International Montessori Work Begins
Many people ask me how I got started in international Montessori work, so I am sharing an article published in a local newspaper this month. The subject of the newspaper edition was “Taking a leap.”
Global Leaps — Cuba to India to Nepal . . . and On
In 2002, I was looking forward to returning to Cuba with colleagues at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to study its education and mental health systems. Back in 1980, with support of the Soviet Union, everyone we met had a roof over their head and enough to eat, but not now. For political reasons, the 2002 trip was canceled, but I had saved the money and allotted the time, so, I thought, “Where should I go?” In the 1960s, the Dalai Lama had started Montessori schools in India for refugee children arriving from Tibet, and they always needed help, so I contacted them. I had traveled in 20+ countries, but details had always been taken care of. How was I going to manage to make it halfway around the world by myself — to India? I “took a leap.”
After 2½ days of travel, as I walked out the hotel in New Delhi that first morning, a large cow blocked the drive. I was back in India! My flight to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama’s home where one of the Montessori schools was located, was canceled, so I found a driver for the 13-hour road trip across the plains and into the Himalayas. Arriving late at night, I climbed the 100+ steps from the dark and narrow mountain road to the room where I would stay for a month — a metal grate on the window to protect my “stuff” from the monkeys, a water pipe sticking out of the wall over a bucket for washing. Exhausted, I fell asleep in the short bed. At 4 a.m., I was awakened by the sound of monks next door chanting prayers. I sat up in bed, meditated in the dark, and felt at home.
In the Montessori classes, I met children who had arrived from Tibet with frostbitten feet and hands, sores on their faces, sad about leaving their families in order to grow up “Tibetan” and receive an education. Along with Montessori work, I attended lectures on Tibetan Buddhism at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives by a teacher who had come to India with the Dalai Lama in 1959.
The Montessori teachers and I had a wonderful time together.
This solo one-month trip prompted a return the next year to see conditions for Tibetans in China for myself. With three friends from home, I traveled from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Lhasa, Tibet in a jeep over high mountain passes, across a river (where we got stuck)
. . . through a small village destroyed to make way for the planned Xining-Lhasa train
. . . and through a frightening dust storm. I celebrated my 60th birthday atop the Potala, or the Winter Palace, in Lhasa.
That 2002 trip taught me how to make my own travel plans. Along with other Montessori work, I have met the Dalai Lama twice, and been able to help in orphanages and boarding schools for poor village children in such places as Morocco, Thailand, Russia, Nepal, Peru, Colombia and, most recently, Romania and Moldova. I am so glad I took the leap.
HOW TO BE HELPFUL
Because I had seen much of the world by age 21, and because of my AMI Montessori teaching experience, my focus has remained on learning as much as I can about human behavior and needs, especially from the parents and teachers I am helping in many countries.
But when I am asked for advice by those who would like to take a similar path, I know that that this is just my own path, that every act of understanding, sympathy, compassion, help, is valid. Each individual has a unique set of skills and talents, and interests to focus on. Sometimes during such conversations (yes, the “big” questions, like “Why am I here? And What is my purpose?”) my mind returns to an interview I saw of Mother Teresa who was approached by someone who wanted to raise money to support her cause of helping the poor in India. Here words were something like this, “Go home and take care of your own family, your neighbors, your friends. [I would add “your students and teachers”] If everyone in the world would focus on doing that, we wouldn’t have the problems that exist now,”
2002-2003 Emails Home
During these two trips in 2002 and 2003 I constantly looked for an internet café so I could sent “emails home.” Some of these are still on the internet, If you are interested you can see them here:
CLICK: India 2002
CLICK: Tibet 2003
A Christmas Prayer for The Earth
Some years ago I wrote a poem, “A Christmas Prayer for the Earth.” My son wrote the music and recorded it, playing the instruments and I added the pictures, some of which came from Montessori work in the Himalayas. Since that time it has spread around the world and translated into other languages. I hope that it brings you a little peace during this season.
The Song with Lyrics and Picture Descriptions
If you would like to see the lyrics of this song, and information on the pictures on YouTube: CLICK: A Christmas Prayer for the Earth
Here are two pictures from the version translated into the Czech language:
This is the Czech version of the song to enjoy:
Thank you always for sharing my blog posts. This one was seen by thousands of people, in 96 countries, on six continents: CLICK: Cosmic Education
Blessings,
Susan
Home page, CLICK: Susan