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Tell me a story, or free schools are the key to a free society
According to the Association of Waldorf Free Schools, as of May 2020, there are 1214 Waldorf schools in the world. Most of them are in Germany (252), followed by the United States (123) and the Netherlands (115). In 2014, Waldorf pedagogy gained the status of an official educational programme in Ukraine, and in August 2015, at the initiative of Ukrainian artist and Waldorf teacher Yulia Marushko, a Waldorf programme was launched in her native Lutsk. In 2020, the first Waldorf class was opened here. We talked to Yulia about how she made her life's dream come true.
Ukraine needs more free schools. After all, free schools are the key to a free society.
Yulia was born in the Soviet Union when Brezhnev died, went to school under Gorbachev, and graduated in independent Ukraine. „I am the daughter of a trucker and I remember the shortages of the 90s with empty fridges. My dad used to feed my and my brother's imagination with fairy tales, saying that he met a bunny on the road and gave him all the food. The voice of my dad reading Ukrainian folk tales and fairy tales from around the world still echoes in my head.“ - Marushko shares her memories.
Since childhood, Yulia wanted to be a teacher, then a journalist. And so it was that she turned from a radio presenter and author of the Mishka-Marushka in Lutsk, she became a Waldorf teacher. It was with the dream of founding a Waldorf school in her native Lutsk that Yulia flew to Germany to study back in 2012. At the same time, she began writing a column for the local newspaper Slovo Volyni, in which she talked about alternative education and its role for children and the country in weekly articles and interviews. „I have a dream - Yulia wrote. Waldorf school in native Lutsk“. Later, every grandmother in the village asked: „When will there be a school like this here?“
But the revolution and the war made adjustments to the artist's plans. Yulia recorded the turning points of modern Ukraine - from the Revolution of Dignity to the occupation of Crimea and the war with Russia - in Marushka's art diaries: Soldiers of Time, Woman and War, Anastasis. Although in reality, she only wanted to paint children. On 15 March 2015, Volodymyr Kochetkov-Sukach, the head of the Aerial Reconnaissance volunteer project with the call sign „Chewbacca“ and the ideological founder of Waldorf pedagogy in Kyiv, was killed in the war. The death of Volodymyr Kochetkov, who was the father of Yulia's student, prompted Marushko to take action, namely to develop Waldorf education in Volyn. „I contacted Elena Killge, a Waldorf teacher I knew from German-Ukrainian school exchanges, and journalist Iryna Kunynets, who took over the organisation of the seminar from the Ukrainian side.“
Lecturer Olena Killge recalls: „I remember this moment very well. After Volodya's death, I had a deep emotional impulse to ‘fight«, but on the front where I could move something. When I asked myself what to do, what I could do to counteract this terrible destructive force, what I could do, I realised that I could found schools!»
And in August 2015, the first Waldorf seminar „The Role of School in Society" was held in Lutsk.
and Pedagogy as Art“. This was the first anthroposophical work in Lutsk, which showed that the current difficult time for Ukraine is exactly the moment when it is important to act out of high ideals, with thoughts of all humanity, and that the time for an alternative pedagogy has come (author's note: anthroposophy - from the Greek - human wisdom - is a doctrine founded by Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century for understanding human nature, spirit and development). Anthroposophy is the basis of Waldorf pedagogy).
From this powerful impulse emerged the Lutsk Waldorf Initiative, which in 2016 became a member of the Association of Waldorf Ukrainian Initiatives. „All of this is done without government support, on the enthusiasm of my friends, Waldorf teachers from Germany and Switzerland, who come every holiday, Over the next few years, we flew to Lutsk with seminars, stirring up the enthusiasm of parents and finding support from people who cared.“ - Yulia says.
Today, Waldorf pedagogy is confidently taking root in Lutsk, which already has a Waldorf kindergarten called „Miracle Garden“ and a family club called „Zernyatko“, and in 2020, the first Waldorf classroom was opened. It is staffed by a team of teachers with Ukrainian and international experience who implement Waldorf pedagogy as an art of life. The circle of those interested is expanding, and more and more parents are opting for this particular educational programme.
„My dream is a reality. It is really alive! Time flies like a video on TikTok. Many children spend their childhood not in the village with their grandmother, but in electronic gadgets. I'm askingThe child's request „Tell me a fairy tale“ has been replaced by the requirement „Give me a like“. Instead, the children of the „second first“ Waldorf class listen to folk tales collected by Olena Pchilka in the forests of Volyn, heard in German villages by the Brothers Grimm, and my own fairy tales by Myshka-Marushka.
Ukraine needs more free schools. After all, free schools are the key to a free society. And as for me, after nine years of living in Germany, I have found my voice again, and now I write, illustrate and tell fairy tales in German. And finally, I draw children. I believe that everyone needs fairy tales. Especially in the darkest times. This spring will be very difficult. This is the eighth spring since the beginning of the war, and the most important thing is not to lose faith in miracles. After all, no one deserves to have a childhood during the war.“
UPD:
On 5 March 2022, students from the Lutsk Waldorf School and Kindergarten arrived in Hamburg. Yulia Marushko, in cooperation with the NGO aubiko e.V. and the Waldorf school Christophorus, met 45 newly arrived Ukrainians and settled them in guest families. But people keep coming.
„After the spring holidays, the children went back to school. The most important thing for me is not to miss a single school day. Now we are in the fabulous Waldorf school I dreamed of,“ says Yulia. Currently, all the teachers and educators temporarily staying in Hamburg have only one wish: „When the skies over Ukraine are peaceful again, we will continue our education with the full complement of students in our native Lutsk.“.
Yulia Marushko expresses her gratitude to the Waldorf schools Christophorus-Schule Bergstedt and Rudolf-Steiner-Schule Hamburg, which provided shelter and assistance to everyone who needed it during the holidays.
Background: Yulia Marushko is a journalist, artist, translator, Waldorf teacher, storyteller, founder of the ArtMaidan art organisation in Hamburg, initiator of the Waldorf movement in Volyn, and since summer 2020 a member of Märchenforum Hamburg e.V.
Instagram @art.marushka
Written by Marushko Yuliia
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