L’Ecole Des Enfants, Inc. a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of, and actively resolving, the tumultuous conditions facing young children in Côte d’Ivoire and surrounding West African nations. In Côte d’Ivoire, a country still reeling from the civil war 2002 - 2010 and the post electoral crisis in 2011, children face malnutrition and a lack of access to education. With 46% of the population in Côte d’Ivoire living below the poverty line, children are often the first to suffer despite having the most to lose. We seek to address these issues by building Rudolf Steiner / Waldorf schools in underserved areas. Our schools will provide a safe space for children to receive education according to the anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner and to explore who they came here to be, learn practical life skills and receive a hot meal per day. We want to develop responsible individuals that function well in the communities they operate.
In addition to the traditional elementary curriculum, students will have access to lessons that will assist them in becoming self-sustaining individuals, such as lessons in agricultural skills and the arts. By targeting young children, we will lay the foundation for a new generation to create a new reality for themselves and their families. We have begun our work in Côte d’Ivoire; Bouaké where we are constructing our first school. Bouaké is the second largest city in Côte d’Ivoire with a large discrepancy between the population of youth and available elementary school opportunities. Once we have established our school(s) in Côte d’Ivoire, L’Ecole Des Enfants may expand to neighboring West African countries where children face similar adversity.
