Kenya and Tanzania Updates

The two Corner of Hope schools in Nakuru, Kenya, are both operating at full capacity. You can see the children working with focus and joy at both schools.

The school in New Canaan has 170 children at the 3-6 level and 57 at the 6-12 level. Corner of Hope Kisima serves 75 children and recently some renovations to the school and kitchen have been completed.

New offshoots of Corner of Hope have been set up in East Pokot, a remote region of Kenya, where three women have completed their first year of teacher training and have now set up two Montessori environments. I visited both schools and joined a session with the parents of one of the schools, who were keen to learn more about this different type of education as they saw changes in the behaviour of the children and were also very interested in learning more about the materials. After the workshop, the parents expressed a desire to only have Montessori classrooms in the school. Four more trainees are currently completing their first year of training and will set up more Montessori environments in 2023.

Over the years no less than 4000 Montessori teachers have been trained in Tanzania. A large conference was organized by Montessori Community Tanzania, bringing together around 400 teachers from all parts of the country, to reflect, exchange ideas and refresh knowledge. August 3 was a day of celebration, with a Montessori material exhibition, songs, a new documentary and speeches by representatives from the Tanzanian Montessori Community and the government. Over 4000 Montessori teachers have been trained over the years.