Origin—One Mother’s Story
Prajna N. Ginty
Flowing River Resources is the unfolding of a river that began as one mother's yearning to help her children heal from a traumatic birth.
Ideally, birth begins as a gentle transition from nine months in the warm protective womb of our mothers to the nourishment of full breasts and loving arms. Unfortunately, for many children this is not the case, and traumatic events take place that separate them from the security of their mothers. My first child was born full term, easily at home. She slipped into our arms in full consciousness without complications. I remember being deeply mystified by her wide-eyed beauty. Two years later my healthy pregnancy with twins turned into a medical emergency where they were born three months premature in the operating room at Stanford Hospital. They were smaller than my hands.
My healthy first child taught me about the great possibility for wholeness and well-being. In the midst of a semi-coma and surgical proceedings for my twins, these possibilities were not forgotten.
When local resources were lacking to promote the wholeness and well- being of these girls, we joined together with other parents in 1998 to begin an integrated Waldorf Kindergarten in Santa Cruz, CA—and so the river started to grow. With grants from five generous foundations, The Village School and Family Support Center served a full school of children for five years, 30% of our population with special needs. The Village School continues in Santa Cruz.
When zoning restrictions prevented us from extending our programs into the higher grades, the growing river led us to Beaver Run Special School in Pennsylvania. We moved across the country for three years to learn from a leader in providing Waldorf education and curative care to special children with special challenges. With support from the Village School's board of directors I was able to study the practical applications of neurological development from the experts at the Family Hope Center in Blue Bell, PA. I returned to California with a great appreciation for the different, yet valuable philosophies of Beaver Run and The Family Hope Center—embrace of the whole child—and with many new resources. The river had continued to grow.
Back in northern California, we hoped to participate in The Somerset School in Colfax, but the school closed when its directors retired. Although we were faced with a lack of local resources for children with neurological developmental delays, the river was still growing.
A local parent told us about a four-week intensive Conductive Education (CE) program for children with motoring challenges, but we needed to go back east as far as Michigan or Canada. We took one child at a time to see what could happen. While both children benefited enormously, we needed a local program to support children in continuing to make functional and educational gains.
The Flowing River School was born specifically in response to this lack of meaningful local resources, but it has emerged from the river that began with my twins' untimely birth and has grown in strength, as we remain in this current.
“My healthy first child taught me about the great possibility for wholeness and well-being.”
Libby had four hours of CPR, and required oxygen for many months.
Abby and Libby were 2 weeks old before I could hold them.
“The Village School and Family Support Center served a full school of children for five years”