A Conversation with Pei Su, Founder of ACTAsia
CREATING A COMPASSION REVOLUTION IN ASIA
For almost 30 years, Pei Su has been at the forefront of societal change, including the passing of the first Animal Protection Law in Taiwan in 1998. Now she has her eyes set on the biggest challenge of her life: creating a compassion revolution on the continent she loves, starting with kids.
Pei Su, founder and CEO of ACTAsia, is a pioneer. When she started her career in Taiwan, Pei first volunteered with young offenders, then advocated for victims of domestic violence and later campaigned for prison reform and environmental causes. While marching for the environment in Taiwan in her twenties, Pei realized nobody was speaking up for the humane treatment of animals. At the time, Taiwan had an atrocious animal rights reputation in the world, including millions of stray dogs roaming the streets of Taipei. For Pei, it was never a love for animals that compelled her, however; instead she saw how caring for animals is meant to be an integral part of a whole and humane society.
“I feel strongly humans have a responsibility to treat others equally—with respect and care,” says Pei. “I had an awareness of our interconnectedness at a very early stage.”
SHIFT TO EDUCATION
In 2006, Pei co-founded ACTAsia, believing that “respect for people, animals and the environment will lead to a more compassionate and stainable world.”
It also marked a shift in approach. After years of being campaign-driven, Pei was ready to take a long view and create societal change for the long haul. Becoming a mother certainly influenced this too. “After I had my own daughter, I was shocked about the importance of the role of educators—parents, teachers, even their friends,” says Pei.
Education became a key focus. ACTAsia worked with a specialist to develop an innovative curriculum, built around UNESCO’S four pillars of learning. They developed a six-year-program, so it could easily be integrated into a school curriculum.
Pei is deeply concerned about the increasing challenges kids face in our world—from bullying and mental health to coping with the loss of nature and climate change. She wants to give students the tools to make informed decisions; decisions that are grounded in moral judgement and understanding their connectedness in the world.
“Teaching our children to be global citizens should be as important as learning Math, Science or Literature,” says Pei.
By 2019, ACTAsia had reached 90,000 children in over 100 schools. But it’s about so much more than numbers. “The hope for this curriculum is to create a paradigm shift. To change old customs or perceptions about how we treat animals, nature or even how we treat people.”
She adds: “I believe we can change behavior through education.”
A recent story showed they are doing exactly that.
THE BOY WHO WOULDN’T EAT TURTLES
Recently a mom came up to Pei and told her about the impact the curriculum had on her son and how he created a change in their family.
The young boy was pretty skinny and small and his dad was concerned about his health. One day the dad brought home a bucket with turtles, so the boy could eat turtle soup. In Asia, turtles are often associated with long life and strength.
When the boy saw the turtles, however, he thought his dad had brought them home to be his pets. Excitedly he asked: “Can I keep these turtles? Can I name them?”
But his dad said, “No, we are going to cook them for you, because you are so skinny and so small. You should eat them to make you strong.”
The boy answered: “Please, don’t. This is just so cruel. This is not what we should be doing. I don’t need to get stronger by eating wildlife.”
Instead, the boy suggested he would eat more vegetables and in the end, he was able to convince his dad.
“This is the change we want to make within the society,” says Pei.
We don’t tell kids not to eat wildlife, she adds. It’s common to have a campaign telling people not to do something. “We believe it’s important for the kids to make their own informed decisions.” Instead, they teach compassion. “We are teaching kids that animals are sentient beings. Animals have feelings.”
ACTAsia’s Caring for Life curriculum teaches kids to understand their connectedness to each other, to animals, to the environment and to the rest of the world. “Our hope is that one day this course can become part of the compulsory National Education as well. That is our long-term vision.”
MORE THAN “MOVING OBJECTS”
The word for “animal” in Mandarin is “dong wu” and literally means “moving object.”
Pei remembers, even in her own home growing up, how animals were basically treated as “moving objects.” As a young girl in Taiwan, she didn’t understand yet that animals feel pain and needed to be treated with respect. Nobody had told them any different.
Once when she visited an aunt in the countryside, she noticed how her aunt’s cat had been injured. When she asked about it, her aunt said the cat must have tried to steal food from one of the neighbors’ open kitchens. Someone had poured boiling water on the cat. When Pei heard about the treatment of the cat, it didn’t occur to her at the time that it was cruel. A cat was still nothing more than a “moving object.”
Now her cats move in and out of screen, a special part of her life.
“So much cruelty is caused by ignorance,” says Pei. “In today’s world, with all the technology, all the social media, all the platforms we have, we should overcome this ignorance.” Creating a compassion revolution in Asia, is what gets Pei out of bed in the morning and it’s what keeps her light on deep into the night. “It’s my calling,” she says. Rather than a religious sentiment, it’s simply the expression of a woman, deeply connected to her work in this world. Pei is a woman who knows why she is here on the earth.
