Issue #2: Back to School! (Part 1 of 2)
Casa Sula Closes, "new Sula" Opens, Journey continues to grow
This week we bring you two different articles as we start to introduce new voices and different types of content. The vision is that this newsletter is guided by it’s readers, to that end, after each article there is a quick anonymous poll related to that specific article, please vote so that we can adjust the content based on your input going forward.
Casa Sula by Anton
The End
December 15, 2023. A tall man of great statue, with a teddy-bear like physique is standing in a row of teachers in front of about 70 people, mostly families and their children. The silence is deafening, especially if you consider there are about 30 children, all keeping silent. He’s holding a microphone and he’s crying. These are not tears of joy, but of sorrow. Today is the last day of Casa Sula. Capital “L” last day, the school is closing down permanently.
The Beginning
October, 2009. Florian Kuster and Lucia González Kuster are traveling through Ecuador in search for alternative education, they’ve been visiting many projects by now. They meet Group Orion along with Leon Dormido, Mauricio and Rebeca Wild and for the first time in their search, they have an “aha!” moment. This is it, they have found what they were searching for and the answers they get actually make sense. They also met a large group of ex students of Pestalozzi, the previous project they had. They were adults by then and were all entrepreneurs and very passionate about every project. This further solidifies for Lucia and Florian that this approach is the one they would want for their future children.
June, 2014. La EcoVilla(LEV) is alive. Early days, not all houses are built, not all lots sold, but a community is emerging and school is needed. LEV Parents form a school inside LEV, run by parents, it is a mix of Montessori and Waldorf. After a while it becomes clear that school needs to grow to the next level and requires someone who has experience building schools.
January, 2015. A search begins for the right people to help structure an alternative school. By October Florian and Lucia invite Group Orion to LEV to give a workshop. Margarita Valencia, Esperanza Chacon and Edgar Espinoza travel from Ecuador to Costa Rica. Margarita’s son, Samuel Aguirre who is also part of Group Orion and was already living in Costa Rica. They meet all the families and after a number of conversations led by Sol Gonzalez and Marcelo Valansi and LEV families it is decided to bring Margarita, Esperanza and Edgar here to start a new school.
February 16, 2016. Casa Sula opens its doors and welcomes it’s first group of 18 children.
Sulà for the BriBri people is “The guardian spirit of the Seed” and by reference the “Seedbeds”(Semilleros) emerged to identify the children's spaces. The symbolism of the names activated the methodological proposal: Caring for Human Seeds in environments conducive to the development of human potential.
Casa Sula Philosophy
Non-directive Education is based on the creation of prepared and relaxed environments, where learning occurs spontaneously and autonomously. The spontaneous activity of the first years of life is followed by autonomous activity. As part of the integrated work, emphasis is placed on individually accompanying families, strengthening emotional ties with their children.
The basic premise here is you place children in an environment where they feel safe and supported, make sure the environment is stimulating enough and has plenty of opportunities to learn and explore and then you let the children "free”. There are plenty of rules around what you can and cannot do that create boundaries within which children are free to explore. There are no classrooms or classes, no teachers or class schedule, just prepared environments, companions and a light structure of the day.
Lucia explains it best:
When I started working at Casa Sula, I began to learn different ways of relating to children. Presence, respect, active listening, emotional availability, clear, simple (without long explanations) and firm limits, observing without interfering, and getting in touch with my own personality were the topics I learned from Orion, especially from Margarita, who was the person who accompanied me during my training.
The way to resolve conflicts was to listen to both parties, reflect the situation that was happening without judging, without taking part. And give the children time to calm down and resolve between the three parties. I learned that if a boy or girl feels accepted, loved, listened to and respected. He is ready to learn.
Free play is the natural way we learn, which really matters. In Sula's philosophy, free play was defended like in no other institution that I know. It was for this reason that it became a revolutionary institution and families came from different parts of the world looking for it. At no time were they left alone to play.
The presence of the adult is essential while they play because only then do they feel safe and free. The adult's interventions were made at the request of the children, in situations in which they broke some rules or in cases of emergency. As a companion, I learned a lot simply by watching the games. I was able to marvel at seeing the reaction of a child achieving a pirouette, managing to balance on the swing without help, or learning about weight and measurements in games with water and sand.
I verified that learning is spontaneous and innate in human beings. And that you only need a relaxed environment (to create a relaxed environment we need clear rules and a responsible adult in charge) and rich in games and physical materials to learn what we need. I was able to see children learn to read and write because the environment was full of these symbols and because they had the need to communicate through this medium.
I also saw children learn about distances and speed because the world is fun and can be explored with bicycles, unicycles, canopies, balls, water and many other materials.
It is an educational system in which you learn that feeling yourself is the most important thing and relating to other children and adults is simple.
Our family experienced this philosophy first-hand when we came to Casa Sula on April, 2021 and sent our two girls(6 & 8 at the time) there. Like many families before us, the experience started with a good level of confusion - “so they’re just playing?” followed by frustration: “why won’t these other kids let my daughter play with them?”, “what’s with all these rules?”, “when will they start reading and writing?”. But after speaking with Margarita and spending time inside the school and observing the process first-hand we were sold. Not only did we see how our girls opened up and started blossoming, we understood the philosophy and quickly recognized how flawed and broken the traditional educational model was. If we allow children to just “be” in an environment with rules that are consistent and clear where they feel safe, they will find their infinite creativity within those safe bounds. Play is something we’re all yearning to do, even as adults, but all too often the system we’re in doesn’t reward play and so we become “adults” with “responsibilities” and we are quick to do the same to our children.
We grew to appreciate every little aspect of Casa Sula and how much intention and thought was put into it, from the way lunch was conducted to the way prepared environments were set-up to how companions related to children. Every detail was deeply rooted in the philosophy of the school.
The Challenges
As the kids grew, especially past age 10, it seemed that the school was not enough for them, in particular many families felt that kids are not learning the crucial academic skills they will need later in life. It was evident that 10 and 11 year-old were well behind their peer groups in traditional schools in terms of literacy and numeracy. While Casa Sula’s response was to “give it time” and that “kids well learn these skills when they need them”, many parents simply did not have enough trust in the process or patience to stick with it and older kids would gradually leave Sula. There are certainly examples of kids sticking around Casa Sula and going through the process all the way, but those examples were few. Back to Lucia:
Many families feel good about having their children attend a conventional school and often expect an alternative school to be a conventional school with a few extras. And this is where each person has their own ideas of what would be extra about a school.
Casa Sula, as its name indicates, was not intended to be a school. But a house. A home where children and adults could learn about deeper relationships. But we are not all willing to learn and unlearn. It's a difficult path. It's a daily challenge.
This challenge led to creation of a different school in Machuca Valley: Journey, which opened its doors in September 2022 and many children, in particular older ones left Casa Sula for Journey. We’ll cover the Journey School in a lot more details in Part 2.
There were other challenges, administrative aspects of the school in particular were poorly handled. Older kids that would join Casa Sula, but were coming from a more directed system had difficulty integrating.
In the end, on August, 2023, Group Orion(Margarita, Esperanza and Edgar) and LEV Partners(Marcelo) have decided to part ways with Marcelo taking over the school and Margarita, Esperanza and Edgar leaving. The official story is “internal conflict”, but as to what really happened, we’ll leave that for Tabloid magazines, as always you’ll get a different story depending on which side you ask and the capital “T” Truth is hard to pin. There is certainly some irony in the fact that the School that prides itself on conflict resolution philosophy in the end could not overcome its own internal conflict.
Back to The End
December 15, 2023. The man is still crying but he’s not alone. We all are crying. Whatever challenges the school may had, it was a truly special place, unlike any educational institution in current times. Perhaps it was ahead of its time, perhaps whatever new school emerges(and a new school is emerging, see part 2!) will be better or different in a good way. Perhaps Group Orion will go on to start another school and this philosophy will find a different “seedbed”, one that is more conducive to its flourishing. Regardless, what emerged here over the past 7 years was a school that was reflective of the environment, the community of families that formed around the school, some from LEV, but many outside of LEV and of course the heart of the school that made it all possible, senior-most companions: Margarita, Esperanza and Edgar. As well as many other companions: Wendy, Christina, Alex, Jimena, Miguel, Katherine, Pedro, Akemi, Lisa, the maintenance team, the steering committee(Sol, Monica, Andrea, Lucia, Jimena and Marcelo), the communication team(Samuel & Elena) and many others, I apologize if I missed you!
Special thanks to Lucia, Margarita, Marcelo & Melanie for helping with content that went into this article. In addition, below you will find Margarita’s own account of Casa Sula’s history in English and Spanish attachments:
Part 2 of this article will be published in the coming days. There we will cover the “new School”(name pending) that is opening in place of Casa Sula as well as Journey, another school in the area that has been steadily growing.
Taking off the mask (and I am inviting you to take yours off too!) by Lucille
Bueno Vibras Beautiful Machuca 🌈
I have been pondering on what topic (of the many topics I would like to write about!) which would serve the community in its highest good for all! I have many topics I would like to write about such as health, medicine, astrology, organic farming, mysticism and a whole bunch of other topical series and interviews I am excited to explore! But whilst pondering on what subject would be best for my first ‘official community newspaper article’, all my personal fears of speaking up in public have been popping up to say hello 👋🏻 and dare I say it, those fears were causing ‘writers block’! So I decided to leave it alone and simply let my subconscious guide me and first thing upon waking this morning, it told me, write about all those fears!! Be vulnerable and tell the truth as to how you are really feeling whilst facing this upcoming challenge to fulfil a lifetime desire of speaking my truth!! That soft silent voice told me that if I do this, it will not only help me feel unblocked in writing all my future publications but will also help those in the Machuca community who may be feeling the same or similar trepidations in contributing to the newspaper! So in true Brene Brown style I will dive in the deep end! Let me introduce all my vulnerabilities, whilst I take this leap of faith (which the I-ching keeps advising me to do!)!
My name is Lucille aka “Miss Information!” (my new pen name!) and I am originally from the UK (London and Scotland to be more precise!) and I have had a lifetime of a deep desire to serve humanity. I started out studying Biotechnology in Medicine as I had always dreamed of going to the Amazon rainforest to research new medicinal plants as I have always believed the divine placed a cure for every ailment (according to the law of polarity). After completing my degree, I have been studying all forms of alternative medicines ever since along with a deep passion for health, plants, astrology and all things esoteric (These are some of my main callings). Through astrology, numerology and the simple self-wisdom that comes with time I have learnt that one of my main purposes in Life is self-expression via the written and spoken word. All this knowledge I have accumulated over the past 25 years of studying needs to be shared (otherwise what was the point!)!
I am ‘double mercury’ (With both my sun sign and moon sign being ruled by mercury, the sign of the messenger and all things communication related). So speaking my truth should come easy right?! BUT (and yes this is the big BUT!) I also have my Chiron (the asteroid Chiron represents our ‘deepest wound’ in a birth chart) up there in the 10th house (the 10th house represents vocation and what is in the public eye)… so what does this mean? It means I am absolutely terrified of speaking up in the public eye!! So it seems my soul decided to give me an apparent contradiction… a deep desire to share my truth and to serve humanity with this truth whilst at the same time being terrified to do so!
An added bummer in all this is the knowledge that when I do speak, I am aware I can come across very strongly and this I feel triggers and upsets people which makes me even more scared of speaking up! I am an extremely passionate individual and am aware that this can sometimes come across as dogmatic or domineering, when expressed in writing. One renowned astrologer explains that this is my destiny, to speak about things which are going to rock the boat and potentially upset people and that I simply have to get used to it! Great! So my naturally people pleasing nature and wanting to be loved, Leo ascendant wants to hide away when realising this!! A true catch 22 if I ever saw one… The more I speak up, the less I will be liked but if I don’t speak up, then it’s a Life not Lived to my highest soul intentions! I am not one to shy away from challenges and so despite my fear of upsetting the community I so love that I chose to buy and live here, I am sitting and writing, facing all those fears and hoping that what I do have to say will be of service to someone. Even if it’s at the cost of being accepted for those words that I feel called to say! I reason with myself that if the divine chose this for me, then who am I to disagree! I have to have faith that the divine will not make me friend-less if I live my purpose!
I hope with time, I will learn how to bring temperance to my passions so that they are more sweetly expressed and easily understood! I may make mistakes, I may even try to run away but know that I will do my utmost to serve the community via this newspaper. Please forgive me if I somehow disturb you! Know that, I am breaking through a path of fear which was inbuilt and confirmed over 40 years and that by doing this I am breaking through these barriers, but I may very well stumble on this path. Who knows maybe this will be the very best thing I could have done! There is gold underneath all that fear and I hope I unearth that gold with your witness and support. And even without any ‘emoji support’, I will have to do it anyway!
Over time, I have learnt from peoples responses that how I sometimes speak/write is too much for many people, that my thoughts can rock the boat so to speak and no one wants the boat to be rocked! I learnt to shut down my ‘too big’ voice as that seemed to be the only way to avoid upsetting people. And if my years and years of self-analysis hadn’t come to the conclusion that my main life purpose is to actually speak those powerful words then I can guarantee you I would not be doing this! It is much more easy to stay quiet (and thereby be accepted/liked/loved!) and play amongst my sweet farm animals and research the abundant magical healing plants on my farm! But Life has its ways of ensuring we stay on our path and i feel this community newspaper is one of those big universe nudges to get me to jump off that cliff of fear, into the unknown, hoping the universe knows what it’s doing!!
I hope by opening up my own vulnerabilities today in such a public way will help inspire those who also have similar fears, to take that leap as well. Your voice is unique and priceless as no one else has your perspective! You were born to be YOU so according to the advice I am giving myself, don’t be afraid to be YOU. Speak up my fellow Machucians… I can’t wait to read what you have to say… we are each a thread in this divinely woven tapestry and not one thread should go unheard!
So, todays article is to explain all this and to say I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to rise to my challenges and overcome my fears (which will probably keep popping up every time I write or publish something in our community newsletter!) and to finally answer that deep calling within to speak up! I am pledging to myself to surrender and let go of all the terrifying consequences my mind keeps reminding me of and I will simply try to do my utmost best in writing about topics which will not only be of interest but I hope will serve you in some way.
This is my truth for today. I sincerely hope you will accept me even if what I have to say triggers you in some way! Please know that this is not my intention (although according to astrology it is my souls intention!) and that I will try to write as diplomatically as possible whilst not subjugating my truth or what I have to say by societal politeness. My intention is to pass on information which will inspire, uplift and inform whilst also perhaps rattling some cages to help sew some seeds of new thoughts and awareness by my words. Please be gentle with me, behind my sometimes too strong words is a nervous, passionate and loving soul who wants to serve in the best way she can.
I am here to serve you in my way
I hope what I have to say, may help you on this day 🙏🏻
Signing off With Love,
Miss Information!
P.s Launching the newspaper during mercury retrograde (whist knowing that I am more affected than most as both my sun and moon are ruled by Mercury) makes me even more worried about submitting this article as we all know what Mercury retrograde can do to communication 😆
Wishing everyone a transformational New Year 2024 filled with happiness, health and Love 🙏🏻🥳🌈💞✨
I'm loving it! Could I suggest a Table of Contents at the beginning so folks can see what the Newsletter contains in brief and skip down to a particular article if they're interested in it? I almost missed that there was a 2nd article in the Newsletter.
Lucille thank you for your article taking off the mask. It was as though I was reading my own words and thoughts. Deep bow for lengthening in the deep stretch of being in your soul's call and divine purpose. Big up truly and gratitude. Look forward to reading, witnessing and growing alongside you.