From 22nd July to 3rd August, 2018, Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations of Thua Thien Hue province (HueFO) co-ordinated with SEALNet – South East Asia Leadership Network to organize the “Social Emotional Learning” program in Thua Thien Hue for more than 30 youths from the ASEAN countries, France, the Netherlands, and Latvia.
Sponsored by SEALNet which registered in the USA and Singapore as a non-profit organization, this is the first time SEALNet held the program in the Central region of Vietnam in order to to enhance leadership for the young generation in the South East Asian region through a new way of seeing insights and life around.
The participants at Bach Ma National Park – Photo: Dieu Linh Nguyen
In modern society, academic knowledge is not enough to everyone, especially the youth who have to locate themselves, survive and grow up in global integration. Emotional intelligence plays an important role to the young generation to become leaders who are skilled and willing to devote to the society, at the same time as global citizens in the 21st century, this is also the program’s message. The program applied educational, social education to personal development through two main activities: workshops at Bach Ma national park in Phu Loc district, and fundraising and community events all over the country.
In Bach ma, through the deployment of alternative education methods through activities, awakening meditation or artistic activities, the youth also participated in workshops about topics such as: personal awareness, social awareness, self-management, building skills, development of relationships, skills, consider, make decisions and solve problems in life. Through the workshops at Bach Ma, the youth has been equipped with the knowledge, the necessary tools and have a space to share the stories of the change experience themselves. Besides, they also lived and participated in memorable and emotional activities.
Workshops about different themes – Photo: Dieu Linh Nguyen
A student participated in the program shared: “The program brings plenty of useful information as well as attractive interactive activities, this is an open environment to share knowledge and it’s really extremely useful in daily life. Never boring, always interesting, full of surprises and new”.
Meditation activity under the guidance of Mentor – Photo: Luong Luu Ly
Through the community events in Hue city and fundraising events in other cities, the program has brought an environment for learning, reinforce the connection between internal and international students. The fundraising activities have been positively responded and widely expanded, such as: The “Find your child inside” in Hue city with the participation of “Pencil Painter”-Mr. Do Huu Chi, The “Walk with us-Open mind Open heart” talkshow in Nha Trang city, “Rain or Shine” performace in Da Nang city, and a number of other events in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh city.
“Let’s find the child in yourself” event in Hue city – Photo: Le Thanh Nhan
Especially, on August 3rd, the “LUMOS” community event was proposed and implemented by the Mentees – those who benefited directly from project. This event also marked the end of the project. The youth experienced 5 workshops including: Self-Awareness – Self-Management- Social Awareness – Building Relationships Skills – Responsible Decision. This is also the opportunity for the Mentees to share their experiences by themselves and impart the knowledge to others who are the same age with them. The event attracted more than 100 students and received quite strong response from the community.
“Lumos” event attracted many young people – Photo: Dantri.com.vn
Ms. Tran Tu Nhi – a student from , Hai Ba Trung high school, Hue City, shared: “I come to this event alone because my friends are busy then they can’t join. But after participating in the groups, I knew that I can make many new friends. At the same time, the people here are very good at English and communication skills as well. I also learned a lot experiences through the conversations. I really like these activities. Hopefully, there will be many rewarding activities to me and the peers to get more experiences in the future”.
By co-ordinating people-to-people foreign affairs activities and the foreign non-governmental works, HueFO always tries to provide opportunities for enhancement of exchanges and cooperation between youth from ASEAN countries and other countries all over the world. The program has achieved that goal that contributed and expanded the exchanges of the people and youth and around Vietnam and in the world.
Huy Hiep