Helen Stotko (28 March 1961 – 5 October 2025) and the Centre for Creative Education in Cape Town

With Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994, South Africa opened up its education system to the entire population. The failed apartheid regime could no longer exclude large sections of its population from acquiring a decent education. Helen Stotko was passionate about giving marginalised groups access to Waldorf education. She was not a teacher, but for twenty years she shaped Waldorf teacher training at the Centre for Creative Education in Cape Town, South Africa. Nana Göbel from the Friends of Waldorf Education looks back on Helen Stotko's extraordinary commitment:

Helen Stotko

Helen Stotko was particularly committed to helping young children in the townships of Cape Town and organised the legal and economic framework for many nurseries, known as Educare Centres. She enabled women to train as Waldorf teachers, who then looked after infants and young children in the townships as nursery school teachers. The mothers of these children worked during the day in the wealthier areas of the city to earn a living.

The doors to the Centre for Creative Education's teacher training programme opened thanks to Helen Stotko’s expertise. Once she became managing director, she worked hard to secure funding for this training, as the women from the townships could only, at best, afford to pay small contributions and sometimes could not even pay for their travel to the training centre. After they had completed their training, Helen Stotko helped these women, who placed great trust in her, with the legal steps to register their small nurseries. She supported them in financing child-friendly rooms and ensured that the teachers could feel noticed and cared for in a supportive network. Helen Stotko became the maternal helper for an educational initiative, which continued to expand, thanks to her commitment.

When the Zenzeleni Waldorf School was founded in Khayelitsha, one of the townships in the so-called Cape Flats, Helen Stotko ensured that it could operate under the legal authority of the Centre for Creative Education. She managed the co-financing project applied for by the Friends of the Art of Education with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which enabled the first school buildings of the Zenzeleni Waldorf School to be constructed. Whenever there were problems, she was there to demonstrate how to support an educational initiative without teaching herself. And she did so steadfastly and in an unorthodox fashion. Access to education for children in the townships was so important to her that she often had to juggle financial difficulties. Thanks to her personal integrity, she was able to overcome these phases without losing the trust of donors. She always held herself accountable for all she did.

On a personal front, she struggled gamely with the challenges life had dealt her. Illness repeatedly hindered her progress, but she persistently attempted to overcome these obstacles. Whenever such events occurred, everyone involved realised how much depended on her. The last illness, however, was so severe that, despite her great enthusiasm and strong will, she was unable to overcome it. Now we hope that she will continue to support the educational initiatives she promoted from another dimension.

Nana Göbel