“ This learning journey enabled me to expand my knowledge, to develop my skills and values, and to raise my sense of responsibility to make the world more peaceful.”
Phat was born and raised in Vietnam and as a part of the post-war Vietnamese generation, his call towards building peace was clear from an early age. He graduated from the Peace Education Programme in 2017, and today, two years after, he reflects on how UPEACE reshaped his life but above all, changed his responsibility to his community. Below his story in his own words.
Pursuing a Master Degree in Peace Education at the University for Peace (UPEACE) in Costa Rica was a transformative experience to me. This learning journey enabled me to expand my knowledge, to develop my skills and values, and to raise my sense of responsibility to make the world more peaceful. As a post-war Vietnamese generation, I had the opportunity to learn and feel the sufferings that our country went through during the Vietnam war. This war story left me with a very powerful message that everyone wants peace, therefore, the value of mutual understanding and tolerance matters. In addition to these values, thanks to UPEACE, I was so blessed to pursue the M.A. in Peace Education, which equipped me with a decent level of knowledge of world history, values and skills to promote world peace. UPEACE is a clear indication of liberal education, which empowers the students to embrace diversity, to deal with global problems, and to challenge their belief. In many cases, the students are consistently encouraged to question the professors, who are knowledgeable and have extensive experience in promoting peace around the world. Furthermore, the university applies student-centered pedagogy, which always put students’ needs and academic pursuit ahead. The Faculty and UPEACE staff are nothing but extremely helpful, supportive, and friendly whenever and whatever we reach out to. Being in this safe and friendly environment, I noticed UPEACE was not an academic institution but much more than that. UPEACE was like home, where everyone cared and respected each other. UPEACE was like a small world, home to more than 60 different countries and covering five different continents. UPEACE was like a forest, where humans and nature connected so deeply and harmoniously.
American and Vietnamese students join for a beach clean-up.
Despite of nearly ten months studying, I came to realize that I had received from UPEACE more than what I had given forward. Having this mind, I became more responsible with what I had learned and experienced at UPEACE, in other words, I now have a role in promoting peace around the world. Therefore, upon graduation from UPEACE and completion of the Asian Peacebuilders Scholarship Programme, which fully financed my studies, I got a call from within to address a pressing problem in my hometown. It seemed to me that there was much more plastic trash in the ocean that as I used to be in the past. I thus decided to initiate my own project, named Chạy Nhặt, which literally means running and picking up the trash in Vietnamese language. My motivation in this project includes ensuring that future generation may have access to clean beaches and making the voice of the mother ocean be heard. The ultimate goal of the project is to raise Vietnamese people’s awareness on plastic pollution. Last, the project has focused on three main activities, including: running and picking up the trash, which is similar to Plogging initiative from Sweden; educating by hosting discussions with university and high school students; and fundraising the project by selling tote bags. Since its launch in 2018, the project has achieved humble outputs. As of September 2018, the project successfully mobilized over 300 participants, both local and overseas tourists that joined the project (youth and non-youth), running collectively over 500 kilometers and cleaning up over 1,000 kilograms of plastic waste. The most common items collected have been single-use plastic bags, plastic straws, bottle caps and plastic utensil. The programme also has an educational focus with 10 discussions held with high school and university students, more than 1,000 Likes on project’s Facebook page, 3 published articles on the project, including one from UNESCO Bangkok, RCE Greater Western Sydney and media coverage on local television. Despite of humble deliverables, I feel so blessed to receive the support and encouraging messages towards my project from my network of UPEACE in various ways. Through it, I have learned that I was able not only to give back to my country but also to stay in touch with my UPEACE community, at the same time I could pass down some of the values gained in the Peace Education Programme to the future generations. Some of these include promoting the respect to nature and critical thinking in environmental issues.
I have to admit that my project’s scale is still small and to increase its impact, there are many things ahead I need to figure out. However, looking back to what I have achieve to do, I always feel so grateful for how UPEACE faculty and staff members had contributed to my knowledge and experience, and to make me feel confident and empowered to make a change, even if it is a tiny one, is one that will help me learn, grow, and develop.
Finally, I would like to refer to one of Mother Teresa’s well-known quotes saying that “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great heart”. As an alumni, I think that it is strongly evident that the University for Peace has done many “small things” with a very “great heart” for local and international students in fulfilling their academic pursuit and empowering them to be agents of change. At least, they successfully trained me on how to start a “small thing” by not only training my head, but also feeling it in my heart and cultivating my mind.
If you want to know more about or support Phat´s project go to: https://www.facebook.com/runandpick/