Hungary Country Report - Europe

Hírlevelei Newsletters

A B. É. K. E. Hírlevelei magyarul. Megjelenik évente.

XVIII. évfolyam 1. szám 2024.Március
XVII. évfolyam 1. szám 2023.Március
XVI. évfolyam 1. szám 2022.Március
XV. évfolyam 1. szám 2021.Március
XIV. évfolyam 1. szám 2020.Március
XIII. évfolyam 2. szám 2019. Szeptember
XIII. évfolyam 1. szám 2019. Március
XII. évfolyam 2. szám 2018. Szeptember
XII. évfolyam 1. szám 2018. Március
XI. évfolyam 2. szám 2017. Szeptember
XI. évfolyam 1. szám 2017.Március
X. évfolyam 2. szám 2016. Szeptember
X. évfolyam 1. szám 2016. Február
IX. évfolyam 2. szám 2015. Szeptember
IX. évfolyam 1. szám 2015. Február
VIII. évfolyam 2. szám 2014. Október
VIII. évfolyam 1. szám 2014. Február
VII. évfolyam 2. szám 2013. Szeptember
VII. évfolyam 1. szám 2013. Február
VI. évfolyam 2. szám 2012. Szeptember
VI. évfolyam 1. szám 2012. Február
V. évfolyam 2. szám 2011. Szeptember
V. évfolyam 1. szám 2011. Február
IV. évfolyam 2. szám 2010. Szeptember
IV. évfolyam 1. szám 2010. Március
III. évfolyam 2. szám, 2009. Szeptember
III. évfolyam 1. szám, 2009. Március
II. évfolyam 2. szám
II. évfolyam 1. szám
I. évfolyam 2. szám
I. évfolyam 1. szám

 

2024

LVE activities in Hungary between January and April

Like every year, we issued our newsletter early 2024 so as to give a brief report of our activities conducted in 2023.

 

Community Centre Programs

This year, as we have done for many years, we continued our fortnightly or monthly programs in Komló (Creative Thoughts Club), Dési Huber Community Center in Budapest (Club for Parents and Seniors), and in our Community Center Senior Club in Érd. The organisers of the Curie Foundation highly appreciate our help. We repeatedly took part in the countrywide competition of environmental protection. We offered our assistance in the same way we have done previously.

In Komló (Creative Thoughts Club) celebrating International Women’s Day. The main theme was Respect.

 

'Filling up the Spirit' Program

In October 2023, we launched a new course in the Community Center of Pestszentimre, titled ’Filling up the Spirit’. This program has been dedicated to expecting or new mothers and takes one hour weekly. The mothers can bring their little children (from 0 to 2 years) along as well. This same program was started in early 2024 in two other community centers - Dési Huber (once a week) and Kondorosi (once a month).

The logo for 'Filling up the Spirit' - a new course for expecting and new mothers.

'Filling up the Spirit' workshop in the Community Centre of Pestszentimre.

 

'The Soul of a Nation' Book Launch

In April, 2024 Mr. Jean-Pierre Polanen got in touch with us through the World Values Day. He is from Suriname, however, has settled here, in Hungary. His conviction is to make our values living the most important way to change our world for the better. He is the author of the book ’The Soul of a Nation’ and invited us (B.É.K.E.) to the launch of his book in Miskolc (a big town in northern Hungary), giving us the possibility to introduce LVE. He would like to cooperate with us.

April 2024: The launch of 'The Soul of a Nation' book by Mr. Jean-Pierre Polanen in Miskolc, Hungary, where B.É.K.E. was invited to join in.

 

World Values Day 2024

In October 2024, we intend to continue contributing to the success of programmes of World Values Day, in our usual way. We hope at least one school can join us as well. The topic of this year is ’Bringing Values to Life’.

We keep on searching for new possibilities as we are ready to face challenges in 2024.

 

 

2023

As our Association for Living Values (B.É.K.E.) intended to take part in the program announced by WVD also this year, we studied their web page accordingly. It was a great pleasure to find the campaign recommendation of 100 days. Though we modified the original concept, but the 4 categories i.e. Society, Nature, Ecomony, Well Being were left unchanged. During 15 weeks we sent out challenges, one task/activity per week and the categories were altered week by week. The major part of the tasks was devised by us. The participants were requested to complete the task (activity) of the given week and describe the good features of theirs (values) they recognised during the accomplishment. We wanted them to realise and use their values consciously. The general logo and the invitation were created by us, as well. The same logo was used for the 4 categories, but the enscriptions differed.

The invitation informed the people that anyone can join the campaign at any time and the best works would be exhibited in the same Dési Huber Community Center, where we had organized our previous WVD exhibition in 2020.

We posted the challenges (activities) on our Facebook page and sent them in e-mails to the potential participants. 3 community centers cooperated with us in the announcement of the projekt and of the weekly activities i.e, Dési, in Budapest, Szepes Gyula, in Érd and the House of Communities, in Komló. Their staff placed the description of the campaign on their bulletin boards, sent out e-mails and/or posted on their Facebook pages. The same was done by some people of our acquaintanceship. Many people read the tasks, but few of them sent us their experiences. Prior to the World Value Day we assigned a closing task to the members of our 4 groups (2 in Budapest, 2 in the countryside). The participants were asked to colour mandalas and answer questions in writing in the meantime.

These questions covered their own personalities, qualities and values, in different approaches. Not all participants of this final meeting had taken part in the completion of the campaign challenges previously, but all of them had been visiting the LVE meetings. The answers were very interesting and diverse.

Montage about Economy

A part of the tree of good things Kandó Primary School

The invitaion reached at least 800-1000 people. Approximately 100 of them sent us reports and photos, including about 80 pupils, for whom the tasks were chosen from the original WVD recommendations.

After the 100th day we started to post the best works (written completion tasks and photos received weekly) on our Facebook page. These ones will be the basis of the exhibition we plan for the year of 2024.

 

Both for the organisers and the participants the campaign meant a plenty of experiences and pleasure. This was told not only by those, who had sent us reports. It was an interesting experience, too, that some people who did not complete the tasks, however, read them regularly, kept on thinking about them and involved that activity in their everyday actions. E.g. one of the challenges covered picking up garbage on the streets or anywhere else. Some people told us that they had been acting accordingly since they had seen the description of the task. Another examples: some people started to spare water; use eco- and pursefriendly detergents. Others have been paying more attention to ensure 'my time' regularly, etc.

The organisation of the campaign was put through by a team consisting of 3 persons, who had cooperated in other projects previously. In the elaboration of the tasks took part some more people. The members of the organising team completed the major part of the challenges. During the activities they also focused on recognising values they used, reinforcing those this way. Some of our/their comments are as follows.

- It was a very pleasant experience to find the project (WVD), to find out the Hungarian version, to create its contents and form and even the accomplishment of the campaign itself.

- In course of these activities we used our ability to cooperate with others and the skills of identifying things, our watchfulness and creativity, sense of proportion, cheerfulness, ability of simplification, sense of taste, etc.

- Use of our values meant severe assistance in completing a succesful project, such as patience (if we had to explain something), acceptance (if somebody was not willing to do exactly that task what we asked for in that period of time), flexibility, clearing up misunderstandings in a gentle way, etc.

- It was another important element of the project's success that we had open-minded, responsive, helpful, proactive, flexible and team player partners. This fact inspired us, increased our creativity in finding further ideas.

- On receipt of the reports and photos we recognised activities we had not thought of at the time of compiling the challenge. E.g. Picking over the contents of the selective waste bin; collecting the waste of the office and placing in the central garbage can (it was not the part of the job of that person); insecticide in case of ant invasion that helps to avoid that neighbouring flats would be overrun by them, etc.

- We watched even ourselves, how we changed simultaneously with the alteration of the original conception and whilst the basic idea became clearer and wider, we caught sight of the further possibilities, etc.

- We also watched the alteration of those people, who were completing the tasks continuously. Due to the continuity, the attention of the person was more focusing on goodness. Feeling good and feeling the power also became continuous, as well as understanding others and herself/himself.

- In several cases we helped the understanding of the participants by having talks about the themes with them.

- All the members of the groups enjoyed the a.m. closing task (colouring mandalas simultaneously with answering questions). As a member of a team it was evident that each person fulfilled this double exercise, but people alone (at home) hardly started to complete it.

- Each member of the organizing team asked me to mention here that they had enjoyed each moment of the common work as well as I had myself (the author of the report).

- A further special benefit of our campaign is that another association, also involved in values, can make use of the program we compiled, on their own area (public health).

Zsófia Fried
Member of the organising team
Chairman of B.É.K.E.  

 

 

2022

In some ways the year of 2022 was still an irregular one. On the one hand some communities gave up their involvement in Living Values (LV) activities. First of all the schools were affected, as the on-line education significantly exhausted the teachers' energy and time due to the new tutorial methods required. On the other hand the majority of the LV group members who returned, generally after the period of on-line meetings, reached a certain maturity level. They realized what a pleasure was to focus on themselves. They understood, the first step to help (give something to) others was to 'tidy up' their own condition i.e. mental and physical wellbeing. It was - it is! - absolutely necessary for identifying others' needs.

Let's see some examples.

We'll start with those who returned. Before Christmas there was an unprecedented stuff happening in the life of the pensioners' group (formed in 2016) of LV. On 21st December the facilitator got ill. The members arrived at the regular meeting and faced this sad fact. BUT, instead of going home they decided the following. Let's quote their reports about the event sent the same evening to the facilitator.

 

Àgi, who joined the group only a bit earlier wrote:

"If you had been there at the appointment as a silent observer, I'm sure, you would have been satisfied with your 'disciples'. The two veterans of the team i.e. Magdi and Józsi conducted a very pleasant meeting in the same spirit and technics as you usually did. Perhaps I may declare on behalf of us all that we had a very good time together. I hereby thank you for the meetings I took part in hitherto. Thinking over the questions put there, I often realised new aspects of things. Without you and my group mates I would never have achieved such results."

 

Zsuzsa who joined the group some years ago described the events of that afternoon as follows:

"When we got to know the bad news about our facilitator, we looked one another helplessly: Should we go home instead of the expected pleasant two hours of the meeting? Józsi, however, kindly invited everybody to the adjacent patisserie. But Magdi told us: - Before that come with me and let's sit down in our usual meeting room for a while! We agreed and did so. The round table was soon covered by chocolate (thanks to Magdi) and other sweetness (thanks to Ági). Whilst noshing, Magdi was telling us what 'technics' she had applied some days before to clarify a problem with a family member of her. We put questions and told our opinions, as we always did. Then Józsi opened his bottomless pockets and put some candles (with L.E.D. light) on the table. Everybody had to choose one and Józsi attached one value to each candle. We had to tell what the value we got meant to us. Faith, hope, joy and love. As the number of those present was more than the advent candles we added some more values. We listened to the personal stories and memories of our group mates with smiles or tears, depending on what they imparted to us in connection with the given value."

 

Zsuzsa who joined the group some years ago described the events of that afternoon as follows:

A bit later arrived Erzsike (she joined the group a few years ago), whom we greeted with great ovation. We continued the conversation, we spoke about the famous question: "Whether the glass was half full or it was half empty." Józsi told us which approach he liked the most: It was half full and how much room remained inside to fill it with joy, pleasure and beauty! The next point of our conversation was the forthcoming Christmas. Everybody gave an account of his/her preparations and expectations. Of course, the stories of some previous Christmas, the relevant memories of our childhood were also revealed. The pleasures and difficulties of gift giving also belonged to this topic. Two hours were sliding away and we started to prepare ourselves to say goodbye. I am sure, all of us felt that we became richer again. As a result of our facilitator's matchless initiative and organizing skills, a splendid team was born some years ago and newcomers have increased the headcount since then. And we are happy to meet every second Wednesday so as to benefit by the time we have together.

 

Magdi, one of our veterans:

"Dear Zsófi, You (the facilitator of the group) always emhasized the following key sentence of the life: Look for the good in everything! We did so and it was a very good teamwork. The photos were taken by Zsuzsa, the honorary photographer of the group, consequently she cannot be seen on them. Let's go back to our previous meeting in this group in early December. In the spirit of the preparations for Christmas we were discussing and emphasizing how important it was (perhaps the most important thing), besides the physical arrangements, to pay attention to our mental outfit. It is the key to ensure that the feast of love would really represent love, understanding and honour of the others instead of accumulated stress."

 

****

 

And now let's see the new community.

The same person, namely Ágnes Szűcs, who had started the Living Values occupations in the 9th district of Budapest, in the frame of the programme organized for the elderly people 7 years ago, started a similar one in Érd, a town very close to Budapest. Thanks to her organizing skills and the openness of the local people, the 'core' is just being formed. The people belonging to it are more and more interested in getting acquainted with their own personalities. Even an article of the local newspaper gave account of their activity, with the title, 'The measure is: Value.'

 

Some photos of their activities that are amusing and playful conversations including, however, deep contents.

Every group prepared it's Peace Cake from their own 'values' and then...

They created these little boots for their family members for Christmas.

 

****

 

Let's have now some curiosities about the Creative Thoughts Club of Komló, which has been active and even renewed for 10 years. Their regular meetings take place every second week. They created a group in Facebook so as to enable all people to participate in. Those ones, who moved to another place or a certain change in their life or health conditions prevented them in personal presence, could, however, communicate with the others this way. Due to such hindering factors as mentioned above, the elaboration of a simultaneous on-line access to the meetings is under progress. Although there are these castles from papers, BUT they show their creativity and fantasy.

Although there are these castles from papers, BUT they show their creativity and fantasy.

 

Lastly, let's quote the ars poetica of 3 facilitators and LV trainers of the group (Andi, Ibolya and Edit): In our opinion, nowadays it is a great value to belong to such a community and to maintain that. Our group, therefore, continues the service it was founded for. Even if only one person will be interested in that we can ensure.

 

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."

~ Winston Churchill

2021

1. Creative Thoughts Club of Komló

Preparations for Christmas in different ways  

Creativity on high level

Some participants of one of the summer excursions  

Many 'secrets' were revealed on these hearts and everybody was happy to read them.

 

2. In the wake of our Values...

On 20th October our group, which started its activity in 2016 in the local Cultural Center in Budapest, in the frame of 'Towards completeness"¦' program for golden age (elderly) people, supported by the Municipality, also celebrated the WVD. The topic of the festive occasion was 'freedom'.

Some ideas about this phrase: what freedom means for the group members?

• In my life I feel freedom, when nobody hinders me in my activities and way of living, nor do I towards the others.
• In my point of view freedom equals to liberation, as well as acceptance and even self-acceptance. Liberation i. e. getting rid of bad  habits, conditionings, expectations,  on the level of thoughts, feelings and even physically. This  should be followed by  acquiring good habits and good conditionings and adopting them in the everyday life.
• Definition of freedom: activities and way of life without outer control and obligations. In optimal cases regulation is based on a healthy inner or self-control of the person.

After listening to the group mates' opinions, we discussed and agreed that the freedom of the individual depended only on the individual. How they approach people and things; how they see and assess themselves, others, things and situations. And first of all: are they able to prioritize good and precious features of their own over weakness and lapses.

One of our group-mates (perhaps with the longest membership) represents a good example, how our companions may support one another in waking our values. When somebody fails to recognize his/her own values, this mate of ours always finds the kindest and acceptable way of pointing out to these values. This is why, among others, our group is a very special one.  

 

3. On-line Parents' Group

The originally planned date of our festive on-line Parents' Group meeting was 21st October, but we had to postpone it to 11th November because of the sickness of some members. In spite of this we 'pre-celebrated' WVD with 3 mothers with small children by telling the importance of this on-line group, which has been existing for 1 and a half year. They agreed that all the things they learned in the group mean so much in the everyday life of their family. Perhaps this is why we altered the frequency of our monthly meetings to 2 weeks appointments. The kindest point of the "žcelebration" was, when they were speaking about the qualities they recognised in their group-mates. They also told how much they learned from one another.

The topic of the originally planned festive meeting was very special: From compunction clear conscience. This topic in accordance with the main theme of the current WVD.

During the previous meetings came up the topic of compunction. These were good opportunities to examine, how we could transform our bad and hurting thoughts and feelings caused by compunction. In connection with the actual events mentioned by the group members, we discussed, how to treat the ill effects of compunction (shame, rage etc.) so as to avoid these bad feelings would become dominant. When we feel guilty, we keep on sinking in this feeling instead of getting rid thereof. If we can, however, 'look behind' the compunction, we are able to change our attitude to the situation, to ourselves and also to the others. This way the bad feelings of every person concerned can be terminated and things can be set straight. This is a process that may reconnect us to our values, good feelings as well as our inner peace and calmness.

The time-span of one meeting was not enough to entirely discuss the topic, it will be continued at our next meeting in two weeks, to be based on the own 'experiments' and exercises of the group members.

Several members of the on-line group regularly attended the actual 'live' meetings of the parents previously.

 

 

2020 - World Values Day

You can view the 2020 World Values Day activities on the Living Values Education YouTube channel here.

A 2020. október 15-én tartott World Values Day 2020 alkalmából a BelsÅ‘ Értékeinket Kibontakoztató Egyesület (B.É.K.E.) és a IX. kerületi Dési Huber István MűvelÅ‘dési Ház közös szervezésében megrendezett kiállítás kedvcsinálónak született, hogy lássuk, hogy az.

 

2020 - A Very Special Year

  

 

So many originators and helpers did their best to give rise to this exhibition, so we are eager to show it to as much people as possible, so that they can enjoy and appreciate not only the artworks, but also the pure intention of the creators. 

We hope that the year of 2021 will provide more 'live' and personal occasions and possibilities to promote the mission we launched with the LVE program 20 years ago in Hungary, to wider range of people. 

We wish to express our thanks to everyone supporting us and being our partner in our objective and intention in the whole year.

Zsófia Fried

 

2019

ALIVE Inspires Celebration of World Values Day 2019

We were delighted to receive the following report from Edina Szász, a teacher of English as a Foreign Language at Kandó Primary School, Budapest, Hungary.

"I first heard about World Values Day (WVD) in the autumn of 2019. I was inspired by the video made by the President and the other Members of ALIVE to make a World Values Day Exhibition. First, I asked my students what was precious in their life. The first answer was 'a smartphone' and others replied similarly. So I then asked: 'What human values make your life nice and (school) work efficient?' The three most common answers were 'family', 'friends' and 'diligence'. Then I asked them whether they had heard about World Values Day. Although they had marked several world and national days (such as World Animal Day, World Water Day, Earth Day, World Wetlands Day, European Day of Languages, Hungarian Poetry Day, International Music Day, Birds and Arbour Day and Mountain Clean-up Day) World Values Day was new for them. I gave a short introduction about ALIVE and the 12 values and we watched the ALIVE WVD video. The children enjoyed the video and they were delighted to see the Hungarian participants. When I asked who felt like making a values mini-poster for a school exhibition (similar to the ones in the video), one-third of my students (aged 9-14) showed interest.

"I did not want to restrict my students' creativity, so I gave only three criteria: they had to write the value word in English on A4 size paper and decorate it or draw on it by 15 October.

"The task was assigned as a 'free choice homework' (non-compulsory, additional homework) and parents were informed about it. I was happy to hear that parents supported the idea and the children were looking forward to the display of their work. We put the posters on the corridor wall panel, which is one of our exhibition areas. On World Values Day (17 October), I 'visited' the exhibition of 34 mini-posters with my students. Though it was a short walk from the classroom to the corridor, it was a special event for the children and they created some beautiful and meaningful displays.

 

Posters created by the students, ages 9 - 14, in support of World Values Day

 

"One of the best things was that children with different perspectives were peacefully looking at the exhibition and politely sharing their opinion with me and the others. It was a wonderful break; we left routine school life behind us for some joyful minutes and were entranced by the magic world of values and art."

 

2018-2019

Living Values Education (LVE) in the curriculum of the Teachers Training at the University of Neumann János in Kecskemét (Hungary)

In 2018, in Summer time I met a Professor for psychology at a meeting of the Committee for talented students. She gave me her business card. A few months later when we finished our current newsletter and I sent it to her s well. After a few weeks I got a letter from her, in which she invited me to talk about how we were able to put LVE into the curriculum of the Teacher Trainings at the University, where she taught. I was very surprised, although I had known for a long time that the LVE needed to be in the curriculum of the teachers trainings everywhere, because it could help a lot to develop the personality of the student to be a teacher. 

Before I had been looking for many similar possibilities, but I was not successful. 

After a short time we met again and immediately our ideas met, and she suggested  to start with the course in February, didn't wait for the next school year. She and I wanted to do it as a subject for 2 years and at the end the students would have got the certificate as a LVE trainers. But we got the permission only for a one semester subject. I got a chance to visit some classrooms to introduce our idea. I got a free hand and I put together the curriculum, and it was announced as a chosen subject once a week 2x45 minutes. It was surprised for me again when the number of applicants was the maximum. The same happened to the next 3 semesters also. It was only a few who dropped out and didn't finish the course.

I have had a lot observations. In every semester I asked them why they had chosen this course, the answer was always the same. At the University they didn't have any similar subject, where they would have been able to prepare their personalities for their future job. At the end of the course I've asked their feedback. Most of them wrote that they liked this course, and they wanted to continue it. Because the basic of the LVE the practice, so I put together practical tasks for them, which they could practice and use in the classrooms, at home and in their whole life. Usually what we did it was a big opportunity for them to learn about themselves a lot. 

In the last semester I was asked to give the course to the correspondence students also. It was a big challenge, because before I had never done such a course in that way. This subject requires personal, face to face meetings. According to their curriculum we could meet personally  each other only at the end of the course for two times for a 4x 45 minutes. That is nothing at a course where we want to develope  the personalities. So what I found out that in every 10 days I send them some tasks in connection with the most important values, like peace, respect, cooperation, etc. to practice and to make experiments and they had to send me a report about their experiencies. I knew that "žthe paper sticks to everything", but who has facilitated such a course for a long time was able to read between the lines. The main thing was that they got an opportunity to deal with themselves and somehow they had to deal and put together a report. If they wanted to learn they could do it. 

It's a pity that our possibility finished in 2019, because some teachers have been terminated - amongst them the Professor also -, the reason was that the number of the students decreased a lot.  

I hope sooner or later we can get an another opportunity to facilitate similar courses for students who would like to become teachers. I think for a teacher -especially who teaches students until the age of 18 - much more important to be a prepared personality for his/her profession, than to be very excellent in her/his subjects.

 

I wanted to give them the best, so I forgot  to take photos many times. But here you can see some pictures, which can show you how they felt themselves during the lessons.

 

Fried Zsófia LVE trainer

 

Cooperation 2

Cooperation 1

Love 1

Love 2

Honesty

Lessons with Correspondent Students

 

2017

Feeling Cared For after a Caring for Ourselves Workshop

"Our LVE association was requested to conduct a six-hour personal developing training for Nyíregyháza House of Children, Kindergarten "Déli" Virág Street," wrote Zsófia Fried, the President of the ALIVE Associate in Hungary, BEKE. "The administration wanted all those involved in the institution to take part, from the caretakers to those in leadership, knowing that everyone needed it. This kindergarten implemented an exemplary action on this day. At the end of the workshop, participants were asked to fill in an evaluation form. The evaluation form, developed by the leaders asked the question: "What are you taking away from here into your everyday life?"

 

Participants mentioned the following: affirmation, recharging, recognition, support to feel better, positive vision, practical methods about self-care, affirmation of my vision, need to change and to transform, take time for myself, listen to myself with more awareness in order to be in balance, guidelines to listen to myself more carefully, optimism, take care of myself more, information that is worthy of contemplation, positive feelings, and to know how to use my goodness. Other comments included: instead of struggle - just do it!, don't be selfish - listen to others not only to myself and be honest with myself and others, the most important is: it is better to give than to receive, we can receive what we give. Others mentioned: strengthening of my life affirmations and my beliefs and upbringing, a great feeling, good and useful advice to help develop positive thinking, good qualities inside me can give me strength, the more good qualities I know about myself the more I can give others, and self-confidence, care about our inner self and positive attitude.

 

When they asked, "Would you like similar trainings like this one? What kind of suggestions do you have?" They received the following answers: Yes, this first experience helps me recognize that further workshops can help support me practically. Yes, let there be more exercises and tasks! Yes, I would like to know how we can use visualization in a kindergarten. How can we do this with children? I'd like to participate in a training like this very much. Yes, I am interested in many things. Yes, I would like to do team building.

It was wonderful to be with open-minded people so eager to learn. We look forward to returning."

2015

Benefits of the Hungarian LVE Newsletter

"Eight years ago, we started an LVE Newsletter in Hungary" reported Sophie Fried, President of the Hungarian Association for Living Values (B.É.K.E.= PEACE). "At that time we were thinking about how to give sustenance to teachers and parents who attended LVE programmes. Because they were living in different parts of the country, it would have been difficult to come together. Yet we wanted to learn from each other and share our experiences. Since then, the function of the newsletters has become broader. Every newsletter has a structure in which everyone can find something relevant. Usually we put some news about our activities, our partners' activities or our mutual activities. There is another part about new trainings and workshops. Then there are sharings from Hungary, LVE activities around the world and news about our LVE Association. Between each section there are slogans about values.

Some of the benefits: Definitely those of us who use LVE know much more about each other than before. Our sharing allows us to grow and we feel that we are not alone. Through the newsletters people can be encouraged to start or do more with LVE. When someone is interested in knowing more about LVE methods or programmes, the newsletter can help them learn - and it creates a connection for the future. Teachers are proud when their writing is published; many send it to their colleagues and friends. All the newsletters are posted on the international website, on our Hungary Country Report page. The newsletter is also a very good tool to introduce LVE activities here and worldwide, and to spread the importance of values in all of our lives.

An additional benefit: From time to time, teachers in Hungary have to put together a portfolio about their professional life and take exams. Last year a teacher who is a member of the Living Values Association in Hungary used her contributions to the newsletters as part of her portfolio. Now she is followed by other teachers. So our newsletters have been useful as a record for what they have done on the field of values. I'm sure that in the future the significance of our newsletters will increase."

2014

To Transfer Knowledge and Human Values - A peace project for talented students at Kandó Primary School

Edina Szász, a teacher of English as a foreign language, shares her experience at Kandó Primary School: "The title of this article is taken from the motto of Kandó Primary School in Budapest, Hungary: 'Our main aim is to transfer knowledge and human values to our students.' This concept means that the teachers want to focus on school subjects as well as human values.

Kandó Primary School is an eco-school, a Talent Point and Pre-qualified Reference Educational Institute. It has 750 students aged 6-14. If a school is a Talent Point, it means that it offers special opportunities for gifted and talented students. Kandó Primary School offers a wide range of activities such as extra English lessons, projects, competitions, after-school lectures and clubs in many fields.

Hungarian children start learning English, according to the National Curriculum, at the age of ten. If they are talented in English, they can have extra English lessons at school. When I plan my English projects for talented children, I follow the motto and I show a preference to "green" and Living Values Education topics. According to my point of view and experience, the functional use of English in the English lesson makes language learning lively.

In my article, I would like to give an account of my PEACE PROJECT. I will answer the questions: With who? Why? How? When? With what results?

I teach English as a Foreign Language to children aged 10-14. The Peace Project was planned for a group of teenagers who showed a talent for English. Because of their talent, they had two extra English lessons a week. It was a great opportunity for them to have five English lessons a week instead of three for in a four-year period, but it was also hard work. About 75% of these students wanted to go to a secondary school specialized in English. My twenty year-8 students, age 14, showed signs of relative agony because of preparing hard for their secondary school entrance examinations. They felt they were in a "squirrel cage" with the everyday primary school routine of going to school, extra lessons and tests, doing homework and preparing for tests before returning to school again. So they construed the Hungarian educational system and life in Hungary as torture for teenagers than a great opportunity. I wanted to change their attitude and give them a positive motivation. How? 

Peace is the foundation of happy life. Peace in our country is natural for our youngsters and that is why they did not appreciate it. Health, family and education are also very important values. It is a typical syndrome that the ones who have them are not grateful for them. I wanted to show my students that Peace is not natural on planet Earth, that they are very lucky that there is no war in Hungary. They also complained about going to school, having extra lessons every day, doing homework, etc. Every Hungarian child must go to primary and secondary school. They think the whole world works like this. It was time to inform them that a huge number of children do not get this chance.

As my students (thanks to our great Information Technology teachers and well-equipped Information Technology classrooms) were taught how to make PowerPoint slideshows, I decided to give them a task to make a PowerPoint presentation or a poster in English focusing on the different aspects of Peace and the lack of Peace. This task can be done only by students with good level of English.

 

The first presentation took place on 11 September 2013. It was the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attack against the USA. I started the Peace Project with a commemoration of 9-11 2001. My students worked in groups. They had to tell the sad events of the day with the help of photos and articles. They had been very young, about 2 years old, when the terrorist attack happened. They told me that after this English lesson many of them watched documentaries or films about that tragic day. The terrifying events touched them and they could easily understand why they should be grateful to have peace in Hungary. I felt this fact would also be a good base to build their inner strength.

I did not want them to leave the classroom in a shock, so our first student presentation took place at the end of that lesson. Éva Molnár made a beautiful poster with peace symbols and the peace prayer of The International Maitreya Project. We displayed this poster on the corridor wall and everybody could read the prayer and see the symbols of peace.

After that lesson we had two to four student presenters every week. Most of the time the presentations took place on Fridays, so Friday became a sort of 'Peace Day'.  The last PowerPoint presentation was mine because I did not want to influence my students. The whole process took about three months. I wanted my students to use their creativity freely. I gave them four criteria: a topic, 10 slides, 3 aspects of their topic (personal life, Hungary, World) and the task was to combine internet information with their creativity. Covering three aspects of a topic was very difficult for them. But this task forced them to think about themselves, their motherland and the world.

I wanted my students to have very interesting English lessons where they could learn as much about our world as possible. "Peace" as a topic is too general. I did not want to see twenty presentations about peace symbols, so I listed some topics the students could choose from.

I find 'shock therapy' useful. It can open people's eyes quickly. Unfortunately seeing the reality on planet Earth can be a shock therapy: wars, terrorism, child soldiers, war orphans, hunger and poverty in Africa, suicide and anorexia in the West.... We had all of these topics in the class. My students were watching with wide open eyes their teenage classmates' presentations about these dreadful things. After the 'shocking reality' presentations, they realised that grade C English or Maths tests or family and school rules cannot be construed as a big tragedy or cruel torture.

As a positive pole, we also had the topic of peace symbols, peace days, peace movements, Nobel Peace Award winners, inner peace and peace in religion, peace monuments, peace prayers, peace walks, peaceful nature and peace songs....

Some words about the results:

My whole English group, included myself, learned a lot about the world during the project. Of course, we improved our English, creativity, and digital and presentation skills. My students could develop their self-esteem. The project widen their knowledge about the world and taught them to appreciate Peace, Health, Family and Education in their life. My students' attitude towards extra tasks and extra lessons also changed after the Peace Project: 90% of them chose to take an English mock-exam higher than their level to test their knowledge before going to their secondary school and preparing for their real intermediate language exam. Unsurprisingly, some of them could pass the B2 mock-exam, and all of them achieved good results at their real English entrance examination of their secondary school. As you see, my student became braver and mentally stronger. I hope the project helped them to be ready to use the opportunities that life offers them.

As the presentation was an English task, I gave them a grade. Though the grades were good, my students were not sure that they did a great job. They thought that I was only good-hearted to them. That is why I was very happy when Zsófia Fried told me that this project with some PowerPoint presentations could be in the newsletter and on the Hungarian Living Values Facebook page. When I wrote a short letter to the parents asking parental consent, I also wrote some basic information about the Living Values Educational Program. I think, it is a good thing if parents know what is going on at school.

The students had to do the research and create the PowerPoint slides at home. They are very lucky to have a computer with Internet at home. They could email it to me for checking before giving the presentation in the class, or they could asked their parents to check it. I think it is good if family members can cooperate.

My English group was also asked to present at least one Peace presentation at our school English PowerPoint Talent Day. On this Talent Day children aged 13-14 present their best English PowerPoint Presentation in front of the students of their year.

While my students were speaking English, they were learning about "the big wide world". They could also see their own life from a different angle. It made them revalue the events of their everyday life.

According to my point of view, extra English lessons are not enough for talented students. They also need a "mental training" which makes them strong enough to reach their full potential and form their social conscience. My students have learned about several people and organizations working on peace and helping people in need. In this way, they may join and work with them or establish new organizations and create new projects in the future. So they may help to make planet Earth a better place to live.

Who helped us in the Peace Project? In general, everybody who has made steps on the path of peace before us and who help people in need. In particular, the supporting parents of my students, our great Information Technology teachers, who taught our students how to make a PowerPoint presentation, our headmistress, Márta Magyar, who determines the principles of our school and continuously develops the institution and promotes innovations. I would like to express my special thanks to LVEP and Zsófia Fried and her team (Living Values Education, Hungary). Zsófia drew my attention on the free peace lesson plans on the website www. livingvalues.net and gave me the book Living Values Activities for Children 8-14 by Diane Tillman. She also emailed a PowerPoint presentation with music that inspired my students. Her team converted my students' PowerPoint slideshows into short videos. One video has nice background music as well. In this way you can see them on our YouTube channel.

2013

Using LVE during Competitions to Remove Children's Worry and Tension

LVE activities have become diversified in Hungary. We are no longer only in schools, kindergartens and parenting groups. An example of this is our work with various competitions and quizzes. Increasingly popular in Hungary, often only the winners enjoyed the competitions. Four years ago, we were asked to resolve this situation! We began by participating in the national finals of an environmental competition organized by the Curie Foundation in the town of Szolnok in Central Hungary with the feeling that everyone could enjoy a competition. Our result was that our inventions reduced children's worry, tension and fear about competitions.

Our approach is different every year. We began with the competition "psychology," helping participants realize that they become enriched with knowledge during the preparation. Focusing on that, they were not disappointed when they did not win in the finals. At other times, we discuss the non-physical aspects of environmental protection: the importance of the quality of our thoughts, feelings and words which create the atmosphere around us. They did well with the understanding that negative thoughts (e.g. we did not win) can also pollute!

We also shared our observations about the good qualities, for example, giving respect, cooperation and simplicity, of the elements of nature (i.e. earth, air, water and fire) throughout activities.  We explored approaching the elements with the same qualities in order to turn them into our friends rather than our "enemies." As a result of these sessions, we were invited by the Bihar Foundation, Földes in Northern Hungary to participate in more children's competitions. The teachers there prepared the sessions conscientiously and with love. We exchanged experiences and suggested that they direct the children's attention to their inner values as a preparation for the competition or ask them to explore how the competition itself could emerge values from the children. The values are enduring and useful in everyday life - lasting far beyond the competition.

Each year, the Hungarian Red Cross organizes a 'first-aid' competition for primary and high school students in the town of Komló in Southern Hungary.  This year's competition brought something new; two of the trainers had a very useful proposal. During breaks, short conversations were held regarding the seven principles developed and used by the Red Cross. We discussed the following: humanity, unity, universality and impartiality.  Questions came up such as, "What kind of human qualities does a good first aid provider have?" and "Did you think about it when you decided to take part in this competition?"

In the spring, the primary school at Kandó tér in Budapest organized an English language competition with the following slogan: "I believe that every person is born with talent." (Maya Angelou) If an event is organized with a slogan like this, the message is clear for all.

Everyone feels like a winner in these competitions. Our LVE association, "B.É.K.E.", helped to fill the time between the competition and the award ceremony. We could feel and see the 'result' from the atmosphere of a group session. See this video

It is important to know that half of the teaching staff of this school had already attended the B.É.KE. (LVE) refresher course; the organization shows that the application used by teachers is efficient. During these workshops, teachers, pupils and parents are mostly together, which is invaluable.  Our next newsletter will show that the effects of these workshops last longer than those of the competitions themselves.

The following was written by one of the teachers participating in this year's Curie competition.

"I tried to remember your words, but only some feelings emerged: calmness, love, and happiness. I remember your present at the end, the tiny plastic diamond. You said we each have values. It has helped me already to motivate myself when I was down. It was also helpful when I tried to inspire a child with disabilities to act in another way, though he believed that he was unable to do so. I realized that he was very good in other activities, and he enjoyed them. I understand now that each of us is a valuable pearl; the angle from which we look at others is important. We are all brilliant from a special view. As teachers we help children to see themselves and be real stars from many different angles. We make them shine."

A Little Girl Reacts to Values Cards

The "Thought Creator Club" has been working for almost a year and a half in the town of Komló in the southern part of Hungary, meeting twice a month. Robert, one of the attendees, is a volunteer in an institute for children with heart problems. Before Christmas time, as always, the club leaders and programme organisers made small cards with thoughts about values for children. The cards were delivered by Robert. He recounts the following story about the cards he distributed.

"I did not really expect anything special to happen during the distribution of the values cards,  but at the end of the celebration I observed a little girl collecting all the cards. I asked what she was doing. Sophie told me that she planned to hang them on her Christmas tree. 'As decorations?' I asked. 'Yes,' she said, 'you know these nice cards must have been written by angels and if I take them home, my daddy in Heaven will see that I love him very much.' As she stared at me with her big eyes, I felt the huge love of this tiny girl. "You know the angels who wrote these cards, don't you?' she asked.  I thought a long time about how to respond but her pressing look demanded an answer and I answered, 'Yes, I know them.'   'It's OK," she said. "Wish them Merry Christmas.' As we spoke, she tucked all the cards into her little bag.

Sophie Fried, President, ALIVE Associate in Hungary

2012

LVE Helps Build Self-Esteem among People Suffering from Mental Illness

 

"In September 2011, I met Melinda Szakács, a social worker and volunteer coordinator for the Moravcsik Foundation," wrote Zsofia Fried, the president of Hungry's LVE Association. "The foundation offers art therapy for people suffering from mental illnesses. I was invited to their special event PSYCHART 24, where many people (not only patients) had the opportunity to paint pictures over a 24-hour period. This event used art expression to reduce discrimination and prejudice against people with mental illness. Our LVE association (B.E.K.E.) was represented with Virtuescope. Our contribution was very well received and led to monthly values workshops for those who are helped by the Foundation. This is a cooperative initiative between the Moravcsik Foundation and B.E.K.E. After the first workshop, one participant wrote: 'We were asked to get to know our partner by sharing our good qualities. It was a difficult task because none of us had enough self respect or self confidence to positively answer the question: Can you love something in us? It turned out, yes, you can! In the positive, receptive atmosphere, people opened up more and more. Although it was not a compulsory exercise, most of the people said something and felt better as a result.'

 

During a subsequent LVE workshop, participants met in small groups to share their accomplishments and successes attained through the help of the Foundation. Participants were invited to create a beautiful tree featuring the leaves of their successes. The photo shows their very special tree which has been placed in the patient residence where daily activities are carried out."

Zsofia Fried

LVE has been operating continuously in Hungary during the past few years. The variety of different kinds of programs and activities we are engaged in demonstrates the all round role of LVE and practically shows how values impact all areas of life.

The following events occurred recently:

Many educators tell us that they put a greater emphasis on values in their private as well as in their professional lives once trained in the LVE approach. Their number is increasingly growing; they are feel that LVE encourages them, and is a confirmation of the importance of what they are doing. Educators report that working with values reflects the areas (respect, cooperation, etc.)  where they need to make more effort. In addition, LVE also provides very simple methods that create support for everyone. Some educators already familiar with LVE, choose to participate in refresher courses. Some had discovered the LVE guidebook in Hungarian in their school library and used the information to work with values.

Refresher courses for teachers continued through 2011.  At the same time, our program was revised. While integrating our existing experiences, our aim was to make the program even more clear and to use LVE in daily life.

The use of LVE in health care programs at schools is also popular. These are certainly good opportunities to highlight our values. We organise activities around different values and sometimes include a peace corner to show the effect of visualisation.

In the last few years, we have begun organising parents' clubs at schools, nurseries, libraries, and community centres. These generally involve 10 to 12 meetings,
but in some places parents' clubs have been working for four to five years.

 

Our association newsletter has been published twice annually since 2007. It mainly reports national experiences of teachers, educators as well as participants' responses to trainings. These personal experiences also encourage our readers.

We always discuss international news and experiences in our newsletter. For example, webinar conferences and ALIVE Assemblies are reported including web conferences and live events. We also featured Paulo Barros' (editor) Book of Poems - Valores, Poesia e outros Sentimentos, from Forteleza, Brasil. Mr. Barros collected the best poems written by children over a period of ten years. In our newsletter, we published four poems in Hungarian as well as in their original language of Portugese.  In the beginning, we started publishing newsletters with the aim to keep in touch with those who completed the refresher course. Now, the newsletters play other important roles. For instance, they are very good tools for promoting LVE widely and for introducing it to others. A number of people have contacted us based on the articles in the newsletter.

The Curie Foundation organises national competitions for Maths, Chemistry and Environmental Protection for students ages10 to18. In the past four years, our association has been represented regularly by two of its members in the national Environmental Protection competition.  On one hand, we participate as judges, on the other hand, we organise optional activities for children and adults. As a result of our work with the Foundation, we received a request to contribute to the work of the Environmental Talent Care Council. In this way, our association was presented with another opportunity to raise awareness about values in the field of environmental care. We have already organised such a workshop for teachers.

Our sphere of influence extended to a very interesting field starting in the autumn of 2011. We received a request from the Moravcsik Foundation which provides art therapy and work therapy for people with mental disabilities. Since then, we have regularly organised activities for their  clients. One of the participants wrote a short article about LVE activities in the local newspaper.  After publishing this article, some local inhabitants wanted to participate in these activities. This was also made possible with the assistance of the Foundation.

In Hungary, club-like activities have been launched at two locations for adults outside the educational sector.

We continue to make the most of all opportunities to promote LVE.

"In September 2011, I met Melinda Szakács, a social worker and volunteer coordinator for the Moravcsik Foundation," wrote Zsofia Fried, the president of Hungry's LVE Association. "The foundation offers art therapy for people suffering from mental illnesses. I was invited to their special event PSYCHART 24, where many people (not only patients) had the opportunity to paint pictures over a 24-hour period. This event used art expression to reduce discrimination and prejudice against people with mental illness. Our LVE association (B.E.K.E.) was represented with Virtuescope. Our contribution was very well received and led to monthly values workshops for those who are helped by the Foundation. This is a cooperative initiative between the Moravcsik Foundation and B.E.K.E. After the first workshop, one participant wrote: 'We were asked to get to know our partner by sharing our good qualities. It was a difficult task because none of us had enough self respect or self confidence to positively answer the question: Can you love something in us? It turned out, yes, you can! In the positive, receptive atmosphere, people opened up more and more. Although it was not a compulsory exercise, most of the people said something and felt better as a result.'

During a subsequent LVE workshop, participants met in small groups to share their accomplishments and successes attained through the help of the Foundation. Participants were invited to create a beautiful tree featuring the leaves of their successes. The photo shows their very special tree which has been placed in the patient residence where daily activities are carried out."

Zsofia Fried

2008 November

An LVE Parents group on T.V.!

 

A local television station visited the LVE Parent group in October 2008 in Komolo, in the south of Hungary, to film their session. The group began two years ago when parents and kindergarten teachers (including the head-kindergarten teacher) formed a LVE Parent-Teacher Club. According to one teacher, Szabone Andi, the Club provides an excellent opportunity for the parents and educators to know each other on a much deeper level. Most importantly, this partnership benefits the children on a whole new level as well. The parent-teacher meetings go beyond the casual discussions of problems with the children.  This cooperative venture embraces the most important aspects of life, like the relationships with the self, with the family, and with others. Additionally, this parent-teacher coalition has attracted more educators from other local schools.

In the pictures you can see parents and educators engaged in an exercise expressing each other's genuine good qualities.  Every one was very happy to realize how others could see his or her inner good.

ASSOCIATION

In December 2004, the National Association of LivingValues (Association to Develop Our Inner Values) was registred officialy. The acronym for the association, B.É.K.E., means PEACE in Hungarian. From that time all the activities, events of Living Values in Hungary have been organized in the framework of "B.É.K.E.". Our first step was to renewed our permission (accreditation) of refresher course for educators, which was given by the Ministry of Education in June 2005.

REFRESHER (POSTGRADUATE TRAINING) COURSE FOR TEACHERS

In April 1998, we applied to the Ministry of Education for an authorization for a course for teachers (30 hours/4 days) with the title, "Our Inner Values - International Educational Program". The course is for teachers teaching children from 6- to 18-years old at schools. At the end of 1999 we received permission from the Ministry for Education to start the refresher course. In Hungary, every seven years all the teachers have to take courses accredited by the Ministry of Education - up to 120 hours. With the authorization of the Ministry of Education this course became an accredited one.

The first officially accepted refresher course (postgraduate training) was held in Szob at a primary school (Fekete István Általános Iskola) with 30 participants from 23 to 26 June 2000. Sue Emery, the LVE Coordinator in Greece and one of the international trainers, was invited as a trainer. Up until 2007 more than 100 educators (teachers and kindergarten teachers) finished the course.

Many of them started to implement LVE in different ways. Some of them have used the method of integrating LVE into their subjects in the classroom, others have used LVE after school, in special study circles for relaxation, for special values events or in different events of the schools. Some of them have organized summer-camps with values activities with the aim of creating deeper relationships between the teachers and students, and between students.

Till now eight teachers have finished the LVEP TTT (Train The Trainers) in Oxford.

PARENT GROUPS

After some demonstrations in different schools in October 2004 by the initiative of teachers of the primary school Érdi Bolyai János, we started a Parent Group facilitated by Sue Emery. This meeting (with more than 50 parents) was so successful and useful, than we continued the group meetings every month for the whole school year. Two teachers who had finished the refresher course from this school have been the facilitators of this group. During the years we have started with parent groups at different schools, usually where one or more teachers finished the refresher course and felt it significance to involve parents in the education of the children in an unusual, but very effective way with the help of the LVE. In addition, we have a very special parent group in a Public Library, one of the branches of the Central Public Library of the capital (Budapest). Here are some words from the Director of the Library, Horváth Istvánné, which you could read in the Newsletter of the Central Public Library. You can find some pictures about the activities of the parent group in their website. (www.fszek.hu)

Do I need the Living Values?

The parents responded:

""¦we really have to stop, seek and experience our inner values, which strengthen and give us a base of comparison, especially in our daily life full of tensions, expectations and uncertainty."

"These words might be the best to invite young and older parents and grandparents to the paren group lead by Sophie Fried, where our being together means a real recharging (filling up) ourselves, rethinking our opinions and beliefs, which seemed firm and bringing to light many small ideas and making experiments."

"I, who organized these meetings every month since April 2006 and brought up two children with a balanced family background, never thought that I could get some newness from these workshops. But all my doubts disappeared. What has happened? About ten people after their daily work, tried a different means to become themselves. The recipe seems very simple - from the 12 values we have choosen one and analized its meaning. The communcation of those values in our everyday life have given us many challenges, but during the workshops we have known more and more not only about the values and how to use them, but about ourselves, our old habits which could be melt. To think, to "work", to play together as well as the soft music has created such an atmosphere. We have been able to liberate and open ourselves while remianing focused. The real benefit for me is what I have gotten from the others in the group - the joy of sharing, giving a smile or a kind word to each other - and seeing how many different ways we could understand, approach, and look at the same value and the same situation."

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Over the years we have given lectures about LVE, hosted lectures by LVE Trainers from abroad, participated in exhibitions and educational fairs in Hungary and published articles in different newspapers and magazins. This year we have started with a Newsletter for all the teachers and people who are interested in implementation of LVE at the field of education or in their life to have a forum to share and learn from each other's experiencies.

In the framework in the National Association (B.É.K.E.) we have developed methods and ways to make LVEP more known in Hungary.

One of our last demonstrations was an LVE Peace English lesson in a framework of a pedagogical professional day (on 26 October 2006) in a town called Érd where 26 teachers from different schools and the representative of the local municipality participated. The aim of the lesson was to show how you can create a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere with the help of soft, relaxing music, visualization exercises, brainstorming and mind map techniques. The teacher, Kaderjákné Bartkó Éva, finished the refresher course in 2004, and she has used and developed the methods of LVE in many different ways since that time.

The last demontration was a workshop for a parent group in the framework of The Week of Birth in May 2007, which is a series of events all over the country every year. Their slogan is To give and have a worthwhile birth. The B.É.K.E. was invited, because with the help of the LVE you can learn how to have a worthwhile life.

Number of Sites Using Living Values Education
Total number of sites 6

Four primary schools, one kindergarten and one library