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CoH Stories:
Zipporah Wangari Mureu
Zipporah Wangari Mureu
Before I started working at Corner of Hope, I was a business lady. I was informed by a friend that there would be interviews for teacher training. I used to be a Sunday school teacher in my local church and I always had a passion for teaching, so I went to the interview and got selected as one of the trainees.
After being displaced at New Canaan, parents were lost on where to take their children. There were no schools nearby and they had no money to pay fees for private schools.
The first period of teaching was challenging. We were working with the children in the morning and went to training in the afternoon. We only had a few materials to work with, we had no toilets and the classrooms were set up in tents, as the building had not been constructed yet. The wind would blow our materials away, and we had to pack our materials at the end of every day as there was no secure place to leave them overnight.
The children immediately responded well to the Montessori Method as they were shown how to use the materials. At first, the parents were complaining that their children were just wasting their time playing with materials. In response to these complaints, the head teacher called for a parent meeting to present and explain the Montessori method. This is when they saw the importance of Montessori education and started to appreciate it.
After being displaced at New Canaan, parents were lost on where to take their children. There were no schools nearby and they had no money to pay fees for private schools.
The first period of teaching was challenging. We were working with the children in the morning and went to training in the afternoon. We only had a few materials to work with, we had no toilets and the classrooms were set up in tents, as the building had not been constructed yet. The wind would blow our materials away, and we had to pack our materials at the end of every day as there was no secure place to leave them overnight.
The children immediately responded well to the Montessori Method as they were shown how to use the materials. At first, the parents were complaining that their children were just wasting their time playing with materials. In response to these complaints, the head teacher called for a parent meeting to present and explain the Montessori method. This is when they saw the importance of Montessori education and started to appreciate it.
Working at Corner of Hope is inspiring and also funny at times. I remember one time when I presented laying a table, the child asked me why I did not put food on the plate.
During my time at Corner of Hope, I have witnessed that the children at Corner of Hope have discipline and that the environment is conducive for learning. I have seen that the children that have been to Corner of Hope are doing very well, which is a great achievement. Working at Corner of Hope is inspiring and also funny at times. I remember one time when I presented laying a table, the child asked me why I did not put food on the plate.
Much has changed during the past ten years. The school building was constructed, shelves for displaying the materials were made, children were provided with meals and uniforms, and houses were built for the teachers, workers and parents. But Corner of Hope remains an institution which offers the best quality education to the children in the community. I see the future of Corner of Hope as a big institution, complete with elementary classes up to the age of 12, buses to pick-up and drop-off children to their respective homes, a computer room and a training institution.
Much has changed during the past ten years. The school building was constructed, shelves for displaying the materials were made, children were provided with meals and uniforms, and houses were built for the teachers, workers and parents. But Corner of Hope remains an institution which offers the best quality education to the children in the community. I see the future of Corner of Hope as a big institution, complete with elementary classes up to the age of 12, buses to pick-up and drop-off children to their respective homes, a computer room and a training institution.
Zipporah in the Corner of Hope school, New Canaan, 2019
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Educateurs sans Frontières
A division of the Association Montessori Internationale
2022
Educateurs sans Frontières
A division of the Association Montessori Internationale
2022