Hasmik Gasparyan was a participant in the international Train-the-Trainer Programme in Oxfordshire, England, in the summer of 2005. She recently wrote: “I am so happy to inform you that this week I led the second Living Values Education Training in Armenia. I should be rather modest and not tell what feedback I got. This programme is like a miracle! The participants were the principals of Armenian schools who at the same time are alumni of the ACCELS programme. So, I had an audience which was informed and had participated in numerous trainings for educators before, but almost every participant mentioned that Living Values Education is something totally new, deep and unique in its own way. As a result, I have received many invitations from different regions of Armenia to lead the training. To be honest, I should point out that for me as a human being, LVEP has become a very important part of my life; my inner change as a person is visible to others. I totally agree with the statement, “Create peace in your mind and you will create a world of peace around you."

A Living Values workshop was recently held in Tema, Ghana, coordinated jointly by the Swiss Association for Living Values and a local organising committee, and sponsored by the ACCENTUS charitable foundation in Switzerland. The aim was to encourage teachers from a number of schools to make their schools into “lighthouses” to show the way: pilot schools that would develop values-based education in all areas of school life. Among the 45 educators were 5 principals, and 15 schools were represented.

During a session to “explore, experience and express our common values”, participants were requested to reflect on values that are specific to Ghana, “Values that make you proud to be Ghanaian, the sort of values that your ancestors cherished and passed down the generations through story-telling and proverbs”. The following were some of the values that were identified, and please see below for examples of proverbs from Ghana:

Participants agreed that these values are rapidly being lost and need to be revived. Further reflection and group discussion produced the following suggestions as to how to help revive them through education:

• Encouraging/giving value to positive behaviour

• Reintroduce/appreciate our culture/religion/music

• Use of arts to develop artistic qualities/creativity

• Give regard to the way of life in our villages e.g. simple life-style, cleanliness, respect for the environment

• Code of practice to be appropriate or relevant to what pertains to modern time; values should not be seen as old fashioned

• Educators need to be good examples.

A member of the coordinating committee made the following observation just after Ghana had played against Brazil in the World Cup, having successfully passed through the qualifying rounds to reach the last sixteen:

“Football is showing us values we thought were lost over the altar of political rivalries. Ghana lost to Brazil, but people poured out on the streets celebrating the fact that we were there, that we were found worthy to play with the greatest foot-balling nation and that we were not disgraced. I am so happy that people reacted this way and not negatively. Some are blaming the referee but I am proud to say that there were enough people who recognised that we did not have the kind of strikers needed to finish the job properly and put the goals in the net. I am happy about that. You see, we have proverbs like "Do not blame others for your shortcomings" but when we are confronted, we forget them and blame others for our woes. So I am happy that some people think like me and believe that we should work on our mistakes for a better result next time. Ghana still has values we can build on!”

Some proverbs from Ghana:

A child who asks questions does not become a fool.

Let not what you cannot do tear you from what you can do.

The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.

Do not follow the path. Go where there is no path to begin a trail.

It is the human being that counts. I call gold; it does not answer. I call cloth; it does not answer. It is the human being that counts.

A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place

There is no medicine to cure hatred.

No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.

He is a fool whose sheep run away twice.

Aruna Anandkumar, the director of a Montessori Preschool Programme, received LVEP Educator Training from Chithra Lakshmanan, one of the directors of the national LVE association in the USA! Mrs. Anandkumar wrote to report: “I am thoroughly enjoying implementing LVEP, both at my school and with my own children, aged 12 and 8. I live in Bangalore and run a Montessori Preschool Programme and a Parenting Class. “Bright Beginnings” was started during June 2004 in a farm setting just outside of Bangalore. We have completed our second year and have 35 preschoolers, and 15 toddlers who come with a parent. Our student body comprises of children from all over the world and this makes it all the more interesting. We take a thematic approach and do plenty of art and craft and music. We have some animals that our children help take care of and often take the children on nature walks to the farm behind our school. Each of our children has their own garden-patch which they tend to every day.

LVEP has been an integral part of our programme ever since the inception of our school. Now that we have completed two years of our Preschool Programme, I can very happily say that what has made our school so successful is the continuous implementation of LVEP. I see it having such an impact on our children; little sayings from 3-year olds like, "You must love yourself before you love somebody else", "I feel so peaceful inside", "I feel good inside". We had our last day of school on the 31st of March and organized a Parent Workshop after which some parents gave us feedback about our programme. What stood out the most was how they, as parents, loved our Value Education Programme. I am extremely happy that I have been introduced to this and in turn I too have been sharing this with all my educator friends in Bangalore. I have gifted the LVEP books and the cassette to another Montessori Creative Foundation and am really hopeful that it is working as well in their school.

I really do believe that India is ready for this and that it will make a tremendous impact on our next generation if many, many more educators believe in it and spread this beautifully packaged, very easy to implement values programme.

Dipty Naran of the LVE Association of South Africa reports: “I was recently invited to address 100 educators on ‘Diversity Management: The Living Values Approach.’ The requesting department had been experiencing problems in schools in its district as a result of race issues, educator to educator issues and educator to learner issues. I spent Saturday addressing the educators, including principals, management and level one educators. We did LVE’s values awareness session in detail, including creating a value-based atmosphere. I also used appreciative inquiry and an activity on tolerance and acceptance.

The day was very well received. The department officials and educators were at first quite apprehensive as this was a serious and sensitive issue they were facing. It was amazing how as the day developed they were feeling more loved, understood, respected, valued and safe and how this powerfully and naturally made them realise that the answer to their complexities are actually in values. At the end of the day, one educator said: ‘I feel more secure now in myself and I realise my problem was not just a racial issue. By accepting myself and feeling more loved, understood, valued, respected and safe I will treat my colleagues and learners in a better way.’

We had a valuable and successful day. Together with the department I am now developing a programme to sustain them. It is such a joy to witness the power of values.”  

We are delighted and honoured to have as one of the members of the ALIVE International Advisory Committee Dr Federico Mayor, former Director-General of UNESCO and currently President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace. He kindly sent us this message to mark the forthcoming tenth anniversary of the meeting in August 1996 which led to development of Living Values Education:

“The darker the night and the more dense the fog, the more urgent it is to have a compass, points of reference, timeless values.

In order to have, as the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly proclaims, “freedom from fear and want” we must place the fundamental equality of all human beings at the centre of our daily behaviour and actions. [Article 1 of the Declaration states:] “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” The democratic principles stated in the Constitution of UNESCO – justice, freedom, equality and solidarity – unite the infinite diversity that characterizes the human species. In the decade of the 80s, a historical abdication of principles and values, ideals and ideologies took place in favour of the laws of the market. The resulting confusion between values and prices has contributed to the amplification of disparities of all types and the breakdown of the social fabric, on all levels, which it will be very difficult to remedy.

Only the “power of the people” can, with the help of modern methods of communication, re-establish the vision imagined by the founders of the United Nations: the collaboration of all people of the earth to avoid the horror of violence and war and liberate humanity from “fear and want”. One key word: to share. Another: to participate. Only then can we build a peace based on distributive justice and genuine democracy.

Always remember: above all, remember the future. Future generations constitute our highest commitment. And our duty to act. The moment has arrived to join hands and walk the roads that lead to this other and possible world that we long for. This depends on everyone; it depends on each one. It depends on you.”

We were delighted to hear from Anchulee Suwandee of the LVE team in Thailand, that Saint Joseph Bang-na School won the Royal Award for the year 2005. This is the second year in a row that a school implementing LVEP has won the Royal Award. Congratulations to Ms. Sawang-jit Chompaisarn, the director of the school, the educators and the 3,310 students at Saint Joseph’s. The staff of the whole school took part in an LVEP Educator Training in November 2004 and implement the Programme as part of their curriculum. The director and staff said that they feel that Living Values Education played an important part in helping them win the award.

The school administrators reported a 20 percent increase in student attendance, a 10 percent decrease in student tardiness and a 10 percent increase in teacher attendance from May 2004 to March 2006. In the same time period, they measured a 20 percent improvement in reading scores, a 15 percent improvement in language scores and a 15 percent improvement in math scores. On the school climate items, a rating of 1 to 10 was asked for with 1 being low (very poor) and 10 being high (outstanding). On School Climate, Student Courtesy, and Caring and Respect, a 7 was received in May 2004, an 8 in March 2005 and a 9 in March 2006. On Staff Cooperation, a 6 was received in May 2004, an 8 in March 2005 and a 9 in March 2006.

Please also send us:

• your success stories in using Living Values for the Impact section of our Web site;

• photographs for the News section of our Web site; and

• students only, your stories, experiences, feelings and inspirations about Living Values for the Children Participate section of our Web site.

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