Suhana for UMC (Ukrainian Montessori Center)

My name is Suhana Arora. I am 9 years old and I go to the Albrook School in New Jersey. I’ve been a Montessori kid for most of my school life and I think teachers are superheroes, just with extra patience. Some of them in Ukraine need help.

The recent events in Ukraine and what it has done to the lives of Ukrainian children have deeply impacted me. Through my teachers, parents, and news, I have come to realize that one of the most damaging effects of war is how it disrupts and destroys children’s education.

I am raising money to help the Ukrainian Montessori Center (UMC) - a Montessori teacher training center in Ukraine that is providing financial support to the children and teachers who have remained in Ukraine, and are going to Montessori schools that are struggling to stay open while the war is going on around them. Some of the schools that are still open have been damaged, but they are rebuilding and need financial resources.

Many instructors are scattered over Europe, but many have remained. They have developed an online presence to help those children, teachers and schools in need.

Since 2008, UMC has been the leading Montessori teacher-training center in Ukraine but needs funds now to keep the programs running and meet its financial obligations since people's ability to pay in Ukraine is non-existent due to the war.

The money we raise will be used for the following:

1. UMC instructors will work with UMC adult learners to complete the two-year diploma course, which was started in 2019.

2. UMC will give training on basic knowledge of the Method to all those working now as volunteers in Montessori schools where it is still possible for children to come to school. (Trained teachers from those schools temporarily left them for other parts of Ukraine or went to other countries).

3. UMC will help replenish the classrooms with materials in those schools that were damaged due to the bombings.

I’m working with Ms. Ginny Cusack and Ms. Tetiana Mykhalchuk for this fundraiser, with support from Ms. MacNeill, my school Principal. They’ve helped me gather more information about UMC.

Ms. Cusack is a Montessori educator, former head of Lakeside Montessori Center, and former director of Princeton Center for Teacher Education (PCTE) in Princeton, NJ. She has been volunteering with a team of educators from Princeton and Kyiv to establish Montessori education throughout Ukraine for the past 27 years and personally knows all UMC people.

Ms. Mykhalchuk is the Vice-President of the Ukrainian Montessori Association, one of the most active members of the Ukrainian-American Educational Project on the rebirth and development of Montessori Pedagogy in Ukraine.

Read about Ms. Cusack and Ms. Mykhalchul’s work with the team that set up Montessori schools and training centers in Ukraine, a dream that started in the 1990s:

Arrested Development: A Vision Shatters in War-torn Ukraine - By Julia Tatsch https://www.wellan.org/single-post/arrested-development-a-vision-shatters-in-war-torn-ukraine

Ms. Mykhalchuk shared pictures of children working in the classrooms before the war (cover photo). I felt happy and sad at the same time when I saw these pictures. Happy because it felt so nice to see these children working. Sad because all of this was destroyed.

How can you help?

You can do one or more of the these things:

1. Donate via this GoFundMe page.

2. Buy handmade Rainbow Loom bracelets and earrings, pencil danglers and pom-pom earrings made by yours truly. Proceeds from the sales will go to this cause.

a. Pay on this GoFundMe page

b. Venmo my mom @Shilpa-Mahar

PS: I'm working on setting up online payment options for my website (they’re not free). So let’s follow the above steps for now.

3. Spread the word. Click the 'Share' button to share this fundraiser on your social networks.

Stay tuned for local events that I'm planning for this cause.

Support and help educate the next generation of brave Ukrainians.

Have a nice day!

Suhana Arora