Teenager Interfaith, October 20, 2021.
Meeting with friends of other religions is a common occurrence for children aged 13 to 17, especially at school and when they are playing. However, a teen commenting particularly about his or her own experience and thoughts on interfaith diversity is quite unusual.
This workshop on getting to know yourself and getting to know other people in an effort to build resilience to diversity among youth was held by Peace Place Pati on October 20, 2021 . Fifty teenagers attended. They came from Christian Youth GITJ Tlogowungu and the learning community in Winong, Pati who are Muslim. The workshop ran from 08:00 and ended at 17:00 with a break of an hour and fifteen minutes.
The following are testimonies written by some of the participants in the workshop. They all express happiness, claim they gained new insights, learned to respect diversity and how to become friends with people of different religions. Understanding one another is crucial in establishing a foundation for friendship, as well as a foundation for establishing interfaith cooperation.
Esra Empati (empathetic): I feel happy because I made new friends who have different religions and the same religion. I learned about tolerance and how to respect each other. There is no dispute between us, because we are the same as human beings. With this activity I also feel happy because it trains me to have the courage to speak openly with many friends I just met.
Solikah Setia (faithful)): This activity is very useful for me because I can mingle with friends of different religions and social status. Besides that, I can also find out how deeply my friends from the learning community in Winong interpret interfaith diversity, especially with friends of different religions.
Clara Ceria (cheerful): I can practice the meaning of tolerance. I also practice to know myself, build self-awareness, enjoy the meaning of non-violent life with different friends, and practice emotional discharge to calm myself and practice being a good listener.
Syallom Sabar (patient): When in the session of telling a story of violence, I remembered an experience at school when I wanted to fight. I recalled the feeling of wanting to hit. After telling the story the feeling of wanting to hit was still strong. But after resting and playing a running game and playing ball, I felt relieved, and the angry emotion disappeared. Then I could return to the present moment.
Algina Alam (Natural): Today, I feel that I am gaining many benefits, that I am able to envision my future plan, that I am on the correct track, and that I am valuable in my daily life. Furthermore, I enjoy meeting people of various religions. Because I can get to know and learn from others, understand and be tolerant of others, make new friends, and share experiences, play games, and have fun together.
Ceria Cermat (accurate): This workshop improved my quality of life and made me more aware of the behaviors I had previously shown. I also learned to tolerate others, enjoy making new friends, and work together to respect one another.
Maria Mulia (glorious): I feel happy because I made a lot of friends, with whom I can joke and laugh together. I learned new things and this is so useful for my future.
Ruth Rukun (peaceful) : I am able to make friendships even though we didn’t know each other and have different religions. I appreciate the idea of a nonviolent life and enjoyed listening to each other, respecting each other, and practicing discharging emotions.
Joel Jujur (honest): I am able to follow this workshop well and feel happy because I can make friends with people of different religions.
Gaby Gembira (Happy): What I learned from this activity is that I can learn how to relax and talk about my own strengths and weaknesses. I feel that I can meet and play with friends from different religions and also from far away places.
Nonim: I can be friends with people of different religions. It’s nice to play with them.
Aldi Alim(pious): I can make new friends, understand the name and where the new friends come from and feel very happy because we can get to know friends of different religions.
Agape Aman (safe): It feels good to be able to take part in this training with friends of different faiths. This activity trained me in building friendships and made me more open to people of different religions. I also feel that this activity trains life skills that will be very useful for my future.
Rafa Ramah (friendly): I am able to build friendships with many people I never met before. I have come to know what tolerance is and also I understand how to be better in the future.
Hugo Hangat (warm): The benefit of this activity is that it allowed me to get to know people who are different from me. I feel happy to make new friends.
Savira Syukur (grateful): This activity is very useful for me, namely by meeting many new friends, getting a lot of experience, being able to hear stories from friends, being able to practice respect and tolerance with friends of different religions.
Basyian Baik (good): This training helped me know myself and gave me insight and skills for life. It was a new experience. I understand more the importance of tolerance and respect for differences among friends.
Dyah Damai (peace): From this activity, you can meet and get acquainted with new friends from different backgrounds and religions. You can learn to understand different problems and experiences.
Rafael Ramah (friendly): I can establish brotherhood between friends and be tolerant of differences between religious communities
Afia Amanah (trust): At first I felt awkward when I met new people who were of a different religion from me, but I was grateful to become friends with them. Today I learned the meaning of friendship without discrimination. This new learning affects my life so that I am more able to blend in than before and can make new friends
Mutiara Manis (sweet): This activity is important for me, because I can know how to be a good listener and I can know how to solve problems without violence. I can recognize different kinds of violence and non-violence. And today I learned the meaning of tolerance by getting to know and respect friends of different religions.
Khanza Kalem(calm): This activity is very important for me. I had a new experience, made new friends of different religions, and learned new things.
Linda Lembut (soft): Today’s activity built me up and made me aware that I can make changes for the better by practicing friendship and building closer ties of brotherhood between religious communities, training myself in tolerance, being able to respect friends of different religions. I also want to practice being a more polite, ethical and respectful person. This makes me feel calmer, and shows me what I need to practice to change my old life into a new one.