South Pacific Tour 2002 Watters and Associates "I feel these workshops should be placed in every school throughout the world." Kathy, Reading recovery teacher, Ocean of Light School, Tonga

Widespread enthusiasm for character education resulted from a human rights education campaign, Matafaioi o Aiga Manuia (Responsibilities of Healthy Families) held in Samoa during July 2002. The initiative was planned and implemented by the Baha'i Community of Samoa with support from a United Nations ACT grant. The purposes of the campaign were to:

1. Raise awareness about human rights in the context of the family, with special emphasis on the rights of women and children
2. Ameliorate domestic violence and child abuse
3. Introduce positive solutions through training in The Virtues Project, an internationally acclaimed moral education program.

As part of this initiative, Nancy Watters, MA, a consulting psychologist from Canada, donated her time and travel expenses to match the UNDP grant. She made 23 presentations during a four week period in July. It is estimated that 1,100 people participated in workshops, symposiums, conference presentations, and school appearances sponsored by the campaign. In addition, over a dozen newspaper articles appeared and there were numerous radio announcements. A symposium at the National University of Samoa received ten minutes of coverage on the national evening TV news. The campaign, which was essentially awareness raising in nature, will continue for several months with broadcast of short radio messages on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



Ms. Watters reported that "The Samoan people were exceptionally warm, friendly, good-natured, and courteous. Although my schedule was intense, their hospitality and positive response to the program's message really uplifted me. We conversed about the worth and dignity of each human being, noting that we all have virtues within us--gems of the human spirit such as trustworthiness, compassion, justice and integrity. Students, parents, educators, and governmental leaders were incredibly receptive and enthusiastic."

Following her work in Samoa, Ms. Watters traveled to Tonga for six days. The most significant activities there were participation in a one hour national television show on moral education with directors of the Wesleyan, Catholic and Baha'i school systems, as well as a day-long workshop on The Virtues Project at Ocean of Light School. Ms. Watters said, "The enthusiasm these educators had for teaching good character was absolutely contagious. As I left they were hoping to have a campaign to train all teachers in Tonga to carry out effective virtues education."