Judy Johnson, the Canadian LVE Association’s coordinator for eastern Canada reported: “I am just back from a wonderful LVEP training this past weekend, the first LVEP Training in Ontario. We had 20 people from Brampton attend; half were parents, the other half teachers. We became children in the early part of the session when we shared our favourite memories of being a child; this set a wonderful tone for the weekend. Many people felt that they shed the negative parts of their childhood and were in touch again with their own inner brilliance. It was very touching and a true embodiment of a values-based atmosphere. We changed our approach a bit, as we had only two days, and focused on the atmosphere in the classroom/home. Participants created a room in their mind where they felt safe, valued, respected, understood and loved, then they imagined themselves in this room relating with the children in their lives; it was very powerful. The changes were apparent when they came back the next day and reported the ways in which they had responded to their children differently. Here's to LVE growing in Ontario! There is much enthusiasm for another training. We will focus our energies on developing a facilitation team in Ontario. Much love to all of you in our shared task of creating a values-based world!”

Helen Sayers, the former President of the Swiss Association for LVE, and the person coordinating its activities in Central and West Africa, met Kuma Gavi, a Ghanaian former teacher, in the plane on the way to Ghana. As they talked, and Kuma told her the story of his teaching experiences, Helen thought it was such a good example of conflict resolution and values-based discipline that she invited him to give a talk at the LVE Professional Development Course she was running a few days later. This is what Kuma said:

“I became a professional teacher at the tender age of nineteen in 1985. As a primary school teacher, I was teaching children between the ages of 6 and 12. One day, ten years into my career, while having my usual morning reflection, I found myself faced with the questions: How successful have you been as a teacher? What kind of relationship are you building between you and your pupils? What makes you different from the children you teach? After a candid self appraisal, deep soul-searching and a long sober reflection, I came to the conclusion that I could have done far better than I had done and that my relationship with my pupils had been too authoritative, if not autocratic. In fact my pupils were until this time not able to approach me easily. I was feared as the “Mr. No-nonsense Disciplinarian”. I also got enlightened that the only difference between me and my pupils is that I only happened to be older than them and that if we were all to be age mates, considering what some of them were able to do at their age, some of them could have been ahead of me in some aspects of life’s achievements.

This was the turning point in my teaching career. I resolved to take each of my pupils as a personal friend, correct their mistakes with love, and treat them with respect as one would treat a colleague. Above all, I resolved firmly never to use the cane to discipline the children. In fact, in Ghana and most countries in Africa, caning is very widespread both in homes and schools. It is the easiest way of control and keeping order in the classroom. But actually the cane only subdues the children in fear. As the children later confided in me, it only creates enmity and anger in the child against whoever is using the cane. A boy told me he even insults the father in his mind (as he dare not do it verbally) whenever he canes him. However, it soon became quite difficult to control the difficult children without resorting to the use of the cane. Especially, I was getting helpless in controlling the aggressive behaviour. A particular problem concerns the boys beating or kicking the girls. Just admonishing and talking to the boys was yielding no results.

Then I decided to use the traditional values of respect and honour to bring a change. In my community it is very uncommon for a man to be asked to kneel down before a woman to apologise to her as the man is considered the head – and my boys know this only too well! One day a girl came to complain to me that one of the boys had kicked her. After thoroughly questioning the boy, it became clear that he was just being a bully. The girl’s only offence was that she had crossed over the part of playing ground where the boys were playing football. I asked the boy whether he agreed with me that his action was unacceptable and therefore punishable. He nodded the head in agreement. By this time a small group of children had gathered around us. I then asked the girl if she would forgive the boy if he should apologise to her. She said yes. Consequently, and contrary to all expectations, I asked the boy if he could kneel down and apologise to the girl by saying: “Please, my lady, I am sorry. I will not kick you again”. Just as I expected, he was reluctant to apologise in this manner. However, he mumbled an apology but omitted “my lady”. I insisted he made the apology properly. He did. Apparently, the girls were very happy, but not the boys. Their pride was deeply hurt.

A week later, the boys in the class came to discuss the apology issue with me. Their spokesperson was emphatic and candid that they do not like the arrangement and would prefer being caned to kneeling down to the girls. The following day, I organised a class discussion for all parties (the boys, girls and myself) to make our stands clear on the issue. During the discussion, I made it clear to both sides that it was important for all of us to treat each other with respect, love and fairness. I also got the boys to understand that the girls also feel hurt and dehumanised when kicked with the foot (in this community as in most other places it is unacceptable to kick people) just as they also hated kneeling down to the girls. At the end we all came to one agreement; we were able to design a set of rules and regulations that governed conduct both in and out of class.

I must point out that the whole process was not as smooth and easy as it sounds here. At a certain point in time, I started having problems with some of the parents because I would not cane the children whenever the parents came to report their children’s bad behaviour at home to me, as I used to. There were also many other instances such that I nearly went back on my word and started using the cane again as it was not easy at all to get the children disciplined through discussions, arguments, arbitration (some of the children could be very litigious) and appealing to their conscience and social morality. But in the end, through patience, the strong will to succeed, and persistence, I was able to establish a disciplined class without using the cane. A wonderful cordial interpersonal relationship was also engendered, thus creating the open climate in the classroom that was needed for effective teaching and learning to take place.”

Sóphia Fried, who coordinates LVE activities in Hungary, reported on how she started a Parents Group in a local library in Budapest in spring 2006 with the support of the Director of the Library, who understood very well how important it is for parents to share their experiences and learn from each other how to be better parents. Two participants spoke of the benefits of the Group meetings as follows.

Horváth Istvánné, the Director of the Library: “Do I need Living Values? It is important to stop, seek and experience our inner values. They strengthen us and give us a base for comparison, especially in our daily life full of tension, expectations and uncertainty. Our Parents Group involved young and older parents, and grandparents and our being together meant a real recharging of ourselves, a rethinking of our opinions and beliefs, the bringing to light of many small ideas and some experiments. I have organized these monthly meetings since April 2006. As I brought up two children in a balanced family, I never thought that I would gain newness from these workshops led by Sóphia Fried. But I have, along with ten other people. We have tried a different way of knowing ourselves. The ‘recipe’ seemed very simple: from 12 values we chose one and analyzed its meaning. Communicating those values in our everyday life has been a challenge, but during the workshops we have learned more and more not only about the values and how to use them, but about ourselves and our old habits which could be melted. To think, ‘work’, listen to soft music and play together has created an atmosphere in which we have been able to feel free and open, while being focused. The real benefit for me was learning from others in the group and enjoying sharing, smiles and kind words as we explored many different ways in which to understand, approach and look at the same value and situation.”

Juracsekné Judit, mother of three children: “It has been wonderful to have good company and be amongst people whose priority is the same: their children and themselves, as parents. I have gained accurate ideas about values and how I can convey these to my children. Usually we have some idea about which values are important in life, but it’s very important to me to make their meaning clear. To learn methods to convey and communicate these values is also important. It has given me happiness to play with all these things – and see things from the perspective of a child. I go to these meetings with pleasure, although it’s not too easy to find free time because of my job and my big family, but I can fill up in such a way from these meetings that I gain energy for my life.”

Meanwhile, on 26 October 2006, away from Budapest and in the town of Érd, 26 teachers from different schools participated in a demonstration LVE Peace English lesson conducted by Éva Bartkó, a teacher who has been using LVE methods and skills since 2004. Held in János Bolyai Primary School in the framework of a pedagogical professional day, the aim of the lesson was to show how to create a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere with the help of soft, relaxing music, visualization exercises, brainstorming and mind map techniques. After a short visualization exercise, the students (age 14) wrote poems about their feelings of peace and tried to express their thoughts through the five senses; one student wrote the following:

Peace Poem

Peace is blue like the ocean and it looks like a newborn dove.

It tastes like sweet honey and smells like a freshly opened flower.

Peace is the sound of twittering birds.

I'm peaceful when I'm with my friends or have a hot bath.

“I never cease to be amazed at what the young can do” reported Kana Gopal, who has been coordinating LVE activities in Singapore for many years. She continued: “The Peace Idol project created by prefects in Elias Park Primary School affirms the framework of Living Values Education: when we create a values-based environment where children feel loved, understood, valued, respected and safe, they blossom and thrive. Many blossomed in Elias Park Primary School with just 9 sessions!

Four female prefects came up with the concept of Peace Idol and saw it through with the help of the Head of Pupil Development and his team of educators. From 30 nominations from Primary 5 students, they narrowed down the field to four potential idols. Those four students campaigned on 22nd September by presenting their projects and personal efforts to the whole school. Only the Primary 5 students voted. The first ‘Peace Idol’, Daniel, won almost half the votes cast. Daniel proposed two projects and both were accepted. The two projects will be implemented from January 2007 for all upper primary students.

The first project is for PE sessions to place the focus on values practised during games and exercise, not on winning or losing; educators will look out for and reinforce value-based practices such as those demonstrating teamwork, co-operation, adaptability and respect. In the second project, each student will be provided with a Values Card; they will then observe themselves on a daily basis in school, home and during other daily activities and record the values they practised. Every week, two students will share their experiences in class. To reward values-based words and actions, one outstanding student from each class will be given a certificate every term.”

Ms. Gopal noted: “This, Daniel told me, will help them to be aware of their thoughts, words and actions and help them to practise their values. It will also inspire them to learn from each other. Daniel was one of the prefects who attended the Values-based Leadership course. When asked how he conceived the projects, he said he thought about how we learn and realised that science, maths and other academic subjects need understanding and practice to learn – and that learning about values was no different: we need to understand and practise values consistently.”

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Living Values Education in Spain, the Living Values Education Association of Spain joined with the Brahma Kumaris Association to host a retreat titled “Laboratory of Values.” Anthony Strano, one of the writers who contributed to Living Values: A Guidebook, led the retreat. Sixty educators from several countries met for four days, from 7th to 10th April, at the beautiful Casal La Salle, near Barcelona, to dialogue, learn, reflect and play.

Some reflections from Anthony Strano: “Values are the blueprints of our conduct, interactions and attitudes. Values are absorbed from early childhood through the observation of others and experiencing the intentions of others towards us. However as we mature, we create, replace, modify and/or reconfirm these values according to our personal experiences. Values are built and rebuilt according to a variety of circumstances. Values indicate our character, determine our choices, define our way of thinking, seeing, feeling, behaving and, finally, living. Values are the treasures of our life, enriching us like good friends who bring happiness and a sense of fulfilment. When values are based on spiritual principles they manifest dignity and purposeful direction in the self, creating a feeling of self-reliance, freedom, respectfulness and generosity towards all life. Values, chosen and cherished by the individual, are a great protection in the face of external, chaotic and harsh negativities that dominate so much of daily life."

A public event entitled “Sharing Together Is Celebrating” was held on 10th April at the Hall of the Municipal Conservatory of Music to conclude the celebrations. The Living Values Education Association of Spain organized the evening with the cooperation of the Culture of Peace Foundation, the Municipal Conservatory of Music, the Brahma Kumaris Association and the Association of Friends of UNESCO.

On 4th October 2006, the provisional LVE organising team in Togo held a follow-up meeting of educators who had attended the LVEP Educator Training in September in Lome. Joseph Adetou reported: “The educators all said they had well and truly begun to put into practice what we learned during the training. Many said that they had now finished using a stick! Their comments included: ‘Teachers now say good morning to each other and exchange values like passwords before entering the classroom. In the morning the students each choose a values card and then display it and comment on its meaning each day.’ ‘The lady principal of my school is very, very enthusiastic at the fact that beating with a stick has now disappeared in her school. Truly, everyone agrees that LVE has come at the right moment!’ We are all grateful to the LVE team, Helen, Awa and Beryl, and our great friend René with his tree of values which is now at the headquarters of the National Commission for UNESCO. We would like to become LVE Trainers and make a 2007 calendar of values for the people of Togo to help lead them to find forgiveness and deep unity.”

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