Sathya Sai Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark

ESSE Institute (European Sathya Sai Educare) 

ESSE Institute, Structure and Geographic Area Served
ESSE: All of the Sathya Sai Organisation in all of continental Europe including all the Russian-speaking countries.
ESSE Academy: professionals in continental Europe as well as other segments of society (could also be youth and families)
EISSE is a branch of the Academy conducting seminars for professional school teachers and educators.
History
ESSE Institute was established in 1987 in the presence of the International Chairman of the Sathya Sai Organisation. Sathya Sai Baba has approved name and objectives. The inter-European faculty has ever since the establishment conducted seminars for Sai teachers, office bearers and members in the Sathya Sai Organization (SSO) all over continental Europe. From the beginning of the nineties also in the former Soviet block, i.e. the Russian speaking countries, in the Baltic countries and in the East European countries.

During the years 1980-89 the ESSE Institute presented seminars on Sathya Sai Education in Scandinavia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. In order to inspire and further the process 3 International seminars were arranged in Denmark (1984, 1987 and 1988). Speakers from India, Thailand, Africa and Denmark participated and shared their valuable knowledge and experiences with the participants coming from most of the European countries.

During the late 80ies and the beginning of the 90ies a closer cooperation between the European countries took place. In 1990 the first European Teacher Trainer Seminar was conducted by the ESSE Institute. Since then the Trainers from all over Europe have been meeting every second year.

Since 1990 the ESSE Institute has conducted 95 international seminars in the following 25 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Rep., Croatia, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, and Sweden. 

Organizational Structure
ESSE Institute has two main branches: One is only for members of the SSO although the initial seminars are open for all devotees. The second branch is the ESSE Academy developing seminars for teachers (EISSE) and various professions and segments of society outside the SSO. 

Dr. Thorbjörn Meyer (PhD) is the Director of the ESSE Institute and the ESSE Academy with Marianne Meyer as the administrator. The international faculty consists of 7 - 8 trainers coming from some 7 European countries (Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Lithuania and occasionally other European countries, for instance Switzerland). In the European countries, including the Russian speaking countries, there are to day many national trainers, many more SSE teachers and a number of professional teachers using Sathya Sai Human Values in their respective school classes.

Training Overview
The Institute’s training consists of several seminars most of them covered over a week end in the respective country . The long term objective is only to meet with the national trainers every second year (or as needed) for an update and exchange of experiences. 

The seminars consist of lectures and workshops. The contents are the five values and the five methods, adult learning processes, science and spirituality and self evaluation. Separate is Office bearer training on how the values and especially the methods are used in the centres and groups as well as seminars on the art of public speaking. All training seminars and ESSE activities/Academy activities are conducted by a team of international ESSE trainers, minimum 3 and mostly more depending on the task. All training by the ESSE faculty is done in English with necessary translations.

Seminars for non devotees (ESSE Academy) have been developed and tested in cooperation with the Italian Sathya Sai Organisation at the premises of Mother Sai in Divignano, near Milan. This training has focused on professionals dealing with physically disabled persons, which is the target group of the Mother Sai complex. From this vantage point seminars for other segments of society will be developed and tested.
General brochures for the ESSE Institute and Academy (including EISSE) are being drafted together with separate leaflets for specific seminar programmes.

Training of professional teachers/educators and establishment of schools
A part of the ESSE Academy deals exclusively with training within the formal educational system (professional teachers and educators) as well as establishment of Sathya Sai Schools and other educational institutions also including adoption of existing schools. This part of the ESSE Academy is very much the same as ISSE in Thailand, TAISSE in Africa or the Institutes in Australia, Brazil, India or Japan, and it is referred to as “EISSE” (European ISSE). The daily responsibility of “EISSE” has been assigned to one of the international ESSE trainers, Petra von Kalinowski from Germany, who is herself a professional school teacher.

Location of ESSE Institute and ESSE Academy
Having an international faculty travelling from country to country all over Europe is not viable in the long run. In most countries the SSO has now national ESSE trainers and the ESSE Institute will focus more and more on follow-up courses exclusively for the trainers whereas the Academy will focus on spreading the values outside of the SSO predominantly through the training of professional teachers (EISSE) and other professionals (such as doctors and others within the health sector, managers etc.). It would be ideal to have a permanent location for the ESSE Institute/Academy. Such a location will have to be somewhere centrally in Europe where there are good connections by air and land. As location is preferred where there is a tradition for hosting international institutions and (boarding) schools. At a permanent location it would be possible to have the ESSE Institute arranging seminars for national trainers within the SSO on a regular basis. For the Academy functions it would be possible to conduct both short and longer seminars for various non-devotee segments including of course the professional school teachers (EISSE). The possibility to have an international model school nearby also has a very high priority as this is important for the practical training of school teachers and educators.

The ESSE Institute/Academy needs several class rooms/group rooms and a large hall that will accommodate many people (may be built later). Quarters for management and staff must also be there as well as kitchen facilities, dining hall etc. Rooms for the participants as well as various other facilities such as sports grounds are also needed. The Institute/Academy will need to accommodate minimum. 30 – 35 students at a time as well as management and staff. 

The adjacent model school may be added a little later. It is not decided as yet whether it should be a boarding school, but rooms for the students and all facilities must be there. The school will start in a small scale and gradually grow to encompass all grades.

To realize the ESSE Institute at a permanent location is a task that cannot succeed without adequate donations from interested parties and the full support of the Sathya Sai Organisations in all of Europe. A project team is established chaired by the Director of the Institute/Academy, and having the administrator and the faculty, the SEC foundation, the SSO and other interested parties as members.

• Bebedelis, G., (2000), The teachings of Plato on Education: a parallelism with Sai Baba's teachings on Educare, Georgios Bebedelis, Athens, Greece.
• Bebedelis, G., (2004), Sai Baba's teachings and Aristotle on Virtue and Ethics, Georgios Bebedelis, Athens, Greece.
• Dyllick-Brenzinger & von Kalinowski, P., (1997), Einheit der Religionen (Human Values Series: “Unity of Religions”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• European Sathya Sai Educare Institute, (2001), Instructor’s Manual to Unit 2, European Sathya Sai Educare Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• European Sathya Sai Educare Institute. (2001). Sathya Sai Teachings. Copenhagen. European Sathya Sai Educare Foundation. (For participants in the ESSE seminar)
• Fischer-Glückler, W., (1996), Der kleine Vogel Sadhana (“The Little Bird Sadhana”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Krmpotic, V., (1999), Vrline ispravnoga ponasanja (“Virtues of Righteousness”), V.Krmpotic, Zagreb, Croatia. 
• Krmpotic, V., (1999), Vrline ljubavi (“Virtues of Love”), V.Krmpotic and Ivan Glavina, Zagreb, Croatia. 
• Krmpotic, V., (2000), Vrline mira (“Virtues of Peace”), V.Krmpotic, Zagreb, Croatia. 
• Krmpotic, V., (2004), Vrline istine (“Virtues of Truth”), V.Krmpotic and Ivan Glavina, Profil International, Zagreb, Croatia. 
• Krmpotic, V., (2004), Vrline nenasilnosti (“Virtues of Nonviolence”), V.Krmpotic and Ivan Glavina, Profil International, Zagreb, Croatia. 
• Kunz-Bijno, M., (1999), Die Flöte (“The Flute Story for Children”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Nicolaus, N., (2000), Gebete der Weltreligionen (“Human Values in World Religions”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Nicolaus, N., (2000), Menschliche Weltreligionen (“Prayers of World Religions”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Sathya Sai Philosophische Vereinigung Wien, (1994), Der Mensch auf dem Weg zur Vollkommenheit (“Man on the Way to Perfection”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Stichting Sri Sathya Sai Baba- Nederland, (1995), Sathya Sai Onderwijs-lesplanboek, Apropos, Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands.
• Von Kalinowski, P., (1988), Beiträge zur Erziehung (Human Values Series: “Contribution to Education”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Von Kalinowski, P., (1991), Wer bin ich? (Human Values Series: “Who am I?”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.
• Weitz , N., (1997), Das Glückhaus (“Value Songs”), Sathya Sai Vereinigung e.V., Sri Sathya Sai Buchzentrum, Dietzenbach, Deutschland.

This site is authorized by the Sathya Sai Organization