McGregor Waldorf School

Katleen's Travelogue 4

Ascension 17 May

In Belgium a public holiday so everyone enjoyed the beginning of a long weekend. The weather was not all that great – the memory of the April sunny days are far away. But there was a small fair in my hometown which Mary enjoyed very much. Her favorites are the merry go round, the boxing cars and fishing ducks which gives her a small prize at the end.

These kind of Christian festivals are still very traditionally family days which means that you go visit your parents on a day like this and spend the afternoon together as a family. Something I notice Mary enjoys very much.

For the rest of the weekend I prepared my trip to the Netherlands and Mary to go sleep over at my sister’s house for a whole week.

Monday 21 May

Lodge Arnhem

On my way to the Netherlands ! My first appointment was in Arnhem with Louis Wagener who has become a familiar face at the McGregor College. Louis came to teach Chemistry for three years now and is expected to travel again to SA mid July. I arrived at about 4 pm, had time to catch up with Louis and prepare for our meeting with the Lodge of which Louis is a member. I had a slot towards the end of the evening after their discussion about ‘The Media’. An interesting discussion : do the media influence politics or does the government have control over the media? What is freedom of speech? How far does that go? What is infotainment? (A word I had not heard until that evening). I could not follow the discussion in details since most of the examples used were of recent incidents in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, interesting ! I also found it interesting to get to know the background of the lodge and it’s purpose. After my presentation, which was a continuation of Hans Stegeman’s visit earlier in the year, one of the members offered to help investigate how to best fundraise via gift certificates so we can gather enough money to buy The Kampterrein. I was grateful for this since buying the Kampterrein is a very big project and it is important to be able to present it professionally and correctly.

Tuesday 22 May

Zutphen High School

The next morning I went to Zutphen, the school where Louis works. Their school has 700 pupils in the High School – quite a difference to our small (still!) McGregor Waldorf High School. Louis had organized for me to present the school at the end of a lesson and just before break. That means that I did not have so much time. There was a very nice man (who immigrated from Syria about 4 years ago) , a civil engineer, who works at the school, running the computer center. He set up the beamer so the dvd about the High School could be projected onto a big screen. There was a lesson since a class was preparing for a musical but in the blink of an eye, they placed 250 chairs to seat all the students of grade 8 and grade 9. I had never addressed such a big group before but Louis introduced me and I situated the work we did in South Africa before showing the dvd. After the dvd I asked them about apartheid and then sketched how it was practically done.

Zutphen High School

I also told them that I was convinced that some of our High School students would love to spend time at their school and that they were welcome to spend time with us. All in all I had about 20 minutes but three students came to talk to me because they were interested in spending time at our school. And if you have interested students you have someone who is willing to promote our school. I left them with our website and e-mail addresses and Louis promised to put them on his Africa mail list.

As I entered the Teachers room Marlies TeWitt was already waiting for me. Marlies and her husband, who are living in Zutphen, are the sponsors of one of our children. I had met Marlies about 4 years ago when I did the Bridging Polarities course in Cape Town at the Center for Creative Education. She formed (and is still forming) part of the 4 Dutch Ladies who have been coming twice a year to Cape Town to give Personal Leadership courses. (www.vrijkunstzinnigjaar.nl) Marlies took me home where I could relax for some time. Later in the afternoon Marlies de la Rive Box came to visit. She is also part of the team and her husband Mathijs was the one who helped Briar develop the initial vision for the High School. She took me to the town of Zutphen, on the bicycle of course, for a tour. Zutphen seems to be quite antroposophical for even the municipal building is designed by a ‘organic’ architect.

Zuthpen

What struck me the most is the word ‘organic’ that you can read on the windows of a variety of shops : butcher, vegetable shop, bakery, coffee shop… An amazement for someone like me what would love to eat only organic foods but who finds it scarce and too expensive in South Africa. We popped into De Driekant, an bakery and coffee shop with a special social purpose. Young people who have difficulty finding work in the normal market due to a variety of reasons can find work and counseling in the Driekant. They learn skills like baking, waitressing, simple bookkeeping and work attitudes. Their personal development is supported through art courses which are led by Gre (another lady of the team of 4 Dutch ladies) and which are given in rooms in the attic of De Driekant. Their paintings are then framed and become part of an art library. People can choose a painting and rent it for €30 a month (an idea for our school???). I was fascinated to read about De Driekant for I thought it very similar to what the McGregor High School wants to do.

After that we visited the Christian Community and met the people who voluntarily keep the gardens there. The gardens I have seen are so beautifully structured to be wild gardens. Interesting was the story they told of a ‘break in’ into the church, which had never happened in the history of the church. I have heard similar stories in the course of my visits. It seems that crime is slowly creeping up on Europe.

After supper I met with most of the ladies and their husbands at Marlene’s House. I showed them the dvd of the school and talked about our work. Being able to show visual pictures is so important for it brings people the closest to how McGregor looks and what we do. The organization ‘Vrij Kunstzinnig jaar’ had decided to donate some money for the school, which of course I was grateful for. The ladies are giving a course again beginning of July and have promised to visit McGregor.

Wednesday 23 May

A rare day with no fixed appointments. Marlies took me on a long walk in nature. I love walking and seeing all the green pastures that are still available in the Netherlands makes me feel good. I had seen ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ just a few evenings ago which says that the Netherlands will completely be covered by water sometime in the future. So I questioned everyone about it. I notice that in Belgium the papers and magazines are full of the subject and every self respected politician is proposing measures to counter global warming. In the Netherlands measures are also taken but there is no panic it seems.

In the afternoon I met with all the ladies for coffee and we talked about their upcoming Leadership Training course in Cape Town in July. For the first time they will have a group of principals of Township Waldorf Kindergartens and are very curious as to how they will manage. But knowing them they will do just fine – they are so humble, open and self reflective…

And then in the evening Marlies invited me to join her for a Bach Concert in the Cathedral of Zutphen. The church was very full but we managed to find some good places. There was a choir and a small orchestra. A most wonderful experience. It is so rare for me to hear classical music directly that it was very special to hear the sounds resound in the church –heavenly sound !!!

Thursday 24 May

Amsterdam Koninklijk Huis

Initially it was the idea to travel to Zeist on Wednesday evening so I could meet up with Hetty Huese of the Stichtse School and give a presentation at her school in the morning. Hetty has been instrumental in fundraising for the school but when I phoned her the evening before, she said that unfortunately it would not work for me to visit the school. There was building going on, exams had to be written else ware, and the hall was not available – a chaotic situation. I was sad that it could not happen but accepted the reasons. I promised her that I would send her the visual material.

I did get on the train to Amsterdam, where I had scheduled a meeting with the Iona Stichting. Dolf van Aalderen had visited the school some 10 years before and I had revived the contact Briar used to have with them. I got into Amsterdam just in time after dealing with delays on trains. Mr. Anderson listened very carefully to my presentation and promised to promote our school and the various projects for which we need support at the groups the Iona stichting is part of. Unfortunately there was no time for sight seeing in Amsterdam so I had to photograph the Palace and Madame Tussauds (wax sculpture museum – a whole lot of famous people have been reproduced in wax very realistically and can be admired at the museum).

On the train to meet Truus Warrink of the Internationaal Hulpfonds in Almere. Truus is an enthousiastic volunteer who as the Afrika Porfolio. She is retiring from being a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher at the end of July and will be as busy as ever after that. Truus has a special connection with Afrika since as a young person she worked in Zambia and in South Africa. In Zambia she met Hans who became her husband and in September 2007 they will travel for the first together to South Africa. So we will be able to greet them at McGregor where they will stay for one week. As I arrived Truus took me to their allotment garden outside the town where her husband is building a small house (a fairy tale huisie). After a glass of their very own made delicious apple juice she took me to a meeting of Kindergarten teachers at the Landgoed Kemphaan, a large estate (www.kemphaan.nl) which generates its electricity from two large solar panels situated right at the entrance. One of the activities of the estate is to organize educational activities for small children and here the teachers were given all the information needed for a forrest search activity which would familiarize the kindergarten children with the forest and the animals living there. Almere is just about 30 years old and consists of ground being won from the sea as it is below sea level. In those 30 years the forest still looks young but it is abundant and there is a thriving community. Truus gave me a tour of the Estate and I was absolutely amazed at the variety of activities. Sheep, cows and pigs are raised there and in the main educational building there are classrooms used by schools to bring their children for an educational session – the one on the picture is about bees.

Another part is a sanctuary for monkeys – who have been used for medical purposes (HIV positive monkeys are held very secure), who are old or sick, who have been left by their owners, etc. The monkeys are cared for and accommodated to have a peaceful old age (www.aap.nl). Further down we entered a huge shed where an enthusiastic man showed us around and told me what he does. Him and his partner buy up stock of businesses who go out of business and sell the stock again in this shed at lower prices. From the money they employ people who cannot work in an normal work environment. They learn valuable skills which help some of them to move on to find another job. I was amazed at the variety and especially good quality of products present. The woodwork is all made from left over wood and I took a lot of pictures of those items to show Pieter who wants to start a woodworking business at school. Another volunteer started gardening outside the shed so organic vegetables and plants are sold aswell. I cannot wait to share all what I saw here on this estate with Pieter and the High School teachers. Then there is also a restaurant which is run by an individual and used as a setting for weddings and functions.

After this food for the soul and mind experience, Truus took me home where she cooked a delicious dinner. Together with her husband we talked about Africa, South Africa and the school McGregor Waldorf School, which gave me more ideas for future fundraising. Hans asked me then whether I knew Gert Vlok. I had never heard of him so Hans explained that he is an Afrikaans poetry writer from Beaufort-West who has made one (and only one) CD with songs he wrote and sang himself. I was intrigued and listened to the songs during supper. Then they installed me in front of the TV to watch a film that a Dutch film crew had made of the man. A very beautifully, minimalist made film which speaks more than words alone. You have to be overseas to learn more about the country you live in !!!!

Friday 25 May

Truus and I worked together during the morning to prepare our meeting for the afternoon and to discuss matters of business between the IHF and the McGregor Waldorf School. I also spoke on the phone to one of our sponsors, an old lady who was happy to hear about the children she helps.

Claarte Wijnberg

Early in the afternoon we visited Claartje Wijnberg who went to South Africa when she was 60y old and who stayed for 15 years working for the Inkanyesi school in Johannesburg. She is now retired and lives in Zeist. Claartje was delighted to have some news of South Africa and showing the dvd’s about the school brought a lot of memories for her. She kept asking about people she knows and gave me a whole lot of greetings to take back from her. She introduced me to Anita Winiarek, a lady from Poland who is a teacher herself but who needs to clean houses in the Netherlands in order to earn a living. Mrs. Winiarek has decided to sponsor one of our children so we organized all of that.

Then we went to our meeting with Mr. Everwijn, who represents a foundation which had already agreed to do something for our school. We had a very good meeting in which I could share our vision of the school and what our needs are. Mr.Everwijn shared valuable thoughts and suggestions and was positive about a contribution. So when Truus and I came home, we both had a feeling of having really accomplished something that day. After supper we watch a reportage about Ingrid Jonker, an Afrikaans poetry writer, who died at a young age and who wrote a poem which Nelson Mandela read on some occasion.

Saturday 26 May

Up early to go to the organic market at the Landgoed De Kemphaan, before boarding the train again in Almere to travel back to Belgium. The train had delay so I just missed my connection in Amsterdam. But that gave me time to buy something to eat, drink and read. The journey from Amsterdam to Brussels was interesting in that there were some people who had no ticket. The lady controlling the tickets stood her ground and talked loudly in French to someone in the other compartment. I was interested to notice how I felt. I kept waiting for more violent action to erupt and felt very uneasy but all other passengers did not seem to worry at all. I realized that yes in Europe crime is rising but it is still not as in South Africa where you can loose your life very easily. A confrontation like the one I was witnessing on the train here would result in SA more easily in a violent confrontation in which the lady could get hurt or killed. A while later we were warned to watch our possessions since pickpockets were reported to be at work.

Late in the evening I was home and ready to take some time in order to celebrate Whitsun (Pinksteren) which is a public holiday here on the Sunday and the Monday and to spend some time with Mary.

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McGregor Waldorf School

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