Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (UK) Newsletter August 2005

[Guest guest]

Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (UK) NEWSLETTER - August 2005A monthly

e-zine of the British Institute of Sathya Sai Education www.ssehv.org.uk

 

Dear Readers

Welcome to the August 2005 issue of the email newsletter.

This month:

Shrewsbury's Human Values Summer Michelle White reports on a busy summer.

Values Alive Event at a Primary School in Brent Another succesful event,

organised by Joyce Power and her team of volunteers.

Helping Children to love themselvesby Barbara Edmondson

Sathya Sai School Zambia: A decade of quality educationA 'Times of Zambia' news item.

Values Story: Harry's Night Time Adventure A young hedgehog has a prickly adventure!

To reserve your place at the SSEHV National Day on Saturday September 17th,

please contact Pamela Nash (+44 (0) 1784 244494). More information about the

event is available at www.ssehv.org.uk.

If you have any feedback about this newsletter, or if you'd like to share your

experiences of SSEHV, please write to us.

Kind Regards,The Newsletter TeamUn information

Shrewsbury's Human Values Summer

Michelle White, one of BISSE's lead trainers, reports.

We have had an amazing summer in Shrewsbury. It started a couple of weeks ago

with a four-day intensive Sathya Sai Values In Parenting Programme and at the

same time a four-day Values Alive event for the children. We have just

completed an Intensive Foundation Training, which ran from 7th to 13th August,

the last day being session seven where participants did their presentations.

Here is some feedback from a few of the participants:

I found the course to be excellent, from all points of view; the content, the

materials, the presentation, the location and the organisation. As well as

focusing on the material and learning about it, I feel as though I have had

during this week, an experience of the values being lived out amongst members

of the group. The standard was excellent and the experience very enjoyable as

well as inspiring. Many thanks.

Christina (ex secondary school teacher)

I have found the course informative, inspirational and very thought-provoking.

It has helped me on a personal level, because the clarity and essence of the

material and the way it was presented, has reaffirmed for me the belief in the

importance of teaching and my commitment to my new job. I don't feel I got this

from nine months of teacher training.

I feel the space created by the course also facilitated amazing personal and

interpersonal bonding and I have loved the whole experience and made some

beautiful friendships.

Rachel (primary school teacher)

I have been looking for so many years for something like this and I have finally found it.

Christine (secondary school teacher)

Top

Values Alive Event at a Primary School in Brent

A successful Values Alive Event (or 'Camp' as they are commonly known) was

recently held at a primary school in Brent, and we reproduce below comments by

camp organiser, Joyce Power, together with some of the feedback received.

Thank you to all the volunteers for the time and effort you put into the camp.

It was very much appreciated and I know that the children would have benefited

from your hard work and example. I was very pleased to see definite positive

changes in some of the most challenging children in my class and I assume that

this would have been the case in all classes.

There were many children with learning difficulties and the ease of the

activities and atmosphere of the camp would have facilitated better learning

and retention of the values. It is always important to keep in mind that the

children are not there to learn the activities, but rather to experience the

values. The activities are only tools for experiencing the values in a fun way

and through the example of the volunteers. Hence we do not necessarily adopt

normal teaching methods for learning to occur, or normal forms of school

discipline to manage 'difficult' behaviour.

- Joyce Power

Feedback from volunteers:

Once again, thank you for the privilege of attending the Camp and being a

classroom assistant. Not sure who benefited more, me, or the children; I learnt

so much and not only about teaching techniques.

I found feeding the children positive comments, even on their bad behaviour,

that is, emphasizing their goodness, paid off very well. Positive stimulus and

encouragement, I think, could be the camp motto, for this is how I found all

teachers and assistants to be. They were there with the firm belief that the

children are innately good, and eliciting this through the teaching of the

values is and was, of great benefit to them. I hope, as you said, that they

will benefit from it all in the long-term and that they remember it in their

times of need.

One incident, on the last day to exemplify this point:

On way back to class, I think it was on the last day; Matthew had just had a

kicking, hitting fight with two other boys. Matthew being on his own now, I

approached him and reminded him that , unlike common belief, it is not a sign

of strength to hit out in that way and one loses all one's peace, if one reacts

like that. I stressed his brightness, his innate goodness and courage and his

choice to act in the correct way, and to move away from such a situation, if

need be and that doing so was a sign of strength.

We walked on, catching up with the rest of the class. One little girl was

sitting on the floor crying, having been accidentally tripped over by one of

the boys. All the rest of the children were just looking on, or not. Matthew,

with the greatest care and love I have ever seen, quietly and calmly bent down

and helped her up most beautifully. He then stepped into line and into the

classroom.

He sat down in his place and I watched as he followed instructions perfectly to

pen his book, as soon as they were given!!! This is pretty amazing as this

child would copy the bad behaviour of other boys and not conclude his work till

he felt like it. I wished I had mentioned this to you Joyce at the time, as I

really felt some extra praise and a sweet perhaps, would have further brought

it home to him that good behaviour pays off. If done publicly, it could have

perhaps further benefited the other children.

The above, I feel, is one small example of the very good results of a

value-based teaching method as seen on this Camp. I found it a great privilege

to attend and witness such love and care and I feel enjoyed by the children

too. I sense for them, it is a breath of fresh air and a method they respond to

naturally.

Thank you once again for giving me the opportunity to take part and further

develop myself. For I believe such camps not only benefit the children but are

also a learning and growing experience for the adults that take part!

- Julie

First of all, thank you very much for the great opportunity to participatein the camp.

To offer you some of my feedback, and hopefully it will help:

It is a totally different experience from normal school systems,which I think it

works for the children.

I would definitely say that I felt a difference in the children's behaviour,

even though I was only there a couple of days.

They seemed to be more patient and more aware of what is good and bad, hopefully

this is a permanent effect, not temporary.

The unity among the volunteers and teachers was very encouraging, which itis a

good example to follow, not only for the children but for everyone else.

- Stephen, Sports Team

Top

HELPING CHILDREN TO LOVE THEMSELVESBy Barbara Edmondson

A youth worker attended the SSEHV Foundation course in Burnley in the Spring 05.

She was so impressed with the content of the course that she invited my niece

Julie and I to her youth club. She felt the SSEHV programme would help the

children. We were asked to do some 'taster sessions', so we decided to do four

fortnightly sessions. On our first visit we were surprised by the large number

of children, about 70 in all, aged 8 - 13 years. It was decided that we would

take a small number out of the larger group.

We used the teaching components from the SSEHV manuals. Each child had their

favourite component. They all seemed to enjoy drama and art work and they all

benefited from the Silent Sitting once they had settled into it.

Evaluations were done by the youth club staff on the first and last sessions.

One girl who had been traumatised by the break up of her parents said. ''I love

Julie and Barbara. They have made me love myself.'' This is what SSEHV is all

about - helping children to love themselves!

The staff at the youth club have asked us to do some more sessions and would

like some input with senior youth aged 16 plus. We are thinking about using a

''Relationship course''.

Top

Sathya Sai School Zambia: A decade of quality education

By DENNISON CHISUNKA

The following is an excerpt from an article published recently by the Times of

Zambia online. The article provides a fascinating insight into the how the

Sathya Sai method of education has led to transformation in the lives of

children there and it's influence within the African continent. For the full

article please use the link below the text.

THE positive influence of Sathya Sai is unprecedented in the annals of education

in Zambia. Sai Baba’s education ideals as embodied in his human values-based

approach in education are an eye opener to educationists in Zambia.

The impact and success story of Sathya Sai Baba’s innovative ideas in education

are being told in what follows:

John Muma, 15, comes from a poor family in Kawama township in Ndola. The boy who

is an orphan was orphaned when his parents died in short succession in 1992.

Suddenly his life became a nightmare, worst still his burning desire to become

a lawyer was threatened when it became clear that no one could pay his school

fees.

His life became miserable and could only be likened to Oliver Twist, the

character in Charles Dickens; classic of the same name.

Just when the boy was about to give up his education, his prayers were answered

when Sathya Sai boys school was opened in 1992 in Pamodzi, a walking distance

from his home.

John who finished his higher education at the University of Zambia in 1999, is

now a successful lawyer in Lusaka.

Read Full News Story

Top

STORY

Harry's Night Time Adventure

by S. Nayar

Harry the hedgehog lived at the edge of a large wood, in the middle of a country

park. The park was used by lots of visitors for days out, or by local people who

would come for walks. But Harry had hardly come across any human beings in his

life so far. By day he would sleep in his burrow, and then only come out at

night to search for food and explore, when few, if any, people were around.

Harry loved to explore the wood. He was still quite a young hedgehog, and

learning about the world around him, and he enjoyed his nightly wanderings very

much.

If he ever got scared, he would curl himself up into a ball, with his prickly

spines pointing outwards for protection, and then stay still, until whatever

scared him had passed on, which was normally what happened, and then he would

continue on his way.

One evening, when it was dark, Harry was walking through the undergrowth,

looking for his favourite food, worms. Harry loved worms. He just couldn't get

enough of them! He stopped in one place, and started digging down into the soil

with his front feet. He was lucky, as just below the soil, there was a big juicy

worm! Pleased at his luck, he started chomping and chewing away, feeling happy

that he would soon have a full tummy.

As he ate, he wondered if he would meet any of the other animals in the wood

that night. He knew he must keep away from some, like Fox, but he would always

say hello to others, like Badger and Rabbit, if he ever saw them.

After a few minutes, when he had finished eating, Harry decided to move on and

see what lay in the bush ahead of him. He twitched his little nose and sniffed,

as all good hedgehogs do, and sensing no danger, walked slowly on.

As he got closer to the bush, an unusual smell came to him. It was something

he'd never come across before. It wasn't an animal, as he knew animal smells;

it was something very strange. His curiosity got the better of him and rather

than turning away to go in another direction, as he should have, he went

further into the bush. The strange smell increased, and then all of a sudden he

felt the ground dip and his small feet slipped on something slithery. Now,

feeling scared, his instinctive reaction was to curl himself up into a ball. As

he did so, his body rolled forward down the small bank of earth, before coming

to a sudden stop.

He lay still and frightened, wondering what had happened. The strange smell was still around him.

Unknowingly, Harry had come across an empty, rolled up, wet plastic carrier bag

on the ground, which had now become caught on the top of his spines as he had

rolled down the bank.

Lying still for some time, with nothing else happening to him, Harry became

braver and moved slightly. He heard a strange rustling sound. Then stretching

his body out and starting to walk, the strange sound stayed with him. Now he

felt there was something on top of him, and then finally, he realised there

must be something stuck to the top of his spines on his back, but he didn't

know what. It had a strange smell, made a funny rustling noise, but wasn't

heavy at all.

He knew he had to get it off, but he didn't know how.

Harry continued walking, hoping he could think of a way get rid of whatever was attached to him.

After a few moments he smelled Badger. Walking in the direction the scent was

coming from, Harry found himself in a little clearing where Badger was eating.

"Badger," cried out Harry. "Can you help me get this thing off my back?"

Badger looked up for a moment from his feeding. It was only Hedgehog.

"I'm too busy eating," replied Badger. "Come back later."

Disappointed, Harry carried on walking, hoping he could find someone else to help him.

After another few minutes he came across Rabbit rushing along.

"Rabbit, please can you help me get this strange thing off my back?" he asked.

Rabbit stopped for a moment, looked at Harry and said, "I have to take care of

my litter of babies," and shot off in the dark.

Harry, was feeling a little desperate now, as the thing on his back was making a

rustling noise again in the wind as he walked, and he was feeling scared that

Fox might hear him.

After another few minutes of walking, Harry heard something in the ground below,

just ahead of him. Then a head popped up out of the ground. It was Mole.

"Mole, please help me. There's something stuck on my back. Can you pull it off for me?"

"Oh, I'm too busy making my tunnels" replied Mole, and his head disappeared down

the hole again, and he was gone.

Now, Harry was feeling very upset and his eyes filled with tears. Why would no

one help him? Slowly, he crawled towards the nearest bush, trying to hide

himself, and then started to cry. Eventually, feeling exhausted and sad, he

fell asleep.

The next morning, ten-year-old Jack was walking along a pathway in the woods

with his father and pet Labrador, Hudson. All of a sudden, Hudson started

barking at something ahead of them, next to the path.

"What's bothering Hudson?" said Jack to his dad.

"Oh, it just looks like some rubbish on the ground," replied his father as they

walked towards what looked, from a distance, like a white object on the ground.

As they got closer to where Hudson was still barking with his tail wagging

madly, his father saw it was a white plastic carrier bag. Jack had run on a

little ahead of him and was knelt down next to it.

"Look dad," said Jack, as his father knelt down beside him. "The bag's got

caught on the spines of a hedgehog."

His father saw what he meant; the thin plastic of the bag had become hooked into

the spines of the hedgehog. "Oh, the poor thing," he said, gently pulling the

bag off the spines, until it was completely free. He put the bag in his pocket,

so it would not get caught on anything else.

Hudson continued barking and sniffed down at the Hedgehog, which was still

curled up tightly into a ball.

"Shush now, Hudson," said Jack. "You'll frighten it."

Both Jack and his father got up. "Come on Jack," said his father. "Let's leave

it in peace, now. It must have been terrified." They slowly walked away with

Jack holding on to Hudson who had been put on a lead. "That's why it's

important for people to take their rubbish away when they walk in the woods,"

Jack's father continued. "That hedgehog might have died with the bag caught

around it."

"Yes dad," replied Jack. "We were told in school about taking rubbish home and

now I can see why." As they walked, he looked back for a moment at where they

had seen the Hedgehog, as if to say goodbye.

Harry stayed curled up tightly. He was very scared for ages after they had gone.

When he was sure the danger had passed, he moved himself ever so slightly. He

could no longer smell or feel the thing that had been on his back. Feeling

relieved, he uncurled himself and stretched his little legs. Then, sniffing the

ground around him, slowly walked back into the wood, in the direction of his

burrow, not quite knowing what had happened to him.

Questions1. How did you feel listening to the story?2. Why do you think the

other animals didn't help Harry?3. How did Harry feel when they didn't help?4.

Have you had a similar experience? How did you feel?5. What things does this

story teach us?6. Why is it important not to litter?

 

Top

UnThis newsletter is sent once a month to rs. If you prefer

not to receive further newsletters then please send a blank email with the word

'' in the subject box to:

leave-ssehv-newsletter (AT) list (DOT) sathyasaiehv.org.uk To ,

Top

2005 British Institute of Sathya Sai Education (BISSE). BISSE is a

non-profit organisation committed to promoting human values in education.

Registered address: The Glen, Cuckoo Hill, Pinner, Middlesex HA5 2BE United

Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 20 8429 2677 Email: feedback (AT) ssehv (DOT) org.uk

British Institute of Sathya Sai Education www.ssehv.org.uk