Lynne Lawrence opened the morning session of the final day with a quote from one of Montessori’s lectures to trainees in India in 1941. Gunnita Malhotra sang a universal mantra. Samantha Vejay then presented a draft statement from the Sustainability Workshop that responded to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. A discussion unfolded in relation to refining the basis and language of the document. Sharon Lickerman presented the draft document from the Working Group addressing the essential principles and core values of EsF. She took notes on comments from participants in order that the document could continue to be refined. Lauren Proulx then presented the draft document from the Working Group addressing the preparation of the Educateur. She also took notes of comments from participants. There was general agreement that these documents were a beginning from which to continue working in order to have a more refined co-created document ready for the Congress in 2017.
Uma Ramani summarised the achievements of the India group over the course of the Assembly to form a network of people in the field moving forward. Keiko Sawada shared a video of the Peace Boat (Ref: www.pbkodomonoie.jp) on which she had worked. Victoria Barres confirmed that the Montessori program on the Peace Boat was developed by Fukatso Takako following her attendance at an earlier EsF Assembly.
After lunch, Megan Tyne offered a review of how we can expand our work to bring it to more children. She highlighted the paradox of the power of one, but that we can’t do it alone. The work of constructing nodes and networks to build a digital platform is in progress. Megan talked about how the EsF proceedings are being uploaded to facilitate connection.
André Roberfroid then gave his concluding remarks. He explained it was a challenge to wrap up the extensive work that had been undertaken during the Assembly. However, he brought the participants back to children as the unifying force between all cultures and religions. André issued a challenge. We are far too small to have much impact yet, but we must continue to study Montessori principles, prepare ourselves and spread the word. He thanked Lynne Lawrence for her leadership, noting her obvious love for children. Lynne then thanked the many people who had made the Assembly possible, particularly the Indian Montessori community. She thanked Ruth Leano, the local UNICEF representative who was in attendance as a special guest.
Participants were then invited to share their personal reflections of this EsF Assembly. Lynne read out her last slide with words from cosmologist Brian Swimme, from The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos. The Assembly was then invited to join together in a circle for final song Stand By Me. Following drinks and then dinner, the participants began to say goodbye and give final hugs before departures.
