Education

Pygmee O.R.A. Primairy schools
The Foundation Pygmeeën Kleinood copied the O.R.A. education method used in Cameroon to use it in Pygmy schools in the South of North-Kivu (the Virunga Gorilla Park area). Dutch father Ton Huismans is the initiator of the O.R.A. method.

The method is based on 3 cornerstones:
Observation, Reflection and Action.
This method is very suitable for Pygmy education and zeros in on the Pygmies’ habitat and lifestyle.

Pygmy children have practical minds; they are accustomed to their natural environment. The O.R.A. method uses images from their surroundings as didactic material to teach the children how to read and write and do sums. They are taught in two or three languages: their own local language, the East-Congo language Kiswahili and the French language.

Last year Kleinood trained 16 teachers to adapt this education method in order to implement this method in Pygmy education: all this in close cooperation with and with the approval of the official education authorities in DRCongo.

The photo shows the teachers on training week. Today, there are teachers working at 12 schools in and around the Virunga Gorilla Park, teaching 300 Pygmy children. Our goal in 2007 is to double that number and provide education for 600 children!