News from the Peter-Hesse-Foundation

Visit to Senegal and Ivory Coast
27 February 2022 – 20 March 2022

Covid has changed the way we function in both negative and positive ways. During my visit to Senegal to plan a training course there, I decided to start online classes for the theoretical section of our Montessori teacher training program. This turned out to be a very positive move, since we will be able to include more teacher trainees in the program.

Montessori preschool, Dakar Senegal

I also visited a school in Dialaw, two hours North of Dakar in Senegal. Teachers there will also benefit from the online training and are eager to join. The school in Dialaw opened in 2015, and has educational values similar to Montessori. They practice environmental stewardship, and their school building is made with bags of sand on a foundation of tires filled with rocks. The roof is also made of natural materials. We welcome their teachers to our training.

School, Dialaw, Senegal

I visited the three schools in Abengourou, Ivory Coast. The schools are working well. The number of students in all schools has grown and there is an urgent need for more trained teachers and materials. The classroom environments also need upgrading.

Schools in Abengourou, Ivory Coast

One of the children who enrolled in the first Montessori preschool funded by the Peter Hesse Foundation in 2008 came to visit me. She is now 15. Many young girls would have been married or had children by that age and dropped out of school. I am happy that she is unmarried and is still in school.