We work in 8 schools in two townships in Cape Town – Lavender Hill and Khayelitsha. Our approach to education is holistic, focused on health and wellness, lifeskills and the environment through different programmes integrated with the schools curriculum. We do this mainly through yoga and meditation, and organic gardening and environmental education.
Our Vision
Earthchild Project has a vision of a world where individuals are inspired to connect with themselves, each other and the environment.
Through increasing consciousness, we will co-create this sense of Ubuntu.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create meaningful and sustainable change by providing practical skills in how to live a holistic, balanced lifestyle with a focus on self-awareness, health and the environment.
Earthchild Project aims to nurture and develop a new generation of conscious, confident and responsible earth children.
Our Story
After traveling and working on an eco village in South America for one year, Janna Kretzmar arrived back in Cape Town at the beginning of 2006 with her heart set on one thing – to find a way to transform our schools. She began volunteering at Chapel Street Primary School in Woodstock, setting up an organic vegetable garden and running guided meditations with the children.
As the year progressed so the project began to take shape. Health and Wellness was added to the mix because it seemed futile to teach children to reconnect with nature and with spirit if they were not taking care of their bodies as well.
During the year Janna came into contact with many NGOs and volunteers who were doing amazing work in schools. However, she observed that once they left, the projects they had initiated were seldom maintained. Teachers just did not have the time or energy to sustain these extra initiatives.
It was these observations that inspired Janna to create the model which later developed into the Earthchild Project. The initial model was to place a full time facilitator in a school whose role it would be to introduce and maintain holistic education. These initiatives would be complimented by the involvement of partnering organizations who were already experts in their particular areas.
Janna was introduced to the directors of Earthchild Clothing and outlined her idea and vision for what was to become The Earthchild Project. The Earthchild team loved the idea, and offered to fund the first facilitators salary. A week later and they’d found the perfect school – Sakumlandela Primary in Khayelitsha. From there the project snowballed and within two months there three facilitators, three schools, three donors and six partnering NGOs. And so it was that the Earthchild Project was born.
Our Organisation Details
Earthchild Project is registered in terms of the South African Section 18A of the Income Tax Act and donations are therefore deductible from the donor’s income. Earthchild Project is audited annually by Mazars Moores Rowland, and audited financial statements can be made available on request.
We are a registered Non-Profit Organisation in South Africa: # 062-936 NPO