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The Phoenix and the Protea
In 2005, an arson attack razed half our school to the ground. The nest of embers gave birth to a new determination deep within the parents and teachers – we will rebuild our school! This determination came first with spades, saws, and trucks. Then it burst into a great heart song - a benefit concert and ensuing pledges enough to replace our wooden classrooms. Three weeks later the bare boards of the new huts stood starkly in the sandy soil. A singed protea bush flowered.
Three years later this determination has not faded in our souls. In 2008 we face a new challenge; our tenure is exhausted, our school must change location. We must procure new land and build our school again.
We have named our determination The Phoenix. “This mythical bird that never dies flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and the distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it.” Lam Kam Chuen
We scan our landscape. We gaze upon an exploding need to find healing in South Africa. Can our Phoenix bring down from heaven the Divine Will as it always has done? Can segregation be replaced with congregation? Can wholesome education be given to every individual? Can our social fabric be mended? Can apathy be overcome by Resolute Will? Our school holds these aims in its sight, fired by Steiner’s philosophy of education and an undaunted love for each member of our community.
So who are we? A vibrant microcosm of South Africa. We are multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-faceted. We are rich and poor, living in shacks and mansions. Christian & Ancestral, Jewish & Muslim, Buddhist & Hindu. Spiritual, creative, individual. Caring; loving; friends. We love nature and the outdoors – we hike, surf and garden. We are independent, entrepreneurial and unusual. We stand for our beliefs. We are devoted to our children. We mother others’ children. And together we make a difference, child by child, parent by parent, teacher by teacher. One by One.
We look for a place to alight. Where can we land? The Phoenix of South Africa lives in the indigenous Protea: both are seeded by fire, strikingly beautiful and sensitive to their surrounds. Now is born a new determination, entwining Phoenix and Protea, entwining Divine Will with our own.
Co-Creating Our Future
We need 4 hectares of land in our beautiful valley to house our current kindergarten and primary school, and extend into a middle and high school. To do this we will raise a minimum of R10 million (€1 million). One third will be raised within our school community, one third within South Africa, and one third from the international community.
We are determined that the process of fundraising also aligns with our vision and pedagogical aims. We want consciousness in our activities. We want inspiration in our actions. We want healing in our engagements.
We have 400 indigenous seedlings, the Proteas of our Will. Each of our children, supported by their families and teachers, has begun to tend 2 seedlings. Each of these germinated seeds is a wish, a dream of the place where we will be. As we tend our individual plants, we tend our collective wish. We invite a growing community to join us in our vision: “Ground this tree, Ground our school”. These plants are our Foundation Stone.
Every R10 000 (€1 000) of funds raised provides land for one tree, and stands as the fulfilment of a wish to consciously find healing in South Africa through Waldorf Education.
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