By Ikbal Fitriyanto, Student of Ushuluddin IAIN Kudu
Regional Interfaith Youth Training Participants 25 June- 2 July 2022
In June 2022, I spent eight days as a participant in the Interfaith and Peace Training for Youth at Peace Place Pati, Central Java. Oftentimes I’ve received many insights on religious moderation in lectures, so I thought this was the right moment to apply the learning outcomes. I came to the training hoping to get something new. The facilitators and the participants came from various regions, some even came from aboard, and that is the Philippines. Each has a different background and experience.
Ayu and Ikbal. Turning point.
For me, the most important thing is how I can take care of myself so that in the future I can take care of others. At first I was very nervous and uncomfortable to talk and express my feelings to others. That’s challenge me who is an introvert people to speak up and express my emotions. But as time goes by, I think it’s really fun to understand each other’s feelings and build a relationship with them. Furthermore the open discussions and the games are a way for facilitators and participants to learn together. That’s true, we are all here still learning.
First of all, we were asked to explore and bring out the good in ourselves. “Everyone is good and able to bring out the power of change”, are words that I still remember to this day. Everyone is not seen from religion, ethnicity, group, perspective or mindset, hair color, body appearance, or the other things. Everyone here is equal, and for me there is no need to compete to stand out because we are working for the common good. The essence of this eight-day activity is a change towards peace, and it starts in ourselves. We learn to calm down and control ourselves which is then used to harmonize our thoughts and actions. We are asked to understand the needs of others, even without communication. Then we learn to deal with the events of our trauma, understand what we need, and use the trauma as a force for change. At other times we stream memories like a river. Starting from childhood, what things have created who we are. What supplies are we carrying now? Then goodness, justice, and peace to be achieved in the future. Sleeping hours and drinking enough water are trivial daily habits, but they can affect the river of our lives.
In spare time between the self – change and the community change session, we went to a community in Tondomulyo village to see the truth. We have learned a lot from the community which is also in the process towards peace and justice. We learned from someone who was willing to suffer for the sake of achieving the ideals of peace, who was marginalized by his own community, who went through several years of illness without the help of ‘brothers’. His steadfastness in the struggle to change the community, proves that peace is possible and can be achieved.
When we are done with ourselves, we are asked to spread peace to others. Starting from raising concern for others, removing labels on self and others, preparing for failure by remembering the power of change in oneself, and finding a way out by understanding the problems of self and others. We were made aware of how to explore the dynamics of oppression starting with the abuse of privilege. We have to stay ‘awake’ to see the oppression that often occurs but seems to be commonplace in society. Finally, we must have courage to act, dare to take concrete steps to fight the oppression. Demonstrations are an example of how society resists oppression. But it would be better if the demonstrators had to be clear and focused on the purpose of the voice of resistance, or what happened was a blind riot. Emotions are contagious, so sometimes people get carried away or provoked by something, even though they don’t know what the goal is. Is it more important when we demonstrate peacefully and then achieve the goal? Instead of a lot of damage happening which in the end it becomes a new project of suppression.
I still need to continue my journey of life. Definitely, it would be great to join this activity again. I need to be more sensitive to the dynamics of oppression, be calm in making resolutions, and let go of the ego that is holding me back from taking action.
Overall, this activity was a very positive experience and I learned a lot from this activity. I think this activity is one of the best moments I’ve ever had in my life. Hopefully in the future I will be more motivated and consistent to become an agent of change towards peace and justice.