Vietnam - Values Education for Children and Young Adults

2008 LVEP Newsletter in Vietnamese

Current Status - February 2008

LVEP in Vietnam – October 2000 through February 2008

From LVEP’s first training in Vietnam in October 2000, as of February 2008, 144 trainings have been completed with an average of four days per training. A total of 6,220 teachers, social workers, psychologists and parents have completed the trainings.

These seminars were facilitated by a team of five Vietnamese speaking and one English speaking trainer based in Saigon and Hanoi.

Recent Highlights:
Often in the past when we have trained educators they have commented that it would be wonderful if the children’s parents could also participate in the LVEP training. This became possible in 2006 when Plan International invited LVEP trainers to facilitate a large number of trainings with both teachers and parents in rural communes where Plan is conducting projects. While professional evaluations of this program are still being completed, initial feedback shows that all parties – the teachers, the parents and the children are benefiting significantly.

LVEP received a very favorable report from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) following the 6 month piloting of the Living Values Activities for Drug Rehabilitation in 10 Drug Centers in the North of Vietnam. LVEP trainers were enormously inspired by the impact of the initial training on both the 10 peer educators present in the training 26 educators. Both MOLISA and LVEP are eager to conduct a similar training and implementation in the South of Vietnam pending funding.

Number of Sites
While we estimate that the real figure is higher, there are approximately 316 sites using LVEP in Vietnam .

2007

Trainings during January 2007 - June 2007 in Hanoi
Nine 5-day trainings for teachers in Phu Tho Province
Eight 3-day trainings for parents in Phu Tho Province
Six 1-day follow up in Phu Tho Province

Trainings during January 2007 – June 2007 in Saigon
One 3-day training for 60 Teachers and Social Workers
One 1-day training for Facilitators
Two 2-day trainings for Parents and Teachers in Dong Tap
Twenty five 2-hour workshops on Living Values for the general public
Two 26-hour workshops on Living Values Education with 35 – 45 Psychology students at Van Hien University

Another exciting event in early 2007 was the first of a series of 52 programs on Living Values Education Program being broadcast on VTV2 (Vietnam National Television Channel 2). In July 2007, the programs will also begin to be aired on VTV6 which is a new channel especially dedicated to youth. The program is proving to be popular and recently the director told LVEP that it is voted the most popular program at VTV2 each week.

Background of TV Project:
In June of 2006, VTV2 approached LVEP in Vietnam with a proposal for developing a TV series based on LVEP materials and facilitated by LVEP trainers. Following discussions, it was decided that there would be a series of 48 programs, each of 45 minutes duration. The screening on VTV2 began in March of 2007. The programs were to be screened on a weekly basis; it was decided to cover the 12 values within LVEP with four to five programs dedicated to each value.

Objectives

Through discussion and interactive participatory activities explore the 12 Living Values with youth from a variety of backgrounds.

·      Empower the youth and viewing audiences to make positive life choices when faced with negative peer pressure - particularly the pressure to use drugs or perform actions that would harm themselves or others.
·     Through the activities provide the youth and viewing audience with practical skills based on the 12 values to listen effectively, solve conflict positively, and contribute positively to their own self development, the development of positive relationships.
·      Enable the youth and viewing audience to develop awareness of individual and practical steps they can take to preserve the physical environment.
·      Explore positive parenting skills and non-violent discipline of children.

Participants:
Include youth from a variety of backgrounds: high school students, university students, HIV positive youth, youth in recovery from drug addiction and youth that are physically challenged (handicapped).

Feedback So Far:
Many viewers have written in about the program and shared that they have received a lot of inspiration for their lives.

In one of the programs on the value of love, children at a primary school wrote letters to their parents telling them how much they cared about them. Following the letters many parents phoned the school to say has touched they were to receive the letters.

2006

Trainings in Hanoi
Six 5-day trainings for teachers at Tam Nong, Phu Tho
Six 3-day trainings for parents at Tam Nong, Phu Tho
One 5-day training for coordinating staff – DOET, People Committee in Thai Nguyen
Two 5-day trainings for teachers at Minh Lap, Thai Nguyen
Two 3-day trainings for parents at Minh Lap, Thai Nguyen
Two 5-day trainings for teachers at Ban Dat, Thai Nguyen
Two 3-day trainings for parents at Ban Dat, Thai Nguyen

Trainings in Saigon
Two 1-day trainings for Parents
One ½-day training for Parents
Two 2-day trainings for Teachers
50 2-hour workshops on Values for the general public

Training Peer Educators to Use Living Values Activities for Drug Rehabilitation
In June 2006, a12-Day training was conducted with educators and peer educators from 10 Drug Rehabilitation Centers in partnership with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). This training was kindly sponsored by AMCHAM, Vietnam . Some experiences following the training from the peer educators (former drug users):

“This training is needed for my life and my family. I will apply it in situations in my family.”
“I think there is a lot of conflict in family life and through this training I have learnt the skill of active listening and other skills to manage situations which will enable all members in my family to have more understanding of each other.”
“Yes, this training has helped me to go in a better direction and have more positive thoughts so that I can be free from drug use.”
“I can really use what I have learnt from this training for my life, myself and my family. I will tell my family about the benefits of all the living values.”
“It is very good to apply for myself to live with values and practice to control myself and share with my family.”
“Yes, I will apply in my life. I think I will create a lot of happiness for my close relatives and my friends.”
“I am very happy and lucky to have this training and it has become a tool to help me to change into a new life from now.”
“This training needs to be conducted everywhere. The timetable could be 5 to 7
days longer.”

Experiences from some Educators who attended the Training
“I hope this program will be conducted with everyone, so the world will be better.”
“This training is very good. These values are very meaningful and wonderful if this is available everywhere in the world.”
“This program is very wonderful. Hope these living values not only bring benefit for drugs addicts, but also community and society.”
“I found this program is very useful and practical for my present life. “
“Very excellent – there is nothing more to say!”
“It is wonderful for me to attend this program. It will be applied for myself and society.”
“This is a useful program for improving a person.”

“Yes, I would like to share more and give more comments, but it is not enough room to write. I promise to make effort in using this for my better life and for my family.”
“This training gave educators an opportunity to approach LVEP so that they can bring happiness for everyone.”
“This training has brought me many valuable things. Thank you.”
“This training is very useful and has practical values for human beings.”
“Everything is complete and meaningful.”


	Participants acting out a skit on how to manage their relationships with their families once they return home from the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Ba Vi, North Hanoi.

2005

Trainings in Hanoi
One 5-day training for 40 psychologists at the Institute of Psychology
One 4-day training for 25 teachers at the Red River Primary School
One 8-day Living Values Training for Street Children & Children At Risk Educators (LVASC) with 40 at the Institute of Psychology , Hanoi
One 8-Day Living Values Training for Street Children & Children At Risk Educators (LVASC) for social workers at MOLISA University
One 2-day Living Values Activities for Parents & Caregivers for 13 participants at the Institute of Psychology , Hanoi
One 2-day Living Values Activities for Parents & Caregivers for 30 staff at Plan International

Trainings in Saigon
One 10-day Living Values Activities for Drug Rehabilitation (LVADR) training for 40 educators and counselors at Binh Trieu Drug & Counseling Centre, HCM City
One 1/2-day Living Values Activities for Drug Rehabilitation (LVADR) training for 70 educators and peer educators at Bola Drug Rehabilitation Centre
One 7-Day Living Values Training for Street Children & Children At Risk Educators (LVASC) for social workers at the Family & Population Control, Organization in Dong Thap
One 2-day Living Values Activities for Parents & Caregivers for 15 Participants at the LVEP Centre

Miss Linh doing LVEP activities with some children from rural families in Saigon

Participant sharing following the LVASC Training:
This workshop (LVASC) has increased my knowledge about working with children at risk. Focusing on values such as safety, trust and respect etc. with young people and children in my opinion will decrease the future social problems for any society. LVEP does this very well in their step by step training program, the excellent resources and the facilitators."
Heather Rogers, Canada , 3/10/05

Comments from the Participants at the first training for Parents & Caregivers at the Institute of Psychology, Hanoi on l4 & 15 October, 2005:

“I feel I will be able to treat my children more positively now, actively listen to them and resolve problems more easily without getting angry”.

Comment from a Mother-in-law on the change in her daughter-in-law 4 days after her participation in the training: “Since the training my daughter-in-law has changed a lot. She is much more patient with her children, listens to them and interacts with them much more positively. Her children as asking her what happened to her to enable her to change so much!”

Another participant that has had a long running conflict with her mother-in-law found that following the training her mother-in-law saw her in a much more positive light and the relationship appears to be becoming much better.

“I understand the importance of listening to my children and resolving conflicts in a positive way.”

Brief Report from Binh Trieu Drug & Counseling Centre, TP HCM   10/2005

Binh Trieu is the first Centre to complete and implement the new Living Values Activities for Drug Rehabilitation (LVADR) Program. They hold regular classes with 20 clients in each class.   Binh Trieu has found that LVADR:

·        Helps clients to speak out about their past.
·        Helps clients express their thinking and review what happened to them during the time they were addicts.
·        Helps the clients release their psychological pressure when they could look back and talk about it.
·        Compared to the basic LVEP: - LVADR provides clients with the basic knowledge to think and share.
·        LVADR helps find out the deep reason why they got used to drugs.
·        LVADR helps find out the bad effect of drugs on their life.
·        LVADR also helps clients release their inside pressure.

Challenge of the new program:

It requires more time and effort for clients to make permanent changes in their life.

Students created excellent dramas on managing their lives and remaining drug free once they return home from the Rehabilitation Centers, Ba Vi LVADR, 2006

Participants following the 10-day Living Values Activities for Drug
Rehabilitation (LVADR) training in the Ba Vi Drug Rehabilitation Centre

2004

Peer educators that participated in a Four-Day LVEP training at Nhi Xuan Centre, TP HCM in April 2004 share:

“Through the course, I’ve gained some very useful experiences and greater understanding of values to apply in my life. I am going to try to share what I learnt.” Another student, Linh shared, “This program is really useful to me for its knowledge as well as the positive effect it has on my thoughts. I feel more confident in life and it helps me to reduce my stress. Finally, I want to express my deep thanks to the educators and people who created a good learning environment for the course.” One young man shared, “First, I sincerely thank the educator who has shared these valuable lessons with me. Through the course, I have been able to look at myself deeply, treasure what I have, and try my best to share what the educator taught me with all my friends.”

Participants from the Phu Van Drug Rehabilitation Center share: “LVEP is very useful to understand how to live life in a better way. “The lessons help me to relax and manage my stress.” “The lessons help me to understand my own values better and make my relationships with others more harmonious.” “I feel lighter inside and my mind is more relaxed and I am now able to share my ideas and feelings in the group.”

Children at Risk

Kim Phung, a HCM City-based teacher of children at risk shared, “Myself and my colleagues are very interested in applying LVEP with our students. The students are now speaking more sweetly, (using less bad-language and slang) their eyes and faces have become more friendly, they are willing to shakes hands with us, there are almost never any conflicts between the students and on the rare occasion when a conflict occurs it is easily resolved. They are more confident and their concentration has increased a lot. The students’ behavior is more constructive amongst themselves and with us and we, the teachers, are really happy about that!”

Street Children Program

The following feedback is from a teacher that teaches a group of 30 students who mostly do have places they can sleep with parents or relatives. (Many of the parents are drug users or sex workers.) Yet, the children are forced to spend most of their time on the streets selling lottery tickets. The teachers shared that before using Living Values Activities for Street Children with her students, they were very aggressive with frequent fighting, couldn’t cooperate with each other, gathered in groups and got into trouble and were very afraid of strangers. After LVEP’s activities for street children they are now confident and friendly with adults and their peers. There is almost no conflict in the classes and they now do not get into trouble after school either. The students have also developed many skits on how to keep safe from dangerous adults and really enjoy performing them. Now when they are on the streets and see children that are new to the streets they give support and advice to the new children and invite them to meet their teacher and join their classes. The teacher has also shared with the children how much she herself benefited from the LVEP training for Street Children Facilitators and has encouraged them to learn some English so that if one day, Diane Tillman, the author, or another foreign trainer visits their school, the children will be able to say hello to them!

In April of 2004, LVEP trained 25 peer educators from a Drug Rehabilitation Center in the South of Vietnam. These peer educators are now conducting the LVEP activities with groups of their peers in the Center. Initial feedback has been encouraging and so there will be further trainings in May 2004. Now in this Centre 2,500 youth are participating in the LVEP activities on a weekly and sometimes twice-weekly basis. Initial reports for the participants in the classes show that over 80 % of the students find the LVEP classes very useful and learn a lot from them.

2003

In November of 2003, LVEP signed a one-year agreement with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to conduct trainings in 12 Drug Rehabilitation Centers in both the North and South of Vietnam. Following the trainings the Centers are piloting LVEP with the youth in the Centers.

Experiences of Clients who have attended the Living Values Program at HCM City ’s Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre, 2003

· "The course woke up the values that I already have inside. Those are the point of view of life: love, respect for others , self respect and valuing the goodness that people give to me. From the values I learn such as peace, responsibility, love, etc. I feel that responsibility is the one I like the most. I have a responsibility towards myself and towards everyone. My relationship with the facilitator is closer, there is more understanding, and it’s easier to share; not only in the class but also out of the class. I can share my feelings with the facilitator more openly. This is also a living value that I learned. There is not such program in High School and universities. But when I entered Thanh Da Center, I was given a deep knowledge of the outside world as well as my inner world. I would like to study more this program for the rest of the time. Thank you very much for the zeal and enthusiasm of our facilitator." Mr. Ha.

· "Two months is a short time but through this course I feel somehow that my words, thoughts and actions have changed. Everyday I go to the class for a short time but I experience a lot from the lessons. Through these classes I really realized the value of life and the value of myself. Values that were sleeping for a long time in my mind such as responsibility, love, determination, effort making, etc., have been awakened. I worry about whether or not these values will stay awake forever or will go back to sleep one day. These are very practical things and useful for my life both in the present and in the future. I am grateful to the people who guided me and supported me." Mr. Kien

· Miss Van, an educator at Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre for youth in recovery from heroin addictions shared the following:

"Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Center in HCM City has been implementing LVEP since the beginning of July, 2001. We are finding that it has many advantages for both the clients in recovery and the educators. For the facilitators, LVEP is a complete program – it contains ready to use lesson plans and so we are able to save planning time. While teaching LVEP, we, the facilitators also have the opportunity to learn values and improve ourselves. We teach the values and develop them more fully in our own lives.

For the clients, LVEP helps them to become more open because the teaching method and discussion questions encourage them to share their own ideas. They feel happy to see their opinions are accepted and gradually they become more confident in themselves and life to share their ideas. Sometimes, if they feel we, the facilitators, are talking too much they put their faces down or look away. The clients also enjoy seeing the slogans and pictures they have drawn being displayed on the walls. They behave better among themselves and to others including the guards and other rehabilitation staff.

One client, Phong, spoke emotionally before leaving the center saying that the program woke up something beautiful inside him. He was very happy to learn that positive values are inherent in everyone and that although they may get covered over by negative layers through the LVEP program we can wake them up again. Phong also said that the classes had enabled him to change a lot – he was now happier, more confident, more self satisfied and as a result he enjoyed having fun with his roommates. He laughed more, felt lighter, more comfortable and his friendships improved a lot. His room was now full of laughter and happiness."

Miss Tuei, an educator at Thanh Da:

"The Living Values has offered the clients a fresh and new approach to exploring values which the majority of the clients have accepted very openly. The activities where the students work in groups has helped to foster close trusting relationships among clients and also developed relationship between the clients and the educators. The lessons include a wide variety of participatory activities such as games, drawing, songs and role plays which makes the lessons fun and the clients enjoy the variety. Sometimes, initially the clients find it difficult to concentrate in the reflection and stress relaxation exercises but gradually they begin to relax and enjoy them. The activities are divided into clear lesson plans and so it saves the educators planning time. I have noticed that since learning living values the clients are better behaved, more mature, and the atmosphere in the Centre has become calmer. A few clients are reluctant to participate at first but usually with the encouragement of the educators join the classes. I feel the Living Values activities help awaken the positive values in the clients and bring them to life again.

Feedback from Parents

At some schools for children at risk, teachers asked the children’s parents or caregivers for feedback on any changes they had noticed in their children following the classes. The parents shared, “We are very surprised with the changes in our children after studying LVEP. They don’t insult their classmates anymore, moreover they help each other. They help us sweep the house and wash dishes, they have stopped gathering in groups and doing mischief. We hope LVEP continues in our children’s class.”

2002

In February 2002, the Director of Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre was so encouraged by the implementation of LVEP there that he sent copies of the Living Values Activities for Young Adults books to all the drug centers throughout Vietnam .

From February to April we held two and three-day LVEP Trainings at a City University with a group of 55 psychology students; with a group of co-coordinators at the Youth Cultural House and with a group of 45 street children teachers. The street children teachers have begun teaching LVEP to the 2,500 children they are working with in the city and suburbs. One of the teachers shared two hours into the first day of the training that the program helped her to realize that she needed to treat the students with more love and respect and she was now determined to do so.

In May we had a one-day LVEP training on the island of Vung Tau with a group of 47 nurses who work in hospitals and centres for lepers. These nurses are under huge pressure in their work and are treating rapidly increasing numbers of AIDS patients. The nurses enjoyed the training and shared that they can now work more happily. Many of them also connected a lot with the idea of practicing being a peaceful star that was used during the relaxation commentaries.

In early June we held a training with 120 street children teachers and children at risk. The one-day LVEP training introduced the teachers to the basic concepts of LVEP and gave them a chance to participate in the LVEP activities. The teachers will attend further trainings in the future.

In July 2002, we trained educators and social workers at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School . After training the teachers, all 3,000 of the school’s students participated in five hours of LVEP activities as part of the school’s special summer program. The school is planning to apply LVEP with groups of students-at-risk on a regular basis.

In August of 2002, LVEP decided to conduct trainings that were four days or longer in duration, to give participants that were generally used to teacher-centered methods of teaching time to adjust to the student-centered participatory learning approach that LVEP uses.

In November of 2002, Diane Tillman came to Vietnam to conduct the first training in the world for LVEP’s new activities for street children. Fifty educators and social workers attended a very special training with Diane . Some of them have gone on to implement the activities and found the activities from Living Values Activities for Street Children help the children enormously. Teachers share that conflict in the classroom has in most cases stopped completely and even if there is conflict it is easily resolved using the LVEP method of conflict resolution.

2002

Feedback

· Feedback from social workers working with street children who attended a training in Hanoi indicates that the activities are fun and the children often share deep and beautiful ideas during the classes.

· Teachers piloting the activities as part of the civic education pilot comment that not only do the students find the activities much more interesting than the traditional civic education activities, the teachers themselves also enjoy teaching the program. The students also say that they appreciate the opportunity to share their ideas on the values and to work in groups and discuss the values more deeply.

· An educator from Dalat (North of HCM City) that attended a LVEP training in 2001 shared that she has been implementing the program with an age range of 3 years through to 70 years. She had a special experience when she used LVEP with it with a group of 200 older people – some were 70 years plus. She said the participants were very touched by the activities and they developed a lot more self respect and confidence. The educator found that older participants had wonderful creativity and put together an amazing exposition of their peace cakes and other activities.

· The Director of the Ba Vi “06” Drug Rehabilitation Centre shared that implementation of LVEP has gone smoothly and the clients have become more peaceful as a result of participating in the activities.

· Educators of children-at-risk in HCM City have shared that they are surprised at the depth of the students understanding on values and that the children can understand the activities much more quickly than expected.

· Teachers working with children-at-risk have reported that the small children particularly enjoy the focusing activities on silence and becoming still inside.

· Red Cross in Hanoi shared that they are using the values activities widely in the trainings they conduct in the community in Hanoi and the surrounding areas.

· The Director of the Nam Dinh Medical Centre shared that following the LVEP he and his staff attended, they have been applying LVEP in community centres throughout the provinces. He feels that LVEP is very helpful in healing conflicts in family relationships and can help people overcome relapses of depression.

Current Status - June 2004

Upcoming
LVE’s Beginning in Vietnam, October 2000
LVE Development in Vietnam’s State/Public Schools
Ho Chi Minh City, July 2002 – June 2004
Ho Chi Minh City, December 2001 – June 2002
Ho Chi Minh City, December 2000 – November 2001
Hanoi, December 2001 – June 2002
Hanoi, November 2000 – November 2001
Experiences of Clients who have attended the Living Values Program at HCM City’s Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre

From the first training in October 2000 until June 2004, here in Vietnam LVE has conducted 54 two-, three- and four-day educator trainings for a total of 3,000 participants which include teachers, social workers and psychologists and peer educators in drug rehabilitation centers. LVE has also conducted three five-day train the trainer (TTT) trainings.

LVE’s Beginning in Vietnam, October 2000

Vietnam's first LVE training was held in Hanoi from 3rd to 6th October 2000. Mrs. Thuan Tran of the Ministry of Education and Training helped coordinate the training and invited 30 educational researchers, curriculum writers and educational psychiatrists to attend. The participants included researchers from UNICEF, Save the Children Fund (UK) and a representative of SCF, Sweden. Ruth Liddle, the Living Values Education Coordinator for Korea, conducted the training. From the very first morning there was a wonderful feeling of enthusiasm and positivity amongst all the participants that continued to build throughout the training. In the concluding session, participants shared many touching experiences of the training and their goals to implement LVE.

LVE Development in Vietnam’s State/Public Schools

From December 2000 – February 2002 the Ministry of Education and Training piloted Living Values in 11 Provinces, totaling of 52 High Schools throughout Vietnam. In the pilot, LVE was taught to year six students for one hour per week by the Civic Education teachers. Following the pilot it was decided that

Beginning September 2002 selected LVE activities will be included in the National Curriculum for Civic Education for Ages 3-7 and 8-14 and taught in schools nationwide.

Feedback from Mrs. Tuyet - a LVE trainer, Hai Ba Trung Public High School Vice Principal and also the Coordinator for Civic Education for District Three in HCM City - has been very positive. Mrs. Tuyet says that the students find LVE easy to understand and both the teachers and students enjoy its interactive and participatory approach to developing values. Both the students and teachers comment that they enjoy learning through the variety of creative activities the Programme offers. In March 2002, Mrs. Tuyet conducted LVE training and demonstration classes for all the Civic Education teachers of HCM City and surrounding areas.

Mrs. Tuyet also reported that:

Her school is now still implementing LVE for three grades : 6,7,8 and 9.
Teachers of 16 schools in district 3 of HCM City have been demonstrating LVE classes for fellow teachers once or twice a month since January 2002.
Students are now very happy to study civic education - unlike the previous traditional classes. The teachers also like LVE very much because LVE’s new methods inspire students dramatically.

LVE in Ho Chi Minh City, June 2002 — June 2004

In April of 2004, LVE trained 25 peer educators from a Drug Rehabilitation Center in the South of Vietnam. These peer educators are now conducting the LVEP activities with groups of their peers in the Center. Initial feedback has been encouraging and so there will be further trainings in May 2004. Now in this Centre 2,500 youth are participating in the LVEP activities on a weekly and sometimes twice-weekly basis. Initial reports for the participants in the classes show that over 80 % of the students find the LVEP classes very useful and learn a lot from them.

In November of 2003, LVE signed a one-year agreement with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to conduct trainings in 12 Drug Rehabilitation Centers in both the North and South of Vietnam. Following the trainings the Centers are piloting LVEP with the youth in the Centers.

In November of 2002, Diane Tillman came to Vietnam to conduct the first training in the world for LVEP’s new activities for street children. Fifty educators and social workers attended a very special training with Diane. Some of them have gone on to implement the activities and found the activities from Living Values Activities for Street Children help the children enormously. Teachers share that conflict in the classroom has in most cases stopped completely and even if there is conflict it is easily resolved using the LVEP method of conflict resolution.

In August of 2002, LVE decided to conduct trainings that were four days or longer in duration, to give participants that were generally used to teacher-centered methods of teaching time to adjust to the student-centered participatory learning approach that LVEP uses.

In July 2002, we trained educators and social workers at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School. After training the teachers, all 3,000 of the schools students participated in five hours of LVEP activities as part of the school’s special summer program. The school is planning to apply LVEP with groups of students-at-risk on a regular basis

LVE in Ho Chi Minh City, December 2001 - June 2002

In February 2002, the Director of Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre was so encouraged by the implementation of LVE there that he sent copies of the LVE Young Adults books to all the drug centres throughout Vietnam.

From February to April we held two and three-day LVE Trainings at a City University with a group of 55 psychology students; with a group of co-coordinators at the Youth Cultural House and with a group of 45 street children teachers. The street children teachers have begun teaching LVE to the 2,500 children they are working with in the city and suburbs. One of teachers shared two hours into the first day of the training that the program helped her to realise that she needed to treat the students with more love and respect and she was now determined to do so.

In May we had a one-day LVE training on the island of Vung Tau with a group of 47 nurses who work in hospitals and centres for lepers. These nurses are under huge pressure in their work and are treating rapidly increasing numbers of AIDS patients. The nurses enjoyed the training and shared that they can now work more happily. Many of them also connected a lot with the idea of practicing being a peaceful star that was used during the relaxation commentaries.

In early June we held a training with 120 street children teachers and children at risk. The one-day LVE training introduced the teachers to the basic concepts of LVE and gave them a chance to participate in the LVE activities. The teachers will attend further trainings in the future.

LVE in Ho Chi Minh City, December 2000 – November 2001

In Ho Chi Minh City a group of 20 educators of street children gathered together in December 2000 for a morning training on teaching Living Values to children aged 8-14 years old. The training was conducted in Vietnamese by Nhu, who had attended the training in Hanoi earlier in the year, and Devi, a visiting trainer from America. The participants appreciated being able to listen directly to Nhu speaking in Vietnamese and very much enjoyed the training. Although the training lasted only 4 hours, many expressed how deeply they were able to understand and experience the values, especially peace. From this training many plans were created for future trainings. Feedback on the activities from the teachers was requested to help in the creation of a future LVE module for street children.

In January 2001, we held a one-day training with a group of 45 educators and social workers at the HCM City Child Welfare Foundation. The participants enjoyed the participatory approach and look forward to attending further trainings to deepen their experiences of LVE.

On the 19th & 20th of February 2001, a group of 32 teachers and staff from CamboKids, a Cambodian based NGO that uses a variety of games and activities with Khmer street children, visited Vietnam and participated in two one-day living values trainings. It marked the first time we have conducted the training with a group of Cambodians teachers. It turned out to be two fun-filled days in which the group participated enthusiastically throughout the program.

They divided into groups and made world peace cakes.?

They particularly enjoyed the activity where they divided into groups and made world peace cakes.

Peace Cakes - They felt confident that this was an activity which the children they work with would really enjoy.?

They felt confident that this was an activity which the children they work with would really enjoy.

The training was also a wonderful opportunity for our Vietnamese volunteers that work with the Living Values program

The training was also a wonderful opportunity for our Vietnamese volunteers that work with the Living Values program to meet with and gain greater understanding of their Khmer neighbours. Several close friendships were formed.

In June 2001, Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre began teaching its clients daily Living Values classes. The majority of the clients have been very receptive and have enjoyed exploring values in a creative way. They have enjoyed discussing the values in small groups and creating mind maps. It has been a special experience for the three Vietnamese educators who are working with the clients. The educators' hearts have been touched by the depth of the clients' feelings for the values. The participants also enjoy the relaxation exercises where they have the opportunity to reflect silently on the values.

Twelve teachers from "Schools of Love" in HCM City who participated in a LVE training in June are now conducting weekly Living Values classes. Many of their students are called "plastic-bag-children" as they earn money collecting plastic bags from the rubbish dump. The children are generally from extremely difficult backgrounds with a number of their parents addicted to heroin and involved in crime. The teachers were inspired by the Living Values training and this inspiration increased on introducing the program in their classes. The students have already begun to show increased co-operation and unity during the lessons and are very enthusiastic to participate in the activities. The teachers have produced several plays on living values which has encouraged the children and created enthusiasm in them for future plays. In a recent class, one teacher introduced the value of love to her class of children from at-risk backgrounds. The children's eyes were opened to a wide and new variety of ways to share and give love - not just to their family but also to the community. Many of them are now inspired to help develop their country and community.

In October 2001 we held a two-day training with a group of physically challenged men and women - several were blind and some unable to walk. The talented group participated with great enthusiasm in the activities and are now very motivated to teach others. One of the blind men shared that during the visualisation exercise he was able to see and was no longer blind.

In September a group of 45 educators at Nee Son, a government drug rehabilitation Centre that is home to 600 drug-addicted youth, gathered together for a two-day LVE training. Although all the educators were positive about the living values activities, some of the educators were a little surprised at the participatory approach LVE embraces as they were used to the teacher-centred approach. Following the training, the drug centre began to pilot LVE with two groups of 100 clients.

In October we conducted 2 two-day LVE trainings with teachers of street children and children-at-risk. A total of 190 teachers participated in the trainings. The teachers were inspired by the interactive approach to teaching values and established plans to incorporate LVE in their curriculums.

On the 27th and 28th of November 2001, we conducted a two-day training with a group from the communist youth league. Now, the very creative and dynamic group are going to offer regular classes in LVE HCM City 's local youth cultural house.

On the 24 and 25th of November we held a two-day LVE training at the HCM City Youth Cultural House with the club co-ordinators. Now, the English club with 500 members will hold monthly LVE classes. The social work club, culture club and internet club will also begin using the LVE program.

Also in November, a group of 65 enthusiastic educators attended a LVE TTT in a suburb of HCM City. They now aim to visit the provinces and share the program with youth and educators there.

LVE in Hanoi, December 2001 - June 2002

In March we held a two-day training on LVE and with 40 educators from "06" and "05" (06 is a drug rehabilitation centre for 500 young men who were addicted to heroin - 33% are HIV-Positive and 05 is a rehabilitation centre for 600 former female sex-workers of whom 50% are HIV-Positive). We also spent two hours working with a group of 50 clients at “06” They particularly enjoyed the activities on positive thinking, relaxation and changing thoughts.

In May, Khanh the Hanoi LVE trainer conducted another training with 45 educators in another drug rehabilitation centre near Hanoi. The Centres have asked Khanh to visit them monthly for LVE demonstration classes and implementation advice.

Khanh has facilitated LVE trainings for teachers of two orphanages, teachers of street children and trainee teachers from the Teacher’s Training College . After they began using the activities with their students, the teacher’s from the training college shared that the students were very enthusiastic to have more classes using the LVE activities and that they enjoyed interacting with each other and sharing ideas.

In May, HTV (Hanoi Television) filmed LVE classes at the Dien Tien Hoang High School which will be aired on national television in June.

In May, LVE was formally invited by the Ministry for Prevention of “Social Evils” to conduct trainings in LVE for educators at the numerous drug rehabilitation centres in and around Hanoi.

LVE in Hanoi, November 2000 - November 2001

We held a one day training with UNICEF staff in Hanoi in early February. The participants enjoyed the training and found it to be very team building oriented. UNICEF is considering using LVE in the future.

In early February 2001 in Hanoi, 40 psychiatrists and educators were introduced to LVE during a three-hour seminar. The participants found the programme very practical and interesting. One of the participants, a principal of a local school, decided to implement the program immediately throughout her school.

In May, 45 teachers from a private high school gathered together for a two-day LVE training. They were surprised that teaching values could be so much fun and involve so much of the students’ participation. Following the training, the school began incorporating LVE into its lessons.

In May, 67 teachers from Dien Tinh Hoang People Founded High School in Hanoi attended a two-day LVE training. The majority of the students attending the school are 'at-risk' and have generally been expelled from several others schools before enrolling at Dien Tinh Hoang. Drugs and crime are major challenges the school faces. Under the initiative of the school principal, LVE is being taught in every class and to all of the 1500 students. In August the LVE trainers returned to the school to observe one of the teachers conducting living values with her class of 50 students. It was a beautiful experience to see the youth share deeply and openly on what respect meant to them. Following the sharing the youth created colorful mind-maps on respect.

In August 98 teachers from a public high school spent two days participating in the LVE educator training. The training was aired on national television and many of the teachers that participated in the training said they were inspired by the new approach to teaching values.

From November 2001, Khanh, a psychologist and LVE trainer began conducting four LVE demonstration classes per month with the students at Dien Tien Hoang High School. The school will invite principals and teachers from schools in Hanoi to attend the classes to promote LVE and to give them a live demonstration of how LVE works in the classroom. The classes also aim to give the teachers at Dien Tien Hoang a greater understanding of the student-centered approach that LVE embraces. This is totally new to them. In November 2001, The National Television Station filmed and aired a half hour documentary on LVE at Dien Tien Hoang High School and focused on the value of love.

In November 2001, LVE trainers travelled to a province North of Hanoi for a one day LVE training with a group of 45 doctors and nurses. The training is part of a project conducted by Dr Kiet, a psychologist with which we have been working. The project aims to help reduce the high incidents of suicide and domestic violence in the district.

Impact

July 2002 — June 2004

LVE has worked with Hanoi’s Dien Tien Hoang High School since 2001. The school’s 1200 students participate in weekly LVEP classes. LVEP is not only useful for the students — teachers at the school share that LVEP helps them in there own lives and has much improved communication between teachers and students. One teacher shared, “I now have much more understanding and tolerance in both my relationships with the staff and students here at school and at home with my family.”

Peer educators that participated in Four-Day LVEP training at Nhi Xuan Centre, TP HCM in April 2004 share:

Children at Risk

Kim Phung, a HCM City-based teacher of children at risk shared, “Myself and my colleagues are very interested in applying LVEP with our students. The students are now speaking more sweetly, (using less bad-language & slang) their eyes and faces have become more friendly, they are willing to shakes hands with us, there are almost never any conflicts between the students and on the rare occasion when a conflict occurs it is easily resolved. They are more confident and their concentration has increased a lot. The students’ behavior is more constructive amongst themselves and with us and we, the teachers, are really happy about that!”

Street Children Program

The following feedback is from a teacher that teaches a group of 30 students who mostly do have places they can sleep with parents or relatives, (Many of these parents are drug users or sex workers.) Yet, the children are forced to spend most of their time on the streets selling lottery tickets. The teachers shares that before using Living Values Activities for Street Children with her students, they were very aggressive with frequent fighting, couldn’t cooperate with each other, gathered in groups and got into trouble and were very afraid of strangers. After LVEP’s activities for street children they are now confident and friendly with adults and their peers. There is almost no conflict in the classes and they now do not get into trouble after school either. The students have also developed many skits on how to keep safe from dangerous adults and really enjoy performing them. Now when they are on the streets and see children that are new to the streets they give support and advice to the new children and invite them to meet their teacher and join their classes. The teacher has also shared with the children how much she herself benefited from the LVEP training for Street Children Facilitators and has encouraged them to learn some English so that if one day, Diane Tillman, the trainer, or another foreign trainer visits their school, the children will be able to say hello to them!

Feedback from Parents

January 2001 — June 2002

Feedback from social workers working with street children who attended a training in Hanoi indicates that the activities are fun and the children often share deep and beautiful ideas during the classes.
Teachers piloting the activities as part of the civic education pilot comment that not only do the students find the activities much more interesting than the traditional civic education activities, the teachers themselves also enjoy teaching the program. The students also say that they appreciate the opportunity to share their ideas on the values and to work in groups and discuss the values more deeply.
An educator from Dalat (North of HCM City) that attended a LVE training in 2001 shared that she has been implementing the program with an age range of 3 years through to 70 years. She had a special experience when she used LVE with it with a group of 200 older people – some were 70 years plus. She said the participants were very touched by the activities and they developed a lot more self respect and confidence. The educator found that older participants had wonderful creativity and put together an amazing exposition of their peace cakes and other activities.
The Director of the Ba Vi “06” Drug Rehabilitation Centre shared that implementation of LVE has gone smoothly and the clients have become more peaceful as a result of participating in the activities.
Educators of children-at-risk in HCM City have shared that they are surprised at the depth of the students understanding on values and that the children can understand the activities much more quickly than expected.
Teachers working with children-at-risk have reported that the small children particularly enjoy the focusing activities on silence and becoming still inside.
Red Cross in Hanoi shared that they are using the values activities widely in the trainings they conduct in the community in Hanoi and the surrounding areas.
The Director of the Nam Dinh Medical Centre shared that following the LVE he and his staff attended, they have been applying LVE in community centres throughout the provinces. He feels that LVE is very helpful in healing conflicts in family relationships and can help people overcome relapses of depression.

Experiences of Clients who have attended the Living Values Program at HCM City’s Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre

"The course woke up the values that I already have inside. Those are the point of view of life : love, respect for others , self respect and valuing the goodness that people give to me. From the values I learn such as peace, responsibility, love, etc. I feel that responsibility is the one I like the most. I have a responsibility towards myself and towards everyone. My relationship with the facilitator is closer, there is more understanding, it’s easier to share; not only in the class but also out of the class. I can share my feelings with the facilitator more openly. This is also a living value that I learned. There is not such program in High School and universities. But when I entered Thanh Da Center, I was given a deep knowledge of the outside world as well as my inner world. I would like to study more this program for the rest of the time. Thank you very much for the zeal and enthusiasm of our facilitator". Mr. Ha.
"Two months is a short time but through this course I feel somehow that my words, thoughts and actions have changed. Everyday I go to the class for a short time but I experience a lot from the lessons. Through these classes I really realized the value of life and the value of myself. Values that were sleeping for a long time in my mind such as responsibility, love, determination, effort making, etc., have been awakened. I worry about whether or not these values will stay awake forever or will go back to sleep one day. These are very practical things and useful for my life both in the present and in the future. I am grateful to the people who guided me and supported me". Mr. Kien
Miss Van, an educator at Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Centre for youth in recovery from heroin addictions shared the following:

"Thanh Da Drug Rehabilitation Center in HCM City has been implementing LVE since the beginning of July, 2001. We are finding that it has many advantages for both the clients in recovery and the educators. For the facilitators, LVE is a complete program – it contains ready to use lesson plans and so we are able to save planning time. While teaching LVE, we, the facilitators also have the opportunity to learn values and improve ourselves. We teach the values and develop them more fully in our own lives.

For the clients, LVE helps them to become more open because the teaching method and discussion questions encourage them to share their own ideas. They feel happy to see their opinions are accepted and gradually they become more confident in themselves and life to share their ideas. Sometimes, if they feel we, the facilitators are talking too much they put their faces down or look away. The clients also enjoy seeing the slogans and pictures they have drawn being displayed on the walls. They behave better among themselves and to others including the guards and other rehabilitation staff.

One client, Phong, spoke emotionally before leaving the center saying that the program woke up something beautiful inside him. He was very happy to learn that positive values are inherent in everyone and that although they may get covered over by negative layers through the LVE program we can wake them up again. Phong also said that the classes had enabled him to change a lot – he was now happier, more confident, more self satisfied and as a result he enjoyed having fun with his roommates. He laughed more, felt lighter, more comfortable and his friendships improved a lot. His room was now full of laughter and happiness."
Miss Tuei, an educator at Thanh Da:

"The Living Values has offered the clients a fresh and new approach to exploring values which the majority of the clients have accepted very openly. The activities where the students work in groups has helped to foster close trusting relationships among clients and also developed relationship between the clients and the educators. The lessons include a wide variety of participatory activities such as games, drawing, songs and role plays which makes the lessons fun and the clients enjoy the variety. Sometimes, initially the clients find it difficult to concentrate in the reflection and stress relaxation exercises but gradually they begin to relax and enjoy them. The activities are divided into clear lesson plans and so it saves the educators planning time. I have noticed that since learning living values the clients are better behaved, more mature, and the atmosphere in the Centre has become calmer. A few clients are reluctant to participate at first but usually with the encouragement of the educators join the classes. I feel the Living Values activities help awaken the positive values in the clients and bring them to life again.