The Story of SOP 2017

DO YOU WANT TO BECOME MY DULUR? “Do you want to become my dulur?”- That was the very first question that resource person asked us today, before sharing stories about their struggling to protect the land in Kendeng mountain and Rembang- Central Java, Indonesia- from construction of cement factory. Dulur means relatives or family . For people in Pati and Rembang, everyone in the world is dulur, we are related to each other. However, it is not that easy to answer- Yes! I want to be your dulur, or No! I don’t want to, for the question he asked. To be my dulur, you have to know my issue. To be your dulur, I have to know your issue. We have to engage to each other to become dulur. http://iaas.or.id/blog/agritalk-kendeng-case/ Unity makes power. Pak Gunretno is a member of JMPPK- Jaringan Masyarakat Peduli Pegunungan Kendeng who takes part in protecting Kendeng mountain. For him, struggles of people in their community are not to win land or achieve something, but to make su

MASK PROJECT AND FRIENDS' STORY Masks are usually seen as for theatre. Those are theatrical and dance masks. Beside them, there are also ritualistic and ceremonial masks, which are unique for each culture, each country. We have a mask project to firstly learn how to make a mask for ourself, “represent” our face and reflect how we see everything around. It takes couples days for the masks to get dry. And when we come back Omah Petroek from SCJ, we begin our journey with masks. We paint our masks related to stories of Achi and SayMoo. In front of the mask is our first impression, what we know them at the beginning. And in the back of the mask is what we understand after listening to their sharings. And in the afternoon, we present for our artwork. Below is what we collect from the story of SayMoo Before- SayMoo is very kind, he makes us laugh and happy. He works hard and focuses on what he does but when I got to know him, he was a funny guy. He is already searching w

School of Peace 2017 at Borobudur Tample Wake up on 5:30 am o'clock, after that bring all of our log-gage to Romo Shindu house. Then breakfast, finished and we are all going to Mendut Temple and Monastry.  Omah Petroek On the Bus Our Friends Mendes & Semu We are leave Omah Petroek for 6 days out on Field Trip. Mendut Temple and Monestry is the first place that we are visited. We was met with Abijato who a monk in that place. He is already shared the story about Buddhist in Indonesia and we were learn a lot of things about Buddha teaching. Abijato had been inviting us to walk and look around the monastery. he was just like tour leader who explain everything about the monastry.  Abijato with Buddha statue at Mendut Monastery We had been learning about Buddha teaching that about how you can do a good and have deep thinking about life itself. control our mind from the bad thing outside who can be leaven in our min

As mentioned in previous blogs, dialogues can help seeking new and deeper truths and change the way we act/ behave to others. But the fact is many dialogues are stopped because we too much follow our own opinions without understanding the other’s ones. For the last three days in Omah Petroek, we had interesting meetings with many resources people who somehow brought us to another (maybe not so comfortable ) zone. On the first day of August, we welcomed a guest who had a talk about Indigenous faith : Sunda Wiwitan. They are still fighting against discrimination until now. Said Ibu Dewi Kanti, who came from Sunda Wiwitan, colonization can contain many forms : economics, politics or religions, culture… And the best way to maintenance the culture as well as ancestor’s wisdom is education, especially for children. Therefore, never give up. Retno Ngapon is our very first School of Peace in 2 006. She had some sharings about Christianity and ended up with an interesting st

“PERHAPS YOU AND I WERE PLACED IN THE WORLD  FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.” Imagine we are in the park with our friends, talking, having fun and we see a beggar coming to us. He is smelly, dirty and keeps groaning. At that time, we tend to have some reactions to him. First, of course we feel annoyed, then we tell him go away. Second, if he is still there, we give him some money, or nicer, we buy him some food or drinks, we continue our own talking. The rude person may choose the rude way to let him go. Another one may just keep silent, try to be busy. Anyways, these are the common reactions. How about try thinking a bit differently?   When you keep silent, you try to bear and put up with him. It’s TOLERANCE . Tolerance is such a good step, because at least, we respect the beggar. But obviously, tolerance doesn’t usually last. It’s not enough and we all have our own limit. So we try to accept him. We can not change the fact that he’s a beggar and he’s annoying. We re

WHAT WE LEARN AT THE BEGINNING Have you ever thought about who you are? Have you ever consider about your own identity? Knowing ourselves is so important a first step for each of us to move and understand one another, and try to think in a new different way. In SOP 2017, we- participants come from 10 countries with different culture, religions and ways of life. We see things in different perspectives and of course, conflicts can happen easily. Therefore, the very first session we learn is about Culture, Diversity and Multiple Identity- a good start to open to window of understanding. So what is Culture? Culture to us is like the colour sunglasses, and how you see the world in your own way is also same as how you wear a pair of sunglasses to look at everything. The color of sunglasses is constantly changing. And a person may have many sunglasses. The way you understand the world around reflects yourself as well as your culture. We are not born with culture. It’s taught to u

THIRD POST FOR BLOG OPENING CEREMONY AND PRAY FOR MARAWI On 20 th July we held the Opening Ceremony for School of Peace 2017. The cosy ceremony were in Omah Petroek where we together learn and live during 3 months. Even though the couples previous days were a little tiring for us, we also prepared well for performances, praying, dramas, dancing and decoration as well. It was drizzling a bit, however the guests came earler than we expected. We lighted all the candles put inside the colorful lanterns. The song “Imagine” started was the moment we lighted our own candles one by one, formed a line by country’s alphabets. We went down to light the candle in the peace tree, sparkling and hopeful. We talked to the guests and dancing with them. Many traditional dancing from Timor Leste, Indonesia, Cmbodia, Myanmar… Terima kasih for joining the ceremony. And hope we can do better in the next time. We took some photos and sang “Pray for the Peace” for the v