Met leedwese moet ek meedeel dat Leendert van Oostrum, voorsitter van die Pestalozzi Trust, op 13 Oktober 2016 oorlede is, op 64-jarige ouderdom. Sedert middel Augustus was hy vir ‘n verskeidenheid komplikasies in en uit die hospitaal en is gister in die Eugene Marais hospitaal in Pretoria oorlede. Hy word oorleef deur sy vrou Karin en drie dogters, Cornelia, Uda en Katrina.
Dit is onmoontlik om te peil wat Leendert oor die laaste drie dekades beteken het vir duisende ouers wat tuisonderwys gee en gegee het, en hy gaan voorwaar ‘n groot leemte laat. Leendert is die stigter van die Pestalozzi Trust en hierdie organisasie se werk is ryklik geseën sodat dit ‘n veilige omgewing geskep het waarin tienduisende ouers met gemoedsrus kan tuisonderwys gee.
Ons is dankbaar dat hierdie nalatenskap van Leendert kan voortgaan om die vryheid van tuisonderwys te beskerm. Die Pestalozzi Trust se aktiwiteite gaan voort soos normaal, en die trustees sal in die komende weke vergader om nuwe ampsdraers aan te stel.
Intussen word u opgeroep om in julle gebede aan Karin en haar kinders en skoonkinders te dink dat hulle krag kan ontvang om die verlies te verwerk en weer te kan voortgaan met hulle take. U is ook welkom om ‘n boodskap te stuur na dievanoostrums@gmail.com of
dievanoostrums.navrae@gmail.com. Inligting in verband met ‘n gedenkdiens sal op ‘n latere stadium deurgegee word.
– Bouwe van der Eems (Trustee : Pestalozzi Trust)
Please give my condolences to Karin and the girls. I can only imagine the pain you are going through. Your family was the very first homeschooling family I ever met, back in 1995, when my friend Joan Truby and I were trying to decide whether we wanted to home educate our children. I went on to homeschool in Germany, against much opposition from the authorities there, and Leendert and Karin were my inspiration. Leendert and a colleague of his stayed with our family for a few days in Bremen while we were living there and we thoroughly enjoyed his company. Leendert, you were, and will always be, a special kind of angel to me.
Hi Rina
Thank you so much for your message, which I unfortunately received only now.
I have good memories of you starting out home schooling, and of you battling your way in Germany – from what Leendert told me.
How do you feel after all these years – are you glad you did it?
Kind regards
Karin
Hi Karin,
Yes, I’m very glad I did it. I would totally make the same choice again. My two youngest boys are now in school because their father insisted on it after our separation 4 and a half years ago and it wasn’t easy for them, but they’re coping. My daughter decided to go to school for grade 10 and 11 (there is no grade 12 in Quebec, where I live now) and she was very happy and so was I that she didn’t have to cope with negativity at school when she was younger. My eldest son unschooled all the way through, after attending a Montessori school for one year in Bavaria, did his high school diploma through an adult education centre and now he and his sister are both doing very well at college in their chosen fields, she in science and he in music. I loved the close relationship homeschooling gave me with them and the interesting stuff we did together.
Hi Rina
Thank you so much for your news. At least you had the chance to bond with your children for the most important years.
Cornelia, my eldest, is married and teaching violin at a boys’ school. My two youngest are still living with me, Uda finishing a ballet teachers diploma and studying for a Biblical councelling course, teaching ballet and violin. Katrina, the youngest, loves writing and has done the GED, and thinking about studying languages next year.
Please send me pictures, if possible. Leendert took some when he visited you. My e-mail is karin@pestalozzi.org.
Karin