Interview with Annette Saar

Nyendo has been connecting continents since we started the first Nyendo student company at the Ismaning Waldorf School in 2004. These trips continue to this day. What began as a vision has grown into a vibrant network of student companies, partnerships, and personal encounters.

A woman who has been involved with Nyendo since 2012—as an observer, mother, and coach—looks back on this journey. We had a long conversation with her to find out how she felt about working with Nyendo. Below is a summary of our detailed conversation.

Annette has been closely associated with Nyendo since its inception—first as the mother of a student, later as an active companion, and finally as a coach in Prien. From the very beginning, she has been enthusiastic about Nyendo’s vision: close contact with school principals in the slums of Nairobi and the opportunity for young people here to experience self-efficacy through genuine encounters. Over the years, she has seen how viable this idea is – both for schools in Kenya and for students in Germany. She considers the trips to Nairobi in particular to be a profound life experience that helps young people mature and permanently changes their view of the world.

Nyendo also had a profound personal impact on her family. Her son Johannes was a natural and active part of the student company. As a mother, Annette had mixed feelings about the 2016 trip to Kenya – both concern and confidence. It was all the more moving to see how the young people returned strengthened, connected, and with shining eyes. She describes this experience of community and global connectedness as one of the greatest gifts.

In her role as coach, it was important to Annette to build reliable relationships, remain open to ideas, and raise Nyendo’s profile at the school. She found the young people to be increasingly responsible, courageous, and entrepreneurial in their thinking. For the future, she hopes that Nyendo will continue to be a space where young people can take on responsibility, experience community, and discover their creative power.

We are very grateful to Annette for her openness, commitment, and passion. Without people like her, Nyendo would not be what it is today.