Africa

Fruitful Orchard Montessori is an authentic, high-quality Montessori school in Abuja Nigeria. We view our school as a prototype and plan to offer programs for children from birth through adolescence. We currently have a Toddler Community and a primary Children’s House and are working towards a 2020 start for our Elementary program. Fruitful Orchard Montessori also places a significant emphasis on nature and the outdoors. Our goals are to nurture whole children who will bear fruits for the world while also providing an example of the positive outcomes of Montessori for Nigeria.

Junnifa will be taking the elementary training and is looking for a trained volunteer to work in the primary classroom from January 2 – February 24 and June 15 – July 10 while she is on the course. Please contact her if you are interested.

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.