Humane Society International and the Farm Animal Rights Movement's Sabina Fund have both given the Kairos Coalition grants to pilot our Humane Edutainment program in Hanoi. I am really grateful for their support and their recognition of this project's potential value for humane outreach.
Also, my proposal to present the preliminary results of this pilot was accepted by this year’s annual conference of the Association of Professional Humane Educators, which will take place in Ft Myers, Florida from February 24-25, 2011.
Humane Edutainment pilot project begins
On November 1, 2010, two other trainers and I flew to Hanoi, Vietnam to commence a nine-month Humane Edutainment pilot project in partnership with IOGT-VN and several other key coalition partners, including VietPet.com, Live & Learn, Green Network, Fauna and Flora International, and the Vietnam Veterinary Medicine Club.
A six-day Humane Edutainment practitioner workshop was conducted in Hanoi and aimed to provide participants from various coalition partner groups with the skills needed to plan and implement Humane Edutainment events at schools and universities throughout the Hanoi Municipal Region.
This workshop provided training in Forum Theatre techniques and various humane education exercises designed to stimulate critical thinking, perspective taking, conflict resolution and divergent thinking skills.
Representatives from the World Society for the Protections of Animals (WSPA), Live & Learn, Animals Asia Foundation, Education Nature Vietnam and VietPet also provided presentations to enhance participant awareness of animal-related issues in Vietnam.
Vignettes about animal situations provide practice for real life
More than 35 Vietnamese attended the November workshop, which culminated in a mock Humane Edutainment performance event featuring vignettes created by the participants themselves.
These vignettes covered such topics as
1) how to help a chained dog in need
2) dealing with conflict at home over rescued kittens
3) refusing to use traditional medicine products made from endangered animals
4) not participating in bullying behaviors.
Vignettes such as these serve as the core of the Humane Edutainment approach, which calls on audience members to become part of the sociodrama with an eye towards developing successful resolution to complex ethical dilemmas.
As Boal noted, this kind of experiential learning is practice for real life. Through the process of examining and evaluating various potential solutions to complex problems each of us is likely to eventually face, we become better prepared to act decisively and ethically when faced with the same dilemmas in real life.
Veterinary students take the lead
On November 16, graduates of the workshop presented a Humane Edutainment performance for thirty students at the Hanoi University of Agriculture, which includes the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Several veterinary students from the Hanoi University of Agriculture attended the Humane Edutainment workshop and took the lead for setting up and running this performance. They wrote and performed new vignettes dealing with the trapping of exotic wildlife and caring for sick water buffalo.
The first full-scale Humane Edutainment event took place in December at Nguyen Tat Thanh high school in Hanoi.
A presentation on Humane Education was also given at the U.S. Embassy’s American Center in Hanoi. More than 80 Vietnamese youth attended this presentation, many of whom subsequently volunteered to be part of the pilot project. We are looking forward to integrating them into the Humane Edutainment project.
A new, home-grown animal rescue club
Following conversations with representatives of VietPet.com and Vietnam’s Veterinary Medicine Club, we have also decided to support an initiative designed to facilitate the operations of a home-grown animal rescue club in Hanoi.
We have discussed with SCAD Bangkok an effort to coordinate a 3-4 day visit to their Bangkok facility by a handful of Vietnamese veterinary medicine students and a senior vet to explore what it would take to establish an animal rescue operation in Hanoi.
This group currently carries out very limited and informal animal rescue activities, but we feel that mentorship by a professional actual animal rescue organization in the region would significantly enhance and accelerate the development of true animal rescue capability in Hanoi and also serve as a model for other Vietnamese urban centers (Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, etc).
All things considered, a productive trip and a great start to the project. I am excited to watch the action unfold over the next few months and will be sure to keep you updated.
Lt. Col. Lucius adds: We are always looking for people of good will with experience, skills, and the desire to mentor. Money can only pay for so much. We rely heavily on those willing to donate of themselves.
Please stop by AnimalBeat.org again for more progress reports on the work of the Kairos Coalition and Lt. Col. Lucius.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lucius was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1989 and has since served 22 years on active duty in a wide variety of command, staff and diplomatic assignments. He is a specialist in Asian foreign languages and cultures and is now assigned as the Assistant Provost, Dean of Educational Support Services and Dean of Students for the Directorate of Continuing Education at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA. Lt. Col. Lucius graduated from Norwich University in 1989, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History. He also holds a Master of Forensic Science degree from National University, a Master of Arts degree in National Security Studies from Naval Postgraduate School and a Graduate Certificate in Community Advocacy from George Washington University. In 2009, Lt. Col. Lucius founded the Kairos Coalition to pilot experimental humane education initiatives in developing economies.
Editor's note: As an additional distinction, in 2008 Lt. Col. Lucius won an award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for "Sexiest Vegetarian Marine.”
