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A year to be proud of
“As I reflect on 2024, it is with a gamut of emotions, but the overriding emotion is that of great pride. Heading towards the year end, I find that taking a few moments to look back and reflect on what ACTAsia has accomplished and what I have achieved is important for our growth mindset.“
Be Healthy Again
For me personally, this year has been truly one to celebrate as I recovered from my cancer treatment and was able to return to the heart of the action with the ACTAsia team. I am so proud of our staff, board members and volunteers who are truly an international bunch – for holding the fort in my absence and for making great strides with our work. What I value so highly is our shared vision of education for a brighter future. Every day the team work tirelessly to promote the education of children, consumers and professionals as part of our Caring for Life education programmes.
Life of Pei – The Battle for Compassion
The launch of my autobiography, has been another momentous event this year, marking over 30 years of my charitable advocacy work. I was overwhelmed to see the availability of the book in all major bookstores, on Amazon and on book websites globally. The paper and kindle version of book were launched in May and I am so thrilled that the audio version is now available on audible. Please spare a moment to read and share your thoughts so that others can learn about ACTAsia’s work for education and animal welfare in Asia. All the royalties support ACTAsia’s groundbreaking educational work in Asia.
At the start of next year, I look forward to publishing our Annual Review of 2024, but ahead of that date, I just wanted to give you a sneak peak of a few of my personal favourite moments from a significant year.
Reaching more children in rural areas
ACTAsia’s Earth Day school outreach was a huge success this year and the engagement numbers speak for themselves, with 196 schools joining as part of our Caring for Life education. The teachers’ feedback following the events this year truly melted my heart, knowing that we are genuinely making a difference. In our series: Success Stories, we highlighted Principal Chen and her incredible work in a small rural school where the majority of the students are left-behind children, the children of parents who have migrated from their hometown to distant cities for work, or come from single-parent families. I am so proud of her unswerving commitment and professional ethos, as she states: “I hope to infuse the children with a kind of energy for their future lives, so that they can learn to take care of themselves”. Furthermore, I am excited that five rural schools approached ACTAsia following our Earth Day events this year. The schools want to be added to our pilot school network so that they can start to teach the CFL course within their schools.
Plant Forward – a united Asian voice for a plant-based future
Plant Forward is also one of my proudest moment highlights of 2024 because this campaign brings Asian organisations together through our Compassionate Choices Network. This unique Asian network is action oriented so we are not just ‘talking the talk’ but we are united through joint action. I am so proud that the campaign took place in nine countries. This year marked ACTAsia’s third annual Plant Forward campaign in Asia and we are so excited that our vision for a plant-based revolution in Asian countries is growing in popularity every year. This year’s numbers demonstrated the fantastic growth of the Plant Forward campaign and I look forward to sharing the numbers in our Annual Review in January. As the only regional campaign of its kind, I am incredibly proud of the traction that we are achieving across Asia to promote the benefits of a plant-based sustainable lifestyle.
Our Fur free mission continues to make huge strides
This year also marked the 10th anniversary of ACTAsia’s Sustainable Fur Free Fashion Festival, with the Forum being held this year at Shenzhen Fashion Week. Furthermore, I was honoured to be invited as a representative of one of two charitable organisations to attend The Global Fashion Summit’s Shanghai Gala, organised by the Global Fashion Agenda. The invite was as a result of our efforts in promoting sustainable fur free fashion to consumers. I have worked on the fur free issue since 2004 and I truly feel that the fur free message is now reaching a mainstream audience and that we are witnessing a positive shift towards more compassionate fashion choices. This positive engagement on a global stage was further reinforced by the press coverage, including an article written by Gemma A. Williams for Forbes Magazine.
Global thinking for veterinary action on a local level
In August, I attended the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) congress in Suzhou where ACTAsia and Vets For Change trainers came together from across China, to join me in celebrating 15 years of veterinary training. ACTAsia’s outreach to local veterinarians has a huge impact in helping to improve animal welfare and combating zoonotic diseases such as rabies. These trainers are now the ones creating change to promote health between humans and animals. They actively advocate for animal welfare by organising rabies vaccinations, conducting low cost neutering, and visiting schools to teach children about responsible pet ownership and dog bite prevention. I was touched by the trainer’s enthusiasm – they are so proud of being part of the Vets for Change network and love their charitable contribution on top of their busy veterinary practices. Their active involvement is truly showing the power of education to create long-lasting change by local people in their own country.
Receiving recognition for our work
I was also honoured to win two awards this year. Firstly, I was thrilled to win an award for the Annual Public Welfare Personality at the 13th Philanthropy Festival, in Beijing for the second time. The second award this year was particularly touching – I received an award from ChiLee Technology University as a distinguished alumni. Of the 11 accolades, my award was the only one for the non-profit sector. The charity sector is not always a well-trodden career path in Asia, so I hope that our team feel as proud as I do to receive this award in the knowledge that our work is being recognised in this way.
I hope that you, as our valued supporters, share my pride in the work that we have achieved this year and are as excited about the year ahead as I am.
Join me in creating the Change
This year has been challenging in funding support for ACTAsia. I often feel deeply frustrated, as there is so much work ACTAsia can do to create long lasting change through education. Educational work is truly urgent and should be prioritised and supported, as our world is facing enormous challenges with increasing human violent behaviour, animal suffering and environmental crises.
If our vision inspires you and wish to make a positive change, please consider donating to ACTAsia. Your contribution directly fuels our efforts to educate individual children across Asia. Every donation counts, no matter the size. Help us further our cause and ensure a kinder future for animals, people, and our planet.
Pei Su is a Chinese sociologist and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ACTAsia, an international NGO established in 2006. She is a strong advocate of education and training as the main vehicle for long term sustainability, aiming to inspire people to understand and appreciate the world we share, and to take responsibility for the protection and preservation of its inhabitants and resources.
