GLOBAL NEWS
Accra, Ghana
An update on the Lotus School
Due to the support of a local sympathizer on guiding teachers and zealous supervision from the Director, the school has improved rapidly since the last school year. The number of students is now 70, i.e. ten times more than a year and half ago. We currently have six teachers and four classrooms serving KG1, KG2, nursery 1, nursery 2 and crèche. The new classrooms and teachers have helped raise the standard of the school because we are able to give the needed attention to the children at different levels. Fine arts are also a part of the daily activities of the children. This is quite different from other schools in Ghana as many only use colored pencils often simply ignoring any other forms of art.
We are carefully choosing the right people and training them as responsible teachers who can be a good example to the children. Neohumanist principles are imparted to the children, teacher and parents through regular meetings and classes. Neohumanistic activities include teaching of morality in a dynamic way; developing a sense of aesthetics through cultivation of Fine Arts and teaching of inner and outer ecology. Teaching nature studies and gardening are part of daily outer ecology curriculum.
We have a new project to start a Teacher’s Training Institution with NH approach in Ghana. For more information, please visit our websites: www.lotuschildrencenter.yolasite.com, www.lotuschildrencenter.org. If anyone would like to contact us please write to:
Dada Shambhushivananda’s Lectures in Ghana
Dada Shambhushivananda’s Lectures in GhanaIn August, Dada Shambhushivananda travelled to Western Africa and visited all NHE projects. He gave a lecture at the Accra Ministery of Information Conference Hall on Self Realization and Social Action. He also gave a talk on Neohumanist Education at the UKK in Togo to the 100 attendees from Ghana, Burkino Faso, Ivory Coast and other African countries.
Ho Ghana
In Ho, Ghana a new school has been built and is nearing completion. The well constructed building will accommodate 60-80 children and will open in the next few months.
Centre for Neohumanist Studies
The CNS building in Accra includes a holistic health and lifestyle centre. The Centre conducts programs such as yoga classes, therapeutic massage, seminars and conferences.
Nairobi, Kenya, Nairobi High School
In October 2013, the Ananda Marga High School in Nairobi was awarded 3rd place as one of the Most Improved Private Schools amongst all Private schools in Westlands district by the District Education Office of Westlands district of Nairobi County. Teachers, staffs and students were very happy.
Ananda Marga Academy Kiembeni
Closing Day Cultural Programme
Nairobi, Kenya
The ambient on 7th August was congenial and the school hall charged with excitement of the children who participated in the term’s closing day cultural programme. Parents were impressed with the variety of talent expressed. They were surprised to see that of the entire school of 450 children, everyone had a role in the presentations. No one was left out.
The guest speaker, Representative of Bamburi Ward, Mr. Riziki Fundi, was also very pleased with the imaginative show and later spoke to the parents praising the school and its role in the community. He expressed his regard for the policy of accepting and educating all children regardless of their academic ability; he pointed out that it is a defect to “sieve” children which some schools do in order to show a high result for their institutions. Ananda Marga Academy aims to bring out the best in all the pupils, even slow learners, which Mr. Riziki supports. He also urged the parents to strive for the higher education of their children.
The theme of the cultural event was “What makes up a good society?” Three actors from class seven creatively linked the nine presentations. One actor posed as a graduate student who was conducting a research on what elements make up a good society. He meets up with the second actor from Ananda Marga. Through seeing the children’s performances, the grad student got ideas for his assignment. A third actor also joined in order to point out that animals also have a place in Kenyan society; they further tourism naturally, but also have rights. The last presentation had to do with leadership. Good leadership is a major requirement towards making a good society possible. A moving tribute was made to Nelson Mandela by classes seven and eight.
A video of the event & project is being produced, so that our friends may hear some traditional music of Kenya as well as see the dances and costumes.
School and Children’s Home welcome a volunteer from Spain
Itziar Arechederra, from the north of Spain has been a volunteer with the European Voluntary Service for over seven years. She served in the Canary Islands where her assignment was to help refugees from Morocco. She also worked with refugee children from sub-Saharan Africa in Madrid for an organization Karibu Madrid.
Itziar came to Nairobi in April of this year and was interacting with children in a school in Huruma slum, where she happened upon the Ananda Marga School there. And through Didi Girija, Itziar came to know of the children’s home and projects at Kiembeni. Itziar now plans to spend three months in the children’s home and school. She brings lots of energy and creative ideas. So far Itziar’s involvement has been in training Standard One pupils in movement and choreography for the Cultural Programme, in which they acted out animals such as lions, elephants and giraffes with a background of African music. She has also spent time with the girls downloading music, making bead jewelry and teaching Spanish dances.