ask for your direct and specialized help!

Currently we are looking for help and practical support in the following areas:

• Consulting and coaching in management and overall project management
• PR and Public Relations
• Translation of the website content and of various flyers (German to English and German to French)
• Training in professional accounting
• Fundraising – worldwide

We sincerely thank all the donors who have supported us over the past year, and all of our friends, sponsors and circle of friends for your great commitment, advertising and networking!

We would especially like to thank our partner school www.scuolavivante.ch, Veronika and Jürg, for their ideological and pedagogical support and motivation, as well as for their helpful contacts.

Thanks to all the students, parents, and also the numerous visitors from all over the world! We thank you for your active partaking in everyday school life. This lively interaction makes participating, learning and teaching at the école vivante a really joyful experience.

Warm greetings from the happy valley in the Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

We wish you a blessed late summer with health and happiness.

Peace be with you,

Itto & the team of école vivante 

For donations to école vivante please use one of the following contacts:

In Morocco:
Name of the holder: Association Vivante
Name of the bank: Attijariwafa Bank
Agence Daoudiate Marrakech (204)
Bank account number: 00 0204 E 000 304 846 21110
BIC: 007 450 00  0204 5000 30 48 46 77
SWIFT ID: BCM AM AMC

In Germany:
Verein Ait Bouguemez e.V.
Wartburg-Sparkasse Eisenach
Bank-Code 840 550 50
Bank account number:  0012012874
IBAN: DE44 8405 5050 0012 0128 74
SWIFT: HELADEF1WAK

In Switzerland:
Verein Scuola Vivante
école vivante
9470 Buchs
Postcheck-Nr.: 85-586291-6
IBAN: CH78 0900 0000 8558 6291 6
SWIFT: POFICHBEXXX

In France:
Online donation via paypal here

If you like, we can send you an official acknowledgment of receipt.

Into the holidays’12

 
It is over, it is done, Alhamdulillah!

The second year of the école vivante finished successfully for 24 children.

Now it is time for holidays.
I will be off that space for some days.

Thank you so much for your visit here.

I wish you and yours happy summer months.

Until then, with news about the school, inchaallah.
Salamou aleikoum oua rahmatullahi oua barakatuh!

                 

Three cups of Tea

I’ve just finished this wonderful book of an American who came to found dozens of schools in the Middle East.
Mashaallah, what an impressive accomplishment and what a brave man – A person who really fights terrorism, who really builds bridges and really respects other cultures and religions.

A wonderful example of how one can change the world. A really beautiful read.

 

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time

A book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

 

“The book is titled Three Cups of Tea after the northern Pakistani customs of hospitality of honouring guests and making them friends and a part of the family over successive servings of tea.
Inside the book, David Oliver Relin takes us on a trip along with this American climber, Greg Mortenson, who almost made it to the top of one of the most difficult, harshest peaks in the world, the K2.
Reading through the first few pages, one reads about how close he comes to his goal of climbing the mountain but fails and almost loses his life in the process.

But the story that starts out as a tale of survival on the base camps quickly shifts gears as he finds himself in a small village, Korphe, at the foothills of the Himalayas.
He is transported centuries back in time as he realizes that nothing much has changed in this small village for generations or in the lives of these people, called the Balti. As he regained his strength living amongst these people, his life changed forever, in a way he had never imagined.
He left the village with a promise to return one day with a gift of a school for the children who surrounded him with their smiles as he was recovering

 

He was finally able to raise enough funds to return to Korphe and give the children their school after enduring through learning local languages, customs, and any other hurdle that came his way, of which there were many.
But this turned out to be only the beginning of a life-long mission for him.

From this first school, Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute (CAI) that he later founded, over the next decade, would build and support hundreds of schools all over northern Pakistanand Afghanistan.

This is the story of an ordinary American who, unknowingly to himself, became a hero to thousands of children who would otherwise never go to school.

What he thought was his failure to climb K2, made him the champion of the lives of a whole generation of children.
He did all this with the greatest personal sacrifice, having to stay away from his home, his wife, and his children his loves so much.

He also put his life in incredible danger and persevered through the most hostile land, fiercely rugged terrains, harsh climates, thugs, warlords, and the fundamentalist Taliban in a time of war in the region, all for the sake of these children.
A soldier of peace, he fought a war for the helpless children and women, among them with pens and the true teachings of Islam, so that they can stay away from the fundamental madrasas and the terrorism they spread. ”
(Parts of the book review by Ali I.Raja, MD, Arkansas, 2007)

 

For more information:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com

https://www.ikat.org

 

Images of an active School

« To teach a young person doesn’t mean to fill an empty bucket, but it means to lighten a fire. » (Aristotle)

 
 

If it is quiet on this blog, this means that life in reality is very busy.
I am these days especially occupied with the school, with practical weeks, with new changes, with lots of thoughts on structure, teaching and pedagogy but also with private life, our garden and other projects, alhamdulillah.
Time for writing here is rare, so I send you greetings of peace with these images from our very lively, very busy, fulfilling, creative, innovative and sometimes also challenging school-life at the “école vivante” where learning happens everywhere.


 
 
 
 

Favourite books that inspire an alternative approach on education:

Rahima Baldwin Dancy: “You are your child’s first teacher”

Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Everyday Blessings” / “Mit Kindern wachsen”

Naomi Aldort: “Raising our children, raising ourselves” / “Von der Erziehung zur Einfühlung”

Rebeca Wild: “ Erziehung zum Sein”

Rebeca Wild: “ Kinder im Pesta”

Rebeca Wild: “ Sein zum Erziehen”

Rebeca Wild: “ Freiheit und Grenzen, Liebe und Respekt“

Rebeca Wild: “Raising Curious, creative, confident kids”

Mary Griffith: “The unschooling handbook”

Barbara J. Patterson: “Beyond the Rainbow bridge”

A.S. Neill: “Summerhill, a radical approach to child rearing” / “Summerhill”

Jürgen Reichen: “Hannah hat Kino im Kopf”

Lucy Calkins: “Raising lifelong learners”

Stefanie Mohsine: “Schulfrei”

John Holt : “How children learn”/ “How children fail”

 

An invitation

 

Deep thankfulness is my actual feeling towards our Swiss partner school who is organizing a big beneficial happening on our school’s concern – to collect money to support the école vivante here in Morocco.

Tomorrow the Swiss pupils sing, together with the well known Spanish musician Jordi Savall, in a concert for peace and international understanding.

Orient-Occident – music for peace
28. March 2012, Wednesday
19.30 p.m.
in the catholic church Herz-Jesu-Kirche
in Buchs SG – Switzerland (near to Liechtenstein)

More information and tickets on www.scuolavivante.ch

That fills me with huge gratitude for all those who support our project.
Thank you so very much!

But to offer you this invitation not only fills me with gratitude, it puts me also into a difficult kind of position and I think I have to explain some things on the topic of music.

I personally do not listen to music. Not any more.
I did. I played more than 14 years the piano myself. I sang in a choral, I listened to all kinds of different music, from punk to reggae, from classic to country rock; I even went to discotheques in my youth.
But that was before.

My religion teaches me now that listening to music, and especially playing musical instruments, (more precisely: most sorts of music) is not good for us.

I know, this is a tuff and huge topic and lots of different opinions circulate on it.
So here I share my actual and personal point of view:

First I wasn’t convinced of this strict Islamic view. I didn’t get the reason behind that entire concept. I understood well that modern music that inspires people to move in tempting ways, that calls out for inconvenient behaviour, that praises drugs and sexual intercourse, just cannot be good. I knew that it can lead to immoral things and can cause mankind to suffer.

But when I became Muslim I still played the piano myself and I still listened to some mainstream songs – more modest ones, sure, such as Yusuf Islam or Cat Stevens etc., but I still listened to popular music and instruments.
And I still thought that music can have healing affects and that listening and playing old classic music is something that shows a very high level of education. I thought that it had to be something valuable and blessed if God gave great talent to some composers that causes them to create such beautiful melodies and such grandiose pieces…

But in small steps my mind changed.

My soul just slowly absorbed the islamic concept deep inside. Little by little I realized that the huge periods of time we spend in learning and training in music or playing an instrument might better be spent in things like worship or seeking knowledge, things that provide us with something more useful for the hereafter.
I also realized that there always is some influence of music which I cannot control. Often there are some old melodies or catchy hit tunes (“ohrwürmer”) that come to my mind and out of my mouth unconsciously, like magic or a spell.

I understand now that music can act like magic, without our conscience, in good but also in bad ways. I know now that music in general can cause us to forget everything really important and that it can cause things to happen that we cannot control.

I know now that music, especially that which is played by some instruments, acts on deeper levels of our body and spirit and that they might also influence the world of the unseen in ways we do not want – we just cannot control its effects.

I believe now that Allah, God the Almighty, gave mankind a voice and a sense of melody and musicality mainly for the use of praise for Him, to recite the qur’an in the most beautiful and soul healing ways, to remember and worship Him.

Today I do not listen to instrumental music anymore.
I cannot stand being in a shop where loud songs are played.
Hearing songs and pieces I formerly loved cause me now to feel very uncomfortable.

Today the singing of a bird fills me with deep peace – music doesn’t any more.
Today listening to the qur’an brings tears of joy into my eyes – music sometimes causes me now to feel quiet the opposite.
My soul became very sensitive.

I love now to listen to the music of my very heart.
I love to sing my own songs, to create my own melodies, to sing the way I actually feel, it’s mostly dhikr.
We sing a lot, a cappella, in school and at home. But mostly these songs are to praise Allah; and they never exceed the amount of our reciting of the holy qur’an, which sounds now anyway like the most beautiful music to me.

It was a slow transition from inside, and I am still learning – just as how everything of real deep faith takes place.
Because no one can force another to believe in a concept and everyone has his own point of view, his own approach to faith. Everyone goes his own way and everyone has to make his own choices. We cannot persuade nor force others into something like this.

“To you be your religion, and to me my religion. “ (Qur’an 109:6)

But we can explain things, tolerate and respect each other, to live in peace and harmony.
So this was my explanation on my personal relationship with music.

And even though I do not listen to instrumental music anymore, I still appreciate the aim of tomorrow’s concert which is to encourage an interreligious peaceful dialogue.
Thank you, dear friends in Switzerland. God bless you!

May peace be with you all! Assalamou aleikoum.

Into the world of Signs

Many of you have asked over the last months how our little deaf girl and we as a family are coping with her situation (thank you so much for your concern!)  - so I decided to share here some of our way since last summer.

Learning how to express joy, gratitude, fear, hunger, boredom or anger without words; finding ways of communication in silence; figuring out how to catch someone’s attention without using sound – these are the tasks we have to learn with our little girl, because even wearing now excellent hearing aids, alhamdulillah, she still is and stays a deaf person with only little perception of sound.
To realize and accept this was hurtful and hard. Mashallah.
But alhamdulillah, our daughter is not totally deaf and some sound reaches her consciousness quite well. She doesn’t live in silence and is herself not silent at all, she babbles and chatters the whole day, subhanallah, she tells things that sound like nonsense to us but mean a lot to her. She uses the tones of her voice quite well and suitable to different situations, but there are some sounds she can’t observe and some letters she doesn’t get at all. She maybe gets about a third of what is said, so for example if you would say to her “salam aleikoum” she would maybe understand something like “aam aoum”.
Especially my voice she nearly doesn’t hear. And although a mother and her child feel a lot of things naturally and are, alhamdulillah, connected in intuitive ways, we need now skills to make conversation easier and deeper between us.

I’ve read a lot of books, websites and articles over the last year and I have spoken to a many people about the deaf world, about hearing impaired, about how to live with them, about possibilities on how to make a good living for our child and on how to support her best.
There are many different opinions and some are really contradictory and very black and white.
So in the end things are totally up to us and depend on what we want and wish for our girl, what values we have and what we think would be best in our specific situation.
And because we live far away from modern achievements and the latest scientific knowledge, we are (nearly) not influenced nor manipulated by trends and fashions (that sometimes do not prove themselves or change too quickly). This provides us with a kind of freedom and independence that I really value and count as a blessing, alhamdulillah.

For us it is clear now, that we want to raise our daughter bilingual, I mean not bilingual in Berber and German, but I mean in oral language and also in sign language; so we try to sign and to talk to her in the same time.
We want to hold open both doors for her, the door to the deaf world, but also that to the hearing one, so that she can live in both worlds and choose her own way with as less boundaries as possible, inchaallah.

We do not want to decide for her something as critical as a cochlear implant until she can decide herself, and we do not want to force her into something so difficult and hard to learn for her as the communication only by hearing and talking, always depending on lip reading and the functioning of the hearing aid.
We see how much she likes signing already and how quickly and with how much joy she learns it, trying at the same time to pronounce the words.
We want to open her as much of the horizon as possible and we want to give her the ability to communicate, to express and to get in contact with others in multiple ways. We also want her to meet other deaf people to relate to, young and older ones.

Living far away in the midst of the remote Atlas Mountains, we are free in our choice but need to do some effort to realize these aims.
With no doctors around, no help for hearing impaired people, no knowledge of sign language, with neither speech trainers nor special needs therapists near, we either need to drive to Marrakech (5 hours away) for support and treatment, or we need to establish something here by ourselves.

So we decided to tackle the situation and to try to turn it into something beneficial, with Allah’s will:
Through beautiful incidences, maktoob I would say, and by the help of very nice people we got in contact with other deaf persons and people who are proficient in sign language. Some already visited us and gave us wonderful first aid on our way into signing, and the meetings with these lovely people from Belgium and the United Kingdom were a gift for our daughter and motivated us to look now for people who come for longer periods to train us in sign language, but also to be a role model for her and to help us on the long run to establish a special needs department in our little school.

Our daughter is not the only one, there are other deaf children in this valley and our wish is now to bring them together and to provide for them a nourishing environment of possibilities to learn and to grow, inchaallah.
Within the bounds of the “école vivante” we want to give those children the possibility to have access to education according to their needs but integrated in a regular school.

The way is long and we are just in the beginning. There are many things to be considered, to be organized and a lot of knowledge to be sought. But we are feeling very positive and hopeful about it, alhamdulillah.

Over the next months several volunteers will come, God willingly, to help us establishing ways of communication with our daughter and to develop a local sign language with her and a few other deaf kids from here.
In small steps we aim to create a little centre for hearing impaired people and eventually also for other children with special needs, inchallah, integrated in our school.

If you are interested in supporting or participating in this special needs project of the “école vivante”, if you know someone who would like to, or if you want to support the school, please leave a comment or get in contact through: info(at)ecolevivante.com

You can also donate online to our French circle of friends, to support us financially.

Thank you for keeping us in your dua’ !

Assalamou aleikoum oua rahmatullahi oua barakatuh.

The School – an Annual Report

 

Salaam aleikoum dear friends and readers,

Over one year passed since the opening of our primary school “école vivante” in September 2010, mashaallah – A lot happened over this year: a lot of work and personal growth, a lot of joy and blessed moments, subhanallah. I would have never been able to imagine how this whole project enriched and in which ways it changed our lives, Allahu akbar. God is the Best of planners and I am deeply grateful and happy to give you some actual updates:

As you might remember, last spring I travelled, together with our daughter and our class teacher, to Switzerland to an advanced training in our partner-school – and as every time, also this meeting was a most helpful and enriching time and the intercultural exchange took again place both ways, alhamdulillah.

 

In early summer’11 motivated friends from Germanycreated a circle of friends called „Ait Bouguemz e.V.”, that is a registered non profit association with the aim to support our project, inchaallah.

Soon after, we went online with our own multilingual homepage (I still have to translate some parts into English and French, but alhamdulillah, it is already very detailed in German).

In July’11 already the summer holidays began. Our 16 pupils reached the expected aims and a beautiful celebration with all the children, families and friends marked the end of a successful first year and the school got, both locally and internationally, positive feedback and encouraging approval, Alhamdulillah!

Due to generous donations we were able to add new furniture and a classroom and to become larger after Ramadan – more than half of our own house is now for the school.
The team was extended by a new teacher and after the busy time of the new enrolling we have now, since September, 24 pupils, mashaallah.

 

During the whole last year a continual supportive exchange took place with our Swiss partners and in October two of their lovely teachers came to visit to further develop our trend-setting pedagogy together with the local team. These times are always very inspirational and an important part of this interreligious and intercultural project.

Since November a French language course for the young women of the valley takes place outside the main school hours and other public activities are in planning. We have lots of demands and many new ideas and it is such a blessing to feel accepted by the public, alhamdulillah.

Further donations allowed us recently to finally finish the pupil toilets in the backyard of the school. As you already know, they are so-called compost or humanure toilets and now our school also sets ecologically seen innovative examples.

 

The new year awaits us with many new adventures, plans and duties, inchaallah, and actually we are looking for a brave and motivated volunteer who is proficient in sign language or in special needs pedagogy (especially for hearing impaired children), to help us with the development of an education department for deaf children to be integrated in our school.

In order to exist, to grow and to develop the école vivante we are further dependent on your help and donations and we ask for your ongoing financial support!

Apart from sponsorships, which are to secure the existence of the primary school, further donations are now necessary to extend the school, to build new workshops for the public leisure centre and to organize a school bus.

The bank-account-informations can be found here at our website.
Donations in Germany, France and Switzerland are now deductible from tax.

The illustrated annual report, which you can download here, shows in detail the past, the now and the future aims of the whole social development project école vivante.

And the article, which appeared this summer in the English „Sisters Magazine“, shows again how everything began.

 

I am so very thankful and pleased to share this promising development of the école vivante with you all, alhamdulillah!

The whole team thanks the donors and supporters for their help, our friends and partners for their engaged cooperation and enriching ideas, all visitors for their motivating interest and all people for their good thoughts, encouraging words and prayers.

I especially thank you, dear readers, for your ever faithful visits here on this blog and for your lovely and thoughtful comments, and I wish you all the best for this New Year! 

May Allah bless you all, may He shower you with His mercy and provide you with lots of joy, happiness, fulfilment, peace and His pleasure in 2012, and may He always guide us on the right path, ameen.

I am looking forward to meet you here again this year, inchaallah,
masalama,

yours itto xxx