Lynne Lawrence opened the morning session with a quote from Mario Montessori. Jennifer Moore from South Africa explained that it was National Women’s Day in her country and invited us to reflect on the important role of women. Charo Alarcon, the School Director at Lumin Wesley Rankin Community School gave the first presentation of the day: Montessori Principles for Communities in Poverty. She shared the story of the work being done at Lumin Bachman Lake Community School. The school’s work begins with parents during pregnancy and provides parent education for families with infants and toddlers. Charo explained the challenges and successes of her work in the bilingual community and how it has evolved over time. She offered the key points: start young, and involve parents.
After morning tea, the participants broke into their workshop groups for further work on developing EsF grounding principles. This continued after lunch until the Open Space session, which offered two presentations. The first presentation was given by EsF participant, John Hemanth Kumar Gaddam, who works as an applied psychologist, with children at risk. John shared his experiences and reminded participants of the importance of Knowing Thyself. The second presentation was given by Michael Monteiro who took our EsF group photo. Michael spoke of his experiences working with Divya Disha, an NGO established in 1987, that seeks to be an agent of change, empowering individuals and organisations in their journey toward holistic development. Michael’s stories from the streets involving HIV/Aids, Drugs, Crime, Slums, child labour, child abuse and many other issues struck a chord with participants.
Following the Open Space presentations, participants were able to attend one of three Workshops on Adolescence, Technology or Aged Care.
