La Fundación Rementería realizó una expedición de cooperación en Camerún, donde llevó a cabo 121 cirugías para devolver la visión a personas afectadas por cataratas otras afecciones oculares. Este proyecto reafirma su compromiso de garantizar el acceso a una atención visual de calidad para comunidades vulnerables en todo el mundo.
La Fundación Rementería, en su reciente expedición de cooperación internacional a Camerún, llevó a cabo 121 cirugías que devolvieron la vista a personas afectadas por ceguera, principalmente debido a cataratas y otras afecciones oculares. Guiados por su lema «hay que hacer más», el equipo se propuso mejorar la salud visual de un
mayor número de personas y viajó a Douala con ese enorme propósito. Al llegar cada día al hospital, encontraban a una multitud llena de
gratitud, ansiosa por recibir la ayuda tan necesaria. Durante su estancia, los miembros de la Fundación escucharon relatos de pacientes, muchos de los cuales enfrentaron grandes limitaciones en su vida cotidiana debido a la pérdida de visión. Las intervenciones devolvieron a estos pacientes no solo la vista, sino
también la libertad y la alegría de poder ver nuevamente. Un paciente expresó con emoción que «disfrutar de ver las caras de mis nietos no
tiene palabras», reflejando el impacto profundo de la labor realizada.
El compromiso de la Fundación Rementería es seguir trabajando para garantizar que todas las personas, sin importar su ubicación, tengan acceso a una atención visual de calidad. La expedición fue posible gracias al apoyo incondicional de la Clínica Rementería, sus voluntarios, socios y donantes, quienes hicieron posible esta misión
humanitaria que transformó tantas vidas en Camerún.
Esta experiencia en Camerún ha reforzado el compromiso de la Fundación Rementería de expandir su misión de atención visual a nivel global. Los miembros del equipo volvieron a casa profundamente conmovidos por las historias y desafíos de los pacientes, y convencidos de que el acceso a una atención visual de calidad es un derecho esencial para todos. Con cada cirugía, la Fundación no solo restaura la vista, sino que también devuelve esperanza, independencia y calidad de vida a personas que anteriormente enfrentaban la oscuridad y la dependencia.
La Fundación planea nuevas expediciones y programas para continuar su labor humanitaria, inspirada por los resultados de esta misión y con el objetivo de llegar a más personas en situación de vulnerabilidad. Su labor no se limita a las intervenciones quirúrgicas, sino que también incluye educación en salud visual y esfuerzos para mejorar las infraestructuras sanitarias locales, creando un impacto sostenible que persista más allá de cada misión.
El éxito de la expedición a Camerún fue el resultado de un trabajo colaborativo, que involucró el esfuerzo y dedicación de un equipo multidisciplinario de profesionales de la salud, así como la generosidad de los donantes y la implicación de los voluntarios. La Fundación Rementería, con una visión humanitaria y un compromiso sólido, sigue trabajando para cambiar vidas en cada lugar al que lleva sus programas, impulsada por la gratitud y el deseo de hacer una diferencia en el mundo.
La entrada La Fundación Rementería amplia horizontes de cooperación se publicó primero en Juan Ciudad.
SÁBADO 1/2: ANULADA SALIDA DE OBSERVACIÓN A PUJALT
Os informamos que debido a las condiciones meteorológicas, la salida de observación a Pujalt ha sido CANCELADA.
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Queremos comunicar que la Fundación ONCE, nos ha concedido una ayuda económica por un importe de 25.000 euros destinada a sufragar parte de los gastos derivados de la adquisición de un vehículo adaptado. La solicitud de ayuda, nº exp. P1474-2024, se ha realizado a través del Plan de Prioridades de Confederación ASPACE 2024.
In 2009, Laura Molnar returned to Romania full of enthusiasm after attending a training workshop in Geneva, Switzerland on a recently launched program called Learning to Live Together (LTLT). “This is exactly what I was looking for,” she thought and immediately began working to engage teachers in Bucharest to implement the program with their students.
At that time, Laura was working as a psychologist for children in vulnerable settings. Her work gave her insight into many cases of children in need of a resource that could help them nurture empathy, and respect, and develop better skills for resolving conflicts peacefully.
“A lot of children had deep traumas, significant emotional challenges, and struggled to control their anger. They came from disorganized families, faced discrimination, and lived in poverty. All of this created a sense that they were unequal to other children and didn’t deserve what others had.”
When Laura discovered Learning to Live Together, she felt like the manual had already existed in her mind, but she had never had the chance to put it into writing. “Fortunately, someone else did it for me,” she laughs. “LTLT was the structure I needed, and it was in line with the direction I was already heading,” Laura adds.
She returned to Romania brimming with energy and ready to spread her enthusiasm among teachers. However, rather than the receptivity she had hoped for, she encountered skepticism. However, Laura was convinced, and she began implementing the Learning to Live Together program with children.
In November 2009, Laura and a team of trainers organized the first Learning to Live Together workshop in Bucharest, introducing the manual to 26 teachers, social workers, theologians, and child protection authorities. That marked the beginning of years of encouraging teachers across Romania to use the program in their classrooms.
During visits to schools and interactions with educators, Laura and her colleagues discovered that, although teachers were indeed very busy—some even worked two jobs and had little time—they were also in need of resources to help them create more peaceful environments for their students.
Teachers were dealing with conflicts in their classrooms that they didn’t know how to address and felt unprepared to solve them effectively. “I am afraid when I see children furious and don’t know how to manage that… I notice I get involved, and I can’t stay neutral… I want to side with the victim,” Laura recalls some of the comments she received from teachers at the time.
One year later, in 2010, Laura was selected to participate in the International Train the Trainers course organized by Arigatou International Geneva, which led her to a certification as a Learning to Live Together trainer.
The program was still implemented on a very small scale. “People would argue that teachers wouldn’t have the resources, time, energy, or motivation to implement a program of this nature. This is when I realized that accrediting the LTLT course with the Ministry of Education was key to the success of my project,” recalls Laura. She was convinced that with the accreditation on the table, teachers who attend the course would gain credits that could help them advance their profession.”
She started the accreditation process by doing some research. She developed a questionnaire for teachers and applied it in different parts of the country. The results showed that ethics education was one of the main learning needs among teachers. With this information on hand, Laura elaborated the first curriculum of the training course, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Education.
“It took a couple of months to prepare the accreditation file and a few more to get an answer from the Ministry. Finally, the letter came. We got the accreditation and we were ready to start the courses,” she recalls. Soon enough, with the support of Lucreția Baluță, Coordinator of UNESCO Associated Schools in Romania, the manual was translated into Romanian, and dozens of teachers were trained. But the real challenge was just beginning.
“I realized that even if I convinced the teachers to stay in the course, most of them kept the learnings as a resource for their personal development, but didn’t apply it in their classrooms,” Laura says.
Andreea Vasile shares a similar experience. She is a psychologist who has been implementing the Learning to Live Together program for many years. As she recalls, teachers often felt it was difficult to generate ethical dialogues among students. Some even thought that by establishing a horizontal discussion, they would lose their authority in front of the children. Andreea, who has been supporting Laura in spreading the program across Romania since 2015, reflects on this perception.
Having teachers interested in attending the courses wasn’t enough. Laura and her team needed to do more if they truly wanted to see the program implemented systematically in formal education across Romania. That’s when they developed a very effective strategy, one they still use today.
“We created a mentoring program and a community of practice, where teachers could see and learn from the experiences and achievements of their colleagues,” says Andreea.
Once a month, teachers in the mentoring program have the opportunity to host a member of Laura’s team, who conducts a Learning to Live Together session with their students. Observing an experienced facilitator running the workshop helps teachers familiarize themselves with the program and methodology, building their confidence to lead the next sessions until the facilitator visits again the following month.
The system turned out to be a success. “We’ve had sessions with up to 70 teachers supported by the mentoring program,” says Laura, who still dedicates many hours a week to conducting these support sessions. She admits that it can be tiring, but it’s worth it: “This way, it’s easier for us to monitor the implementation and see the children’s progress.”
And seeing the children’s progress is certainly the most rewarding part of the work. Every now and then, Laura likes to check Facebook to see what’s going on with the lives of the children who participated in the program during its early years. Ten years later, those children are now young adults. “I am so proud to see them. Almost all of them have beautiful families now. I love the way they speak, how they treat their children, and how much they care about them… Some work abroad and have very nice jobs, and for sure…” Laura pauses here to laugh, “…even better salaries than us,” she chuckles.
Laura laughs because she knows that the driving force behind dedicated trainers like her and Andreea is not a salary, but the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on children’s lives. As Andreea says, “If I had to sum up my approach in one sentence, I’d quote Gandhi: ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world.'”
For children, this change has meant a more peaceful learning environment, a better ability to express themselves and resolve conflicts non-violently, and greater empathy and sensitivity toward others’ needs. As one teacher and LTLT facilitator puts it: “Students are more attentive, more reflective, and even more self-critical in a constructive way… they’ve become more open-hearted and open-minded,” says Eryka Lang, a teacher at Aletheea School, in a video recorded in 2018 in Bucharest.
Aletheea School, which opened in 2014, has integrated several elements of the Learning to Live Together program into its curriculum. Teachers and students are familiar with resources like the learning logs, and the program’s methodology is consistently incorporated into the school’s pedagogical approach. “They have a very horizontal way of teaching,” says Andreea.
Aletheea School’s commitment to Learning to Live Together is just one example of the program’s impact in Romania, thanks to Laura and her team’s dedication. “There are so many teachers involved now that no one questions whether they should trust me in this mentoring program,” says Laura. Andreea agrees: “I even tell Laura that we should multiply ourselves. We’re four trainers right now, but it feels like we’re ten,” she laughs.
In 2019, Arigatou International started the adaptation of the Learning to Live Together manual for children aged 6 to 11, expanding its reach beyond the original 12 to 18 age group. As part of this global effort, Laura supported the process in Romania, organizing and facilitating pilot sessions to test and refine the adaptation.
One of these pilots took place in Bucharest on April 17–18, 2019, in collaboration with the Education for Change Association, Kids Palace School, and GNRC – Romania. A diverse group of 29 children from Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim backgrounds, as well as Belgian, Chinese, Romanian, Roma, and Turkish heritage, explored values of respect, empathy, and coexistence. Reflecting on the experience, a 10-year-old participant shared, “I learned that when we have different opinions, we have to respect them and not judge others. And that we must help people in need.”
Gone are the days when Laura had to knock on doors, trying to convince teachers that the program would help them address conflict in their classrooms and create peaceful environments for their students. “Now we don’t need to promote LTLT. Teachers speak to each other, and we get calls from schools,” Laura says, adding that she and Andreea have recently created their own organization to focus more on their work with the Learning to Live Together program, along with other initiatives for children’s well-being.
Today, schools in six different regions of the country are engaged in varying levels of the program, fostering values of empathy, respect, responsibility, and reconciliation in their students. More than ten years of dedicated work have resulted in more than 2,000 teachers trained, with 250 teachers directly involved in the program and more than 10,000 children reached.
Thanks to the commitment of trainers and facilitators like Laura Molnar, Andreea Vasile, Eryka Lang, Papuc Ileana, Oprea Diana, Any Ureche, Luciana Sidor and many others, the program will continue to reach children in more schools across Romania.
The post Empowering Teachers, Inspiring Change: Ethics Education in Romania appeared first on Ethics Education for Children.
Tana River County in southeastern Kenya is an emblem of diversity and resilience. Endowed with natural resources, it has endless potential, but the harsh weather conditions test the strength of its people daily. The land swings between extremes—erratic rainfall with upstream floods one season, and relentless drought and water scarcity the next. These conditions often spark tensions among communities. Yet, amid these challenges, there is a remarkable effort to bring transformation through the power of education.
Over the years, violence has brought chaos to Tana River County affecting communities, families, and even schools. In August 2012, the region witnessed one of the worst violent conflicts in its history; as a result, 200 people, mostly women and children, were killed due to clashes between the two main ethnic groups, the Pokomo and the Orma.
The Pokomo are settled farming people while the Orma are mainly cattle-herding pastoralists. Both groups have a long history of tension over access to land and water in this ecologically rich area.
Against this challenging backdrop, a truly heartwarming moment unfolded in September 2015. The very children and teachers who, just a few years earlier, struggled to even speak to one another were now coming together—learning, dancing, and sharing stories in harmony. In a powerful celebration of unity, more than 200 children from the Pokomo, the Orma, and several other ethnic groups gathered to commemorate the International Day of Peace, proving that education and understanding can bridge even the deepest divides.
This celebration did not happen by chance—it was the result of several collective efforts, dialogue, and collaboration. It all began when Mary Kangethe first encountered Arigatou International and its transformative Learning to Live Together (LTLT) program. At the time, Mary was serving as Assistant Director of Education at Kenya’s Ministry of Education, and she immediately recognized the program’s potential to make a lasting impact. Determined to bring it to Kenya, she joined a Training Workshop in 2014, where she became a certified Facilitator.
The Learning to Live Together program was then introduced to the Ministry of Education of Kenya. Soon enough, the Ministry partnered with Arigatou International and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa to develop a program to address the need for mutual coexistence in the community through education. Together, they worked to adapt the principles of the Learning to Live Together program to the Kenyan context, integrating ethics and values-based education into the national curriculum.
“We were already implementing programs in Tana River (…) we had done a psychosocial intervention there,” remembers Mary. She candidly admits that when they got to know about Learning to Live Together, “we thought ‘Okay, this is just another program.’” However, in-depth exploration of the manual allowed them to identify “several gaps in our peace education programs, in terms of how we promoted values and concretely engaged teachers, and therefore we were open to pilot an intervention.”
But for the intervention to succeed, they had to start from the ground up—building capacity within the Ministry of Education to ensure teachers in Tana River County received the training, support, and follow-up needed to effectively implement the Learning to Live Together program in their schools.
In September 2014, 15 Ministry officers participated in an intensive four-day workshop, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to take on this challenge. With this foundation in place, they went on to train 25 teachers, guiding them in how to use the Learning to Live Together manual, its framework and approach, and develop essential facilitation skills. The teachers were strategically selected from the areas most affected by violence. Two teachers from each of these schools—one male and one female—were trained to lead the way.
The workshop saw a slow and cautious process of allowing teachers to open up and build bridges of trust. Julius Waweru Ng’ang’a, from the Ministry of Education, who at the time was District Quality Standards Officer of Tana Delta, recalls: “As the training progressed, the teachers started mingling and communicating.” Before long, the change in their attitude was noticeable, “even in the way of dressing, in the level of confidence, and the capacity to express themselves,” says Mary.
In the end, the teachers were trained as facilitators throughout three basic training workshops. “We felt excited to see them progressing, but also aware that they still required a lot of support,” says Mary.
To this point, they seemed to have everything: the manual, the confidence, the training, and yet something was still missing. “We realized that it was a big challenge for the teachers to come up with a lesson plan from the manual and deliver it”, admits Mary. That is when the Kenyan officers took a step forward: “We agreed that we were going to develop a teachers’ activity book that would customize the LTLT manual to the Kenyan context.”
With a solid pedagogical foundation in place, teachers implemented customized Learning to Live Together programs in their schools from February to July 2015. Their efforts extended beyond the classroom, as from June to August 2015, they facilitated child-led initiatives aimed at transforming mindsets within schools and the broader community. “Teachers planned and organized activities that encouraged children, teachers, and school communities to think differently,” explains Julius. “Many even took children into the villages to engage directly with community members, raising awareness and inspiring change.”
The impact of these initiatives was profound. “Children became deeply connected,” recalls Mary. “We saw their confidence, creativity, and enthusiasm grow. I remember one school that developed an intervention to prevent child marriage, and they even managed to rescue a girl who had already been married.”
By September 2015, the International Day of Peace event marked the successful completion of the pilot program in Tana River County, having reached 657 children. The program left a lasting impact, fostering positive outcomes such as improved conflict resolution skills, greater confidence in sharing and participating in lessons, and a renewed motivation to attend school.
However, the pilot program not only resonated in the communities and the county, but it also expanded at the national level through policy-making processes. “We escalated it to the curriculum reform, so those principles can be mainstreamed and implemented in schools (across the country)”, says Mary, pointing out that this is probably the most important outcome of the whole experience.
The journey that began in Tana River County grew into a nationwide movement, shaping the future of ethics education in Kenya. Arigatou International supported the curriculum review process, particularly the development of the values-based education curriculum, a consultative process that allowed the country to reflect and formulate how the education system can foster ethical values that promote peace and social cohesion.
The experience with the Learning to Live Together program, the training of teachers, the training of education personnel from the Ministry as well of Curriculum Developers was pivotal for this effort. “The nurturing of values will facilitate the achievement of the curriculum reforms’ vision, particularly with respect to molding ethical citizens. Curriculum is used as a channel through which ethics education can be enhanced for sustainable peace in the world” said Jane Nyaga, former Assistant Director of the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development.
In 2017, Mary’s passion and commitment to advancing ethics education earned her a place in the International Training of Trainers in France—an experience that solidified her role as a Learning to Live Together Trainer. That same year, she started working as Director of Education Programs at the Kenya National Commission for UNESCO (KNATCOM).
Following the success in Tana River, in 2023, the Ministry of Education of Kenya embarked on a new and ambitious initiative—the Ethics Education Fellowship. This groundbreaking program has successfully expanded across Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Mauritius, Nepal, and Seychelles, strengthening ethics education in formal school settings and fostering global citizenship.
The Fellowship is made possible through a partnership between the Ministries of Education of each country with Arigatou International, the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace, KAICIID International Dialogue Centre, the Muslim Council of Elders, the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity, the UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office, and the UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, in collaboration with the National Commissions for UNESCO of the participating countries.
In Kenya, the pilot was a collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the quality assurance office, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Kenyatta University and Thogoto Teacher Training College. The program also engaged high-level stakeholders, including Africa Nazarene University and KNATCOM, with Mary at the forefront of the education programs.
The five fellows from Kenya trained 32 schoolteachers and eight teacher trainers, who in turn empowered students with essential skills for peacebuilding and conflict resolution. The program ran from March to August 2023, reaching 1,620 learners.
The impact has been transformative: 72% of learners reported they could form friendships with people from different backgrounds, and 77% felt more confident in listening and understanding others’ perspectives. “At the beginning, I didn’t know how to interact with others because of my skin color, but the program helped me,” reflected a student.
Students launched child-led initiatives like Peace Gardens and Talking Walls to address issues such as bullying and climate change, demonstrating their commitment to creating a more inclusive and compassionate world.
“Through participatory and collaborative learning, students who were once hesitant to ask questions now feel comfortable seeking assistance from their peers. I’ve also learned the importance of creating a safe learning environment, resulting in my students eagerly anticipating my lessons,” shared one teacher.
As Kenya moves into Phase Two of the Fellowship program in 2025, the goal is to strengthen and expand its reach, ensuring that more children and educators benefit from the transformative power of ethics education and that more teachers get trained through in-service and pre-service training programs.
“Our fellows will continue working together as a cohesive team. We have discovered valuable synergies, having come from diverse areas within the education sector. These synergies are proving to be highly effective in driving the successful implementation of ethics education across the country,” remarked Mary, reflecting on the second phase of the program.
What began as a small pilot has evolved into a national effort—one that is shaping a generation of compassionate, empathetic, and responsible citizens. Mary has been instrumental in this transformative journey. The future of ethics education in Kenya is bright, and this is just the beginning.
Education provides a major opportunity to facilitate the development of competencies for the prevention of violence and for promoting peaceful coexistence. This includes critical thinking, negotiation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
The post From Classrooms to Communities: Scaling Ethics Education Nationwide in Kenya appeared first on Ethics Education for Children.
