Dear friends,
Eurasia is currently at an important juncture in its biography. In April, we celebrated 20 years of
Eurasia work in Vietnam, so we can really say that Eurasia is entering into its adult years. In recent
years, we have
widened our mission to include care of the earth, social innovation and also bringing
social and emotional learning into public schools in Vietnam. We would like to take this opportunity
to thank you all for your precious support over the last
two decades and hope that you will have the
chance to join us in Switzerland on the 23rd September 2018, to celebrate many years of friendship
and commitment.
Since November 2016, a young enthusiastic and talented team has joined the older,
more experienced
generation and is getting involved in a very real way in the different projects. We are being faced with
questions, of what needs to be let go of and what wants to emerge and also how to articulate this
transition from
the pioneer phase to a new phase. We are confident that this transition holds a lot of
promises and are working together to plant seeds of hope, which you will discover through the latest
Eurasia projects.
Celebrating
20 years of Eurasia
On the 15th April we organised a Happiness day in TTG to celebrate the 20 years of Eurasia work in
Vietnam. In the morning the officials and authorities from Huế were invited to have breakfast with us.
It was
really touching to see quite a number of the people who came were involved with us from the
very beginning, for example, Mr. Loi who helped us to buy the land of TTG. Following two heartfelt
speeches, full of gratitude from Tho Ha Vinh and Mr
Thanh, vice chairman of Hue City, the
youngsters offered us a beautiful performance of yoga and folk dance and a magic show. They were
radiant.
In the afternoon, TTG opened its doors to all the other friends, who came to join us for a
happiness
celebration. We had many different activities for everyone to participate in; art activities, random acts
of kindness, planting seeds of love, calligraphy. There was also a stall selling delicious drinks and
cakes. We closed
the day with a buffet and dancing. It was really a celebration of the longstanding
connections that Eurasia has built up over the years and a very joyful celebration. Many other friends
came to join us to celebrate the 20 years of Eurasia. Michel
Marcadé, a longtime friend of Eurasia
came to visit with his two grandsons. Lydia and Lina, some German friends were also here,
participating in the community for a week.
A big thank-you to the TTG and Eurasia team, who carefully
prepared and served during the event,
making it a wonderful day for everyone.
News from The Peaceful Bamboo Family/ Tinh Truc Gia
Over the last 5 months, Tinh Truc Gia (TTG) has really been a meeting place
of East and West. Many
friends came to visit us between January and June.
Sara Martine Serrano spent 6 months in TTG to work with the kindergarten team and the adolescent
class. Everyone, from the youngest to the eldest has delighted in
her joyful presence and her
generosity. Jacoba Harm came to begin the certification process for the biodynamic garden and also to
work on product development in TTG. Jana Castles, secretary of the Eurasia association, who has
been travelling
since August last year, also came to put down her backpack for a while. She has been
working in the different workshops, taking part in the community life and giving weekly training to
the young staff. Arnaud Durand, the Vice President of the
Eurasia association also came to TTG for
the first time in April. He is involved in the Happy schools training as part of the ELI team and has
also been giving some courses in Vietnam. Camille, who is writing her Masters thesis on Happy
schools
also came to assist for the happy schools training. She and Arnaud have been working very
hard on the new websites. We all enjoyed her calm presence and lovely smile. We had many other
short visits during this time, such as Katia, Arnaud’s
partner, who also joined us for the 20 years
celebration.
You will find the link for the new ELI website below, the new Eurasia website is coming soon.
Deni Hines and The Soulful Crew visited and
performed at Tinh
Truc Gia
On the first day of May, Deni Hines, the highly
accomplished Australian solo artist came to visit Tinh
Truc Gia. She was accompanied by The Soulful Crew,
a music band that has toured and recorded with Eric
Clapton,
Rolling Stones and many more.
They performed in a very warm atmosphere
surrounded by Tinh Truc Gia’s youngsters and
teachers. In return, Tinh Truc Gia’s youngsters Ngan,
Hien & Duc gave a calm and joyful yoga performance
as a way to say thank you to the Australian musicians.
A delightful trip to Dien Loc Beach, Hue
On the 9th of May, Tinh Truc Gia’s youngsters and teachers
traveled to Dien Loc Beach, an hour away from Hue City.
The occasion
of this outing was to celebrate the birthday of
Sara Martine, who offered a tremendous support to Tinh
Truc Gia in the beginning phase.
Both teachers and youngsters, young and less young,
enjoyed riding the waves, laughing and playing
in the blue
ocean water with great excitement.
From Tinh Truc Gia’s Garden Workshop: A busy time harvesting rice straw
This time every year, Tinh Truc Gia’s garden team is busy collecting vast
amounts of rice straw for
the garden. The rice straw is to feed our three dear cows for the next six months and is also utilized to
increase the quality of compost and the moisture of the soil.
The six days spent working in the neighbouring
rice fields were a memorable time for the teachers
and youngsters. This activity brought the garden team out of TTG, bringing a breath of fresh air to
their work, as everyone was working in a new natural space; the vast beautiful rice fields.
Son, a teacher from the Garden Workshop, shared in the
Sharing Circle:
“I feel so moved to witness such a big amount of rice straw
being brought to our garden. It’s like we are importing a new
mass
of energy to our place”.
The youngsters had a great time working joyfully in the yellow
fields, drinking the delicious sugarcane juice, interacting and
laughing in the infinite fields. Together they shared the unique
beauty
of harvesting season.
Eurasia Learning Institute (ELI)
ELI has been very present since the beginning, offering training in social therapy and curative
education, but we really see ourselves entering a new phase, with trainings
being given in many areas.
We are receiving a lot of demands and doing our best to respond to them.
Biodynamic training
In January, Thay Hung (TTG) and Marc, from Copake Camphill community gave module 2 of the
biodynamic
course together. Marc comes to TTG every year and we feel very grateful for his support.
For the second workshop we had participants from all over Vietnam and some even from different
continents. It was a joy to meet old friends, joining us again,
and new friends, all committed to
“healing” the earth, to reconnecting to themselves and nature, together with others.
Happy schools project
This project has the aim of improving happiness and wellbeing in schools and received
the green light
from the department of education in Huế, as well as from the Ministry of Education in Hanoi.
The first session of happy schools training for trainers took place this April. The training was given by
Tho
Ha Vinh and the ELI team, with the support of TTG, as well as other Vietnamese partners. The
training lasted for six days and was hosted by TTG. The 45 people who took part in this first training,
will in turn, train the teachers in their schools.
This pilot phase of the project will involve 48 classes, or 2000 students, the focus being on teachers
and principals from Hué. We trained teachers working with all ages, from kindergarten to university,
as well as some educators from
partner organisations from Hanoi, Danang, Saigon and other
province. The pilot phase of the project will extend over a period of three years and will be evaluated
using strict scientific criteria, in order to be able to present the results of
the project to the ministry of
education. Our goal is that the happy schools program will one day become part of the national
curriculum and of the teachers training.
The first training session went very well and the training continues
through weekly meetings of
subgroups, which will practice mindfulness and the other skills they learnt during their training,
together. During the next session in August, more than 100 teachers will be trained.
We are really thankful to
the TTG team and youngsters for their quality of hosting during this time.
They made everyone feel welcome and cared for and it was precious to be able to eat the delicious
food from the garden, lovingly prepared by Co Vong and her team.
Open ELI programs:
At the end of April we had an in-house Deep Ecology, the Work that reconnects training, facilitated
by our friend and partner Della Duncan. Della trained with Joanna Macy, who developed this training
approach. It was really special to be able to welcome Della here in TTG and to work together during
two days. The staff of TTG had a chance to connect on a different level through the different
workshops around connecting with self, others
and nature. Della also facilitated a workshop in
Saigon, organised by ELI and our partners in Saigon. This was open to the public and received with
great enthusiasm. Arnaud Durand also made the most of his visit and gave a course on Non-Violent
Communication (according to Marshall Rosenberg) in Saigon. Both courses were very well received
and we can see how both of these trainings respond to a very real need in Vietnam, especially for the
young generation. We hope that some seeds
of care for the earth, each other and ourselves have been
planted.
Happy organisations project
We were contacted by Bitis, the largest shoe company in Vietnam. Cindy Vuu, the daughter of the
founder and new director
of Bitis, participated in many of our workshops and retreats in the past and
has the wish to introduce Gross National Happiness (GNH) into her business. Following a meeting,
ELI signed a three-year agreement with Bitis. Bitis is an influencial
brand and has the potential to
inspire other businesses in Vietnam to adapt more ecological practices. We also hope that young
people working in the business world will be inspired by this.
As you can see, there are many things happening
in Vietnam. The people here are really looking for
alternatives to the existing education and business models and it is a great pleasure for the Eurasia
team to be able to respond to this need.
Events in Europe
Eurasia is not only
active in Vietnam, but also in Europe! Besides the annual Chandolin retreat, a team
from Europe and Vietnam have organised the second “Youth for Change Retreat”. This retreat is
aimed at young people looking for a means to engage
in society. During the retreat, the participants
will be brought through a process of inner transformation, supporting them to become social
innovators. It will be a largely project based retreat, focused on developing the projects of the
individual participants. No project needed to join! It will take place from the 5th-9th July. In August,
Della Duncan will visit Switzerland to facilitate a “Deep Ecology retreat” with the ELI Switzerland
team. This will take place
from the 17th-19th August. Both events will take place at a farm in Gimel,
Swizerland, where Marie-Fleur Baeriswyl, president of Eurasia Association, lives with her new
community. For information, please contact Marie-Fleur: m_f_1984@hotmail.com
or check our
events pages on Facebook!
Last, but not least, don’t forget to join us on the 23rd September for our Happiness Day, to celebrate
20 years of Eurasia work and friendships! The celebration will take place in Fondation
Perceval,
Route de Lussy 45, 1162 St-Prex.
ELI now contributes financially to the development of Eurasia projects, but fundraising remains a
priority, both for the running costs of TTG and to allow the young team to engage fully in their
work
for Eurasia.
We need your support so that all these seeds of
hope can develop and bear the fruits that they
promise.
For your donations:
Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Account: 987.86.01
IBAN: CH78 0076 7000
A098 78601
Eurasia Association
CCP 17-496738-5
Alternatively you can donate directly through
our new website.
New website!
www.elihw.org check it for our offer of trainings
and retreats