WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
The school project "Sankt Lorenz" is supported by the community of the Franciscan sisters from Vöcklabruck and the community of the "Servants of Jesus and Mary". The project is financed on a donation basis.
All expenses that exceed the monthly budget are managed in cooperation with charities, friends and supporters of the project.
The religious communities have also been personally present for over 20 years: Sr. Kunigunde Fürst and Sr. Agnes Mairhofer are involved in German lessons and P. Leopold Kropfreiter is the administrative director of the entire project.
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Links to the religious communities:
https://www.franziskanerinnen.at/
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OUR PROFILE
The "Sankt Lorenz" school is a project in northern Kazakhstan, which is supported by the religious orders of the Franciscan nuns from Vöcklabruck and the "Servants of Jesus and Mary" (SJM). Our goal is to support children, young people and families from remote villages in northern Kazakhstan so that they can build their own lives, their families and their country responsibly and competently through education and personal development.
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At the center of our pedagogy is the young person as a free, God-created, unique person. Its development should not only take place intellectually through knowledge transfer, but also through value-oriented formation and individual talent promotion. Each child is symbolized by a star representing the different dimensions of each person: intellect, emotions, body, mental-psychological development and social context. With this model we express that every person is unique and unrepeatable.
That is why we offer numerous additional subjects (sports, crafts, music, culture) in addition to the state curriculum . The German lessons have a special position: Our school has been a DSD (German language diploma) school since 2009, where the pupils have the opportunity to learn German with native speakers and to receive the German language final exams. This enables them to study in German-speaking countries. At the moment more than 10 young graduates of our school are studying in Germany and Austria.
OUR HISTORY
The "Saint Lorenz" project is unique in Kazakhstan. It consists of a school (the only village secondary school in the country), kindergarten, boarding school, teachers' hostel and an additional building for the optional subjects. It was founded in 1996 by the Berliner priest Lorenz Gawol, who worked as a pastor in post-Soviet Kazakhstan from 1991-2001. His experiences led him to the conviction that it is important for children and young people to be able to attend a school where they not only receive a sound education, but also spiritual formation on the basis of the Christian image of man and receive individual support. As early as 1995 he found enthusiastic supporters for founding the school in the sister community of the Franciscan sisters of Vöcklabruck. In search of a successor as the founding director of the school, he contacted the community of the servants of Jesus and Mary, who, together with the sisters, have taken responsibility for the project since 2000. Father Lorenz Gawol died on November 2nd, 2001 in Berlin. His plant in Kazakhstan has now been in existence for 26 years.
"The best foundation for every life is truth and love! How can one live happily when lies are destroying trust all around, what use is the truth to the poor if love does not come to their rescue? Because truth and love are found most clearly in Christ, that is why we started this school. How much planning, how much dedication of benefactors did it take to make the houses that you are allowed to use become as beautiful as they are now. But more importantly is the spirit that unfolds in these rooms. It was our effort from the beginning to get him on the right path. Your contribution must now be to use the gifts that God has given you well. This is about the Talents of the mind as well as those of the heart. Avoid from the smallest beginnings everything that could be contrary to truth and love. Then our school will become your second family on the way to your independent life."
Excerpt from the testament of Prelate Gawol
