【Life Education】Caring for Rabbits Brought Out the Patience and Affection in Kei

(Note: Since 2013, CEO began to explore animals’ involvement in helping the underprivileged children in the Mainland, i.e., “life education.” Kei, the child in the story below, his self-confidence was affected due to his ear deformity and family background. By taking care of rabbits, he exerted his patience and love qualities, and since had a sense of success and self-confidence… These Cases inspired us to launch the “HI Partner” Program, introducing AAI (Animal Assisted Intervention) as a means to touch broken hearts, especially for children.)

When first admitted to the institution, Kei was an introverted, shy and relatively sensitive child. He did not like other people mentioning his parents. Because one of his ears is deformed, he had been mocked at and bullied by some kids. With his relatively weak learning foundation, his academic results were just average. In tutorial classes, after finishing his homework, he would look around for playthings, and would even disturb the order of the class. When he did not want to do certain tasks, he would find excuses to decline his teachers and evade the tasks.

Afterwards, CEO’s Cathy (Director Ms Catherine Chua) frequented the CEO Activity Centre on 4th floor of the institution, bringing along the golden retriever Peanut. She also kept pet rabbits in the library of the Activity Centre. Kei was attracted by the lovely rabbits, and joined the “Rabbit Carers Team”. He showed great patience and affection, wholeheartedly looked after the rabbits as scheduled, and cleaned the appliances with equal diligence. He soon became a key member of the Rabbit Carers Team. Thanks to him, the rabbits were kept healthy and lively, and he won the appreciation of teachers and schoolmates alike.

From being shy and introverted, Kei gradually turned cheerful and sociable, happy to make friends and willing to try new things. He got adapted to group life. He made good progress in both learning and lifestyle, liked to read and studied hard. His academic achievements were also improving. He got on well with the other kids and loved to play with the lot. Now a good-tempered boy, he seldom had conflicts with his companions, and was always seen light-hearted and happy.