By Petrus (Resource : Dhea, Salsabila, Rahma)
From left (sitting down) Adi,Ayu, Tika,Rahma,Salsa,Toya,Nanik.Behind:Kiany,Dhea,Ainun,Ngatini,Onik, Petrus
The basic AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project) workshop for interfaith youth held at Peace Place Pati on 2023, July 4-6, was attended by 13 participants. They are students in Yogyakarta, Semarang, Salatiga and Pati. They come from Makassar, South Sulawesi, Lampung, South Sumatra, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, Manggarai, Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, and Pati, Central Java. They have different religious backgrounds, such as Islam, Catholicism, and Protestant Christianity.
Dhea Intan Puspita Sari (Disciplined Intan Puspita Sari) said, “This workshop aims to use self-transformation as a pathway to creating a culture of peace. This workshop taught me to realize that a culture of peace is needed by everyone because with peace, life feels easier. During the workshop, I met great friends with their own stories of trying to live in a culture of peace. In this workshop, I feel connected to others, which helps me better to understand myself. For three days I also learned to be aware of the values of a peaceful and nonviolent life and started to apply them one by one, starting with myself and with the people closest to me.”
Salsabilla Faiqah (Faiqah Spirit) said, “I am grateful to be able to take part in this workshop at Peace Place Pati. From this, I made a new friend, and I can get a lot of new insight from hearing others’ life stories. Here, I feel comfortable with the beautiful and cool place, where I can gain useful knowledge and life skills. Among them is realizing a life without violence, through simple actions such as not polluting the environment in which we live, and practicing not interrupting other people’s conversations. I really enjoyed the journal session. This session taught me to reflect and pour out all my pent up thoughts and feelings. Then, the good listener session taught me that not everyone when telling a story needs advice or input, but just wants to be heard. The impact is that things have changed within me, including being more able to be honest, trusting and caring about myself and starting to write a journal every morning by writing down things to be grateful for every day.”
Rahma Lestari (Friendly Rahma) said, “The activity started with introductions from each participant in line with their affirmation name. At first the participants looked for their affirmation name according to the initial alphabet but my name was a difficult thing. I don’t know what happened to me, but finding the affirmation name is something difficult because this activity is strange to me. But after I found several affirmation names, I chose that as my affirmation name. From that, I can deduce the meaning of my affirmation name. I feel that when someone calls my name along with my affirmation name, it might affect my psychological well-being. When my name is spoken along with the affirmation name often, I start to believe that word. This is significant to me since, although knowing the meaning of my name in the past, I never gave it any attention in that word of how it would affect or reflect on my life.
Individual consciousness also seems to grow by itself in this activity. It could be seen when the participants were given the opportunity to participate in preparing the workshop material, the chair placement, the food and beverage, sweeping the room and so on. Moreover, in the small- and even big- group discussions, participants were actively engaged without being forced to speak. This is very impressive to me, because each participant has no pressure to speak in front of everyone. Notably, differences in backgrounds between participants also did not create a barrier to sharing stories and working together.
The essential material I learned is how to be a good listener. When other people tell stories, I sometimes get carried away by the atmosphere of the storyteller, and naturally there will be a feeling of wanting to give advice. As listeners, we are required to focus on listening to what the storyteller is saying, without giving any response. This session trained me to be more focused on what the storyteller is saying, without feeling the burden of giving advice or comparing the story of the narrator with my own stories. Not everyone who tells a story wants to get input or advice, but may just want to share their feelings and find friends to share what they are experiencing. Then, as speakers, we focus on our feelings, whether it is sadness, bitterness, anxiety, misery, or happiness. Telling stories as my friends listened without giving any response gave me a sense of security.
An important thing from this workshop is the time for reflection following every session. Expressing what I feel after each activity has become important to me. Describing my own journey in the River of Life session was the biggest reflection for me. This River of Life drawing activity made me reflect on what I have done in the past. Everything I have been through, no matter how big or small, happy or sad, has shaped who I am today. I feel stronger and more confident about what is the target of life in the future, by not forgetting the stages that I have structured in this way. Thus, this workshop gave me peace in my heart about my past, present, and future. This workshop has inspired me to keep thinking about who I am and to make a point of noticing the wonderful things in my surroundings, both of which I believe will contribute to a peaceful, nonviolent existence.”
As part of the effort to build a culture of peace and justice in Indonesia, Peace Place Pati exists to help everyone in their ability to reflect on and share their life experiences, as well as to be trained in using the tools of the Creating Culture of Peace movement.