By Muhammad Jauharul Maknun, a participant in the Regional Peace Training, Peace Place Pati, June – July 2022
Arif accompanying Jauhar retelling stories of trauma, Peace Place Pati, June 28 2022, taken by Peace Place tea.
In Indonesia, widespread violence among religious groups and factions within religions includes physical violence, mental violence, and discrimination. This made us curious about how peace can be real and possible. We were therefore grateful for the Regional Peace Training, 25 June 2022 to 2 July 2022.
In the beautiful facility called Peace Place in Pati, Central Java, peace has become an established habit, both with nature and with fellow participants from very different backgrounds. We learned so much during the training, both in the planned activities and in informal interactions. The material presented was easy and very applicable in our lives.
The first activity was affirming the good in ourselves and others. We chose a positive adjective for each of us and attached them to friends’ names and learned to use them. We realize that in everyday life the adjectives we use are often negative. We found that positive adjectives had a positive effect on us. Knowing others and being known creates a sense of attachment and kinship we rarely find in everyday life.
Posting the agenda so everyone knows the schedule and sequence of activities was a new thing to us. It was interesting, even beneficial in including everyone and sharing power. We each introduced ourselves by saying, “My name is __, and something I would defend is __.” This helped us know our friends better and led us towards what we were going to learn.
We practiced stopping – sitting relaxed and stopping doing anything. We listened to the sounds around us, to our heartbeat, to our conscience. Stopping freshens the mind, opens us to new learning, and sharpens our concentration. Done regularly, this practice opens us to transforming power, which increases our concentration and productivity in daily life.
We also would play after sessions that were emotionally and mentally draining. This refreshes us and increases our enthusiasm and focus for learning. In everyday life, we see that children need to play, but we often forget that adults also really need to play.
In each activity, there was an emphasis on drinking water, moving, and being comfortable to be able to learn. Activities are done sitting in a circle that sometimes looks very informal. The point is to feel comfortable to be better able to absorb the learning. This is very different from the usual teaching methods in Indonesia. I hope this way of learning can spread in our culture.
The reflection session was necessary and important, yet rarely done in Indonesia. Memories stick better when we recall and reflect on them. We think about what we want to bring away from the session and make connections among the things learned. We learned so many useful things in the training that we can apply in our work for justice and peace in ourselves and our communities. We’re not used to learning things that make such a practical difference in our lives. After the training, we hope that we will be able to implement new, good habits and pass them on to our communities.