Dear colleagues,
We are teachers and parents of the Waldorf Initiative from Ukraine. Our gymnasium “SVITOVYD” is located near Kyiv. It is a private, non-profit educational institution founded seven years ago on the basis of the Waldorf Kindergarten “Sonyakh”, which has been successfully operating for 18 years. Today we have 1-3 grades and 11 children in them and 6 in the pre-school grade. Before the war there were 30 children in our school, but the number has reduced because of the war and people’s emigration. However, we have wonderful Waldorf teachers (the trauma therapist, the musical therapist, the specialist of the curative eurythmy among them) and put all efforts to develop our initiatives. We celebrate all holidays in our school family circles, we preserve Ukrainian traditions, every second Monday our learning is outdoors, we have hiking in the nearby forests to investigate nature, develop social skills and renew ourselves after missile attacks. Children also spend a lot of time in our wonderful garden with big green territory and fruit trees. organise a lot of activities there (play active games, take care of our garden; plant vegetables in our greenhouse, etc) releasing that it has therapeutic effect in the war time.
We already have an amazing teacher for the next learning year and new children for the first grade.
We were forced to stop working for the first half of 2022 when the invasion happened. However, in August 2022, the remaining parents and teachers decided to reopen the school and kindergarten.
Most families have found themselves in a situation where their financial capabilities are significantly limited due to the war. They do everything they can to support the school and kindergarten, but today this is almost impossible. All initiatives that depend on parental
contributions have found themselves in such a situation, and some of
them have already ceased to exist.
We are doing everything we can to preserve our school. Therefore, we
appeal to you as colleagues who understand the importance of Waldorf pedagogy for the future. At the same time, we feel its special therapeutic value for families left behind in war conditions. It is impossible to survive this time without a healthy environment and proper
support. It is the Waldorf School that can provide such support to children and parents - we have seen it every day during these four years of the war.
To preserve this educational oasis, which will help to gradually
recover and become a center of development of a new social future, we
need support. Without your help, we will not be able to continue our
activities, since all the internal resources of the country are aimed at
physical survival in the war.
Even after the maximum reduction of expenses, we have a monthly
budget deficit of 2,000 euro.
We will be grateful for any support. If you
can spread our request among other anthroposophical institutions
(schools, financial organizations, farms, etc.), it will be an
invaluable help for us.
If you have an opportunity to support us, we’ll provide all
necessary additional information.
You can learn more about our school and kindergarten on our web site
svitovyd.kyiv.ua (http://svitovyd.kyiv.ua/)
in instagram:
School https://www.instagram.com/svitovyd_waldorf?igsh=MWwyMG9kNDlzbmdzbQ%3D%3D
Kindergarten
https://www.instagram.com/sonyah_waldorf?igsh=aGdtMTNvd2JkOW81
Kind regards,
teachers and parents of the Free Waldorf Gymnasium “SVITOVYD”
12, Abrikosova St.,
Hatne village, Fastiv district, Kyiv region
08160
Ukraine,
Phone: +38 067 1635393
svitovyd.kyiv.ua (http://svitovyd.kyiv.ua/)