Earthchild Project

The Earthchild Project is a Non-Profit Organisation operating in the Western Cape, South Africa. We offer complimentary education to under-resourced schools with a focus on the environment, health and self-development and leadership.

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 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.

• Integrity
• Quality relationships
• Learning & growing
• Meaningful & sustainable change
• Being conscious & aware

After living and working on an eco village in South America, 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 in Woodstock, setting up an organic vegetable garden and teaching yoga and meditation.

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.

Janna was introduced to the directors of Earthchild Clothing and outlined her idea and vision. They loved it, and offered to fund the first facilitator’s salary. A week later Janna was introduced to Nokuphiwo Jada who was already active with the youth in her community in Khayelitsha. Together they found the perfect school – Sakumlandela Primary. From there the project snowballed and within two months there were three facilitators, three schools, three donors and six partnering NGOs. And so it was that the Earthchild Project was born.