Africa

In 2005 Deborah McCracken founded the Olive Branch for Children to provide relief for orphans in the Mbeya region of Tanzania who were born with AIDS or HIV or whose parents have died or suffered from AIDS. In addition to providing life-saving medical care to the communities and developing self-sustainability projects, one of the major objectives is to improve the education of Tanzanian children through the Montessori initiative. Thus, Deborah’s Montessori School was created to serve both the children at the orphanage and those from surrounding villages. To date, the Olive Branch for Children has helped establish 28 Montessori Kindergartens in remote communities for children ages 3-6 yrs. and has trained over 40 villagers in Montessori methodology.

Deborah’s Montessori School began as cement block room. In 2006, with the help of a volunteer from Canada, Clara De Simone who is an interior designer, the space was transformed from a bare room into a learning haven for young children. In 2007 we were able to add to the dream by adding wraparound shelving units and child sized tables and chairs. In August of that year we welcomed two more volunteers, Jamie and Pam Rossiter who are trained Montessori teachers. They hosted a Montessori clinic that benefitted our teaching staff as well as nursery school teachers from the entire Mbeya region.

Deborah, who herself had a Montessori education, also founded the Zion/HIV Home which houses 8 children between the ages of 2 and 10, all of whom were born with the HIV virus. A full time nurse from the community takes care of the children with the assistance of three other women who attend to their daily needs. All children under 8 living in the Zion Home attend the Montessori school.

Deborah’s goal is to instill in the children in her care the sense that their future is bright and healthy and that they can and will flourish in their community, despite being born with HIV.