MEfA Global
Africa: MEfA Graduate Gbemisola Esther Korede is planning to work closely with home-schooling parents of special needs children in Nigeria via a website, http://www.montekids.co.uk/ which forms part of her MEfA project. Esther works for a national charity in the UK that supports and speaks out for the most vulnerable and neglected children, young people, families and their communities,
MEfA Graduate Oluwatomisin (Tosin) Daramola, a Montessori Teacher from Nigeria, has drafted an excellent report on Why Montessori with Autism (and other Special Needs) Thrive in Montessori Schools. Tosin is also a MEfA Observer (Mycenae House Project)
MEfA is also supporting the Wake up! Day-care Centre and Pre-school in Windhoek Namibia. The centre is governed by the Penduka Day care Trust, a Namibian Trust registered in 2008 with the aim of promoting and supporting early childhood development and education in Namibia. http://wakeupdaycarenamibia.com
Asia: MEfA Trustee Shalini Modi, based in Mumbai, is Montessori trained psychologist working closely with practitioners in India who are supporting children and families with autism. Shalini Modi, MEfA graduate Rachel Spooner and MEfA intern Ashok Kumar liaise to support and advise organisations such as the Indriya Foundation, a school in Bangalore that provides holistic, inclusive and personalised learning for children aged 15 months – six years http://indriyafoundation.com/.
Shalini was also instrumental in introducing MEfA to the Thousand Lights Balwadi – a government feeding and early intervention programme for street children, many of whom have special needs, in Chennai. Shalini is a founding Trustee of the Nishkam Trust http://nishkamtrust.com/Schools.html MEfA Trustee Wendy Fidler has visited the Thousand Lights Balwadi.
MEfA friends Dan and Air Walker, both Montessori Teachers, run the Chiang Mai Montessori school in Northern Thailand http://chiangmaimontessori.org/
MEfA has Facebook friends in India, Indonesia, Japan, The Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand
Australasia: MEfA Trustee Nicola Chisnall, based in Auckland, New Zealand is a Montessori trained lecturer in the School of Education at Auckland University of Technology. Nicola is an external executive examination advisor to MEfA post graduate training. Nicola is a MEfA Observer (Mycenae House Project)
MEfA has Facebook friends in Australia and New Zealand
Europe: MEfA supports the Karin Dom Foundation in Varna, Bulgaria. Karin Dom supports children and families with cerebral palsy, autism and a wide range of other special educational needs. MEfA Trustee Wendy Fidler has visited the foundation and provided Montessori observations and training. MEfA has provided literature and a variety of sensory toys. http://karindom.org
This term MEfA is providing lectures in:
· Geneva, Switzerland in September 2011 (European Early Childhood Education Research Association - EECERA)
· Bratislava, Slovakia in October 2011 (Montessori Europe Congress).
MEfA has Facebook friends in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden and the United Kingdom
North America: MEfA continues to strengthen its many links with the USA. Trustee and Academic Director Wendy Fidler attended the Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) Teacher Orientation in New York in June 2011.
The MMUN is dedicated to Dr Maria Montessori’s conviction that “when children are accustomed, from the earliest childhood onwards, to considering those around them as a source to help explore the world, they are not tempted to adopt a wary or hostile attitude towards men who belong to different races or religions. At a later date, children raised according to these principles will be of great help in the construction of a peaceful society, and it is the encouragement of this understanding among nations that UNESCO has set as its ideal.”
Ambassador to the UN from the Dominican Republic, Francis Lorenzo, portrayed the importance of our Montessori peaceful mission of nurturing the leaders of tomorrow when he stated: “The next generation of leaders will come from this program.”
A very interesting article about Dr Montessori’s work with UNESCO (United Nations Education and Scientific Committee) and the power of children for peaceful reform is at http://www.montessori-ami.org/ami/unescoarticle.htm
Whilst in the USA Wendy visited The Jewish Montessori Society hosted by Netivot Montessori, http://www.netivotmontessori.com an orthodox yeshiva day school in New Jersey, and Luria Academy of Brooklyn http://luria-academy.org/ an integrated high quality Judaic-secular school. Wendy advised the staff on teaching children with a variety of special educational needs.
MEfA external examination advisor Linda Bale, from Ohio, USA is a trained Autism Movement Therapist and home-schooling Mother of five. Linda is also a MEfA Observer (Mycenae House Project)
MEfA external examination advisor Adrienne Shillinglaw, from Ontario, Canada is a Montessori trained home-schooling Mother.
MEfA Observer Katie Nehring, from Frederick, Maryland, USA (Mycenae House Project) is Montessori trained and planning to open a Montessori Centre very soon.
MEfA has a large number of Facebook friends in Canada, Mexico, the USA and Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the USA. The plan is to organise MEfA working groups, as in India, to support local families with autism and conditions relating to autism. Can you help?
South America:
Trustee Wendy Fidler visited a Montessori school housed in the Santa Ursula University in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where children with autism, Down syndrome and a range of other needs receive a specialized education whilst learning with their peer group.