By Jauhar Maknun, as told to Petrus
Consciousness awakens me to be myself. Everyone is good and capable , is one of the points in AVP’s approach that really made an impression and had an impact on me. (Jauhar Maknun -AVP name, Jauhar Jaya).
When dealing with a person or group of people, I feel confident. I don’t think negatively about the environment that can make me feel inferior, because it is ingrained in my mind that “everyone is good and capable”. It enables me to bring out the good in myself and in others, not demeaning or exaggerating. From that awareness, I don’t think too much about being afraid of making mistakes. From some materials on communication, such as the broken squares activity, I see that it is important to communicate everything. Not communicating properly may lead to problems and cut off opportunities for change.
After the Regional Peace Training, I realized that one training is not enough. So, when I heard that Peace Place would hold face-to-face trainings in August, I was interested. I thought this might be an opportunity to practice and learn more about personal transformation material. This turned out to be true, and this training gave me a new experience.
At first, I didn’t think I’d get an internship offer to become a facilitator. But, at the second session I joined the facilitator team, and this made me very happy. Facilitating was a big new challenge. I learned that I need to really be able to practice the skills taught in Creating Cultures of Peace in my daily life.
My courage and skills, especially in public speaking, are growing. At first, I started practicing facilitating stopping activities. This taught how to relax more, be comfortable, and not tense. This is very important to practice, so that when I facilitate, the participants can also feel comfortable and carry the learning into their lives . Managing the time also became an important experience that I have to practice as well.
After facilitating, I became more focused and less convoluted when speaking, because in the facilitation time I was trained to speak briefly and directed towards a goal. Attending training at a church was a new experience for me. I was surprised when the activity started with praying and singing religious songs. I had never entered a church before. I was the only Muslim there, and the others knew that. I felt a bit awkward, but I focused more on the Power of Goodness workshop and began to get to know my new friends.
Creating a culture of peace opens up closed barriers and from there I got to know more and understand the meaning of diversity. Being a facilitator allows me to have more experiences with different people and this has made me more accustomed to working with people of different religions.
From left _ Jauhar Jaya, Arif Amanah, Risa Ramah. Regional Peace Training June 25-July4, 2022 at peace Place Pati, Central Java