By Ariefiansyah Ibnu Ramadhan (Independent Iban), Iban is a part of Student Islamic Association and was a very active Power of Goodness participant in Yogyakarta. He joined us at Regional Justice and Peace Training in June, 2024. This is his reflection from the training.
Iban and Hida working on Power of Goodness Agenda. Photo taken By Ida at Peace Place Training Center
Hello! I am Independent Iban, a final year student in the Religious Studies Program at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. I was a participant in the Regional Justice and Peace Training at Rumah Damai (Peace Place), Pati, Central Java, 2024.
As a student of Religious Studies, I am very familiar with terms such as peace and justice. However, I feel that these terms are often only used as reference material for lectures and discussions in class without concrete steps to apply them – apart from interfaith dialogue and visits to many places of worship other than the religious, I believe. This was my opinion before attending this training.
In order not to say too many words, I would like to share a few things from the Regional Justice and Peace Training that have changed my views on peace and justice.
I felt the change in myself on the fourth day of training. The ‘Remembering’ and ‘Reconnection’ sessions were the most memorable for me.
This does not mean that the other sessions were not memorable. Because each session was designed with appropriate stages. Why was it memorable? The reason is simple: all this time, I was still looking for something that was preventing me from changing, and I found the way after going through the ‘Remember’ and ‘Reconnect’ sessions. These two sessions specifically explore how we are when we remember something that traumatizes us and how we can see the past, today, and tomorrow as something positive that encourages us to change for the better.
The fourth day’s session was very different for me, because it was more relaxed but touched me deeply. In this session, we used more painting media to express ourselves. The previous sessions were more dominated by storytelling activities.
In short, the ‘Remembering’ and ‘Reconnection’ sessions made me re-examine what I understand as peace and justice – which it turns out are in each of us. It’s just that traumatic things often become obstacles for us to feel them (peace and justice). The sessions succeeded in making me confident again in telling myself that I am alive, I am capable, and this is enough to feel the happiness and peace in life.
Independent Iban source : RJPT Archive at Waduk Gembong, Central Java, Pati