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Current Status -
June 2001
In 1999 Pilar Quera came to Guatemala, at the invitation of the Brahma
Kumaris, to facilitate a training for public schools teachers and 'Fe y Alegria' (Faith and Joy) schools. The teachers were helped by Ann Bonin and other volunteers. UNICEF was interested in both the materials and the potential impact of the
Programme. In cooperation with Fe y Alegria, the Programme was initiated in 1999.
The Values Project covered all the Fe y Alegria schools in Guatemala City's metropolitan area. This included the areas of
Limonada, Carolingia, Limon, Lo de Coy, Amparo, Mezquital and Peronia, plus five public schools from the district of
Milagro. This involved 11,000 students, 5,000 parents and approximately 350 teachers. Thank you notes from parents were widely received, stating that no one teaches you how to be parents and that the sessions had met their expectations. Teachers reported positive changes in behaviour among their peers.
The teachers report that it is "wonderful" to do Living Values Activities with children. They find that the response of the children is creative and ingenious - and that their attitudes become so positive. Most of the children come from very poor homes. "It is strange for them to be treated with love because of the violence that they live with at home. They change their aggressive attitudes." The children are poor, but they share the few things they have with others when they understand the values."
During a training session imparted to parents in the Values Project, at the end of the talk given by Mr. Jorge
Aldana, a young girl of approximately 17 years of age with a 3 year-old child said: "It's good that you came to give us these kind of talks because these are things that sometimes happen to us. I was raped by my father and this child is his, you can't imagined how hurt I've felt all of this time and now I feel that I was able to get rid of some of the things that were bothering me". Mr. Aldana was greatly surprised and later conceded to treat this case in a special way.
A mother during a talk given at a Fe y Alegria school approached the trainer and with confidence confessed that she was raped and since that day her self-esteem had plummeted and her temperament had changed to the point of punishing and harassing her children. With the dynamics of sharing and exposing negative feelings that one experiences she felt better and she too received special treatment.
A child was suffering from child abuse; his mother informed all of the participants that to be able to attend the session she had tied him to a chair and that she did this constantly; additionally she treated him "brusquely" when correcting him. She appreciated learning new methods to deal with him.
Number of Sites Using Living Values Education
Total number of sites
Impact
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