Education Indonesia Project #28202

Educate Indonesian Youth to Live Without Prejudice

by EIN INSTITUTE

Project Report | Oct 12, 2017
Our October 2017 Trail Sets Out Today!

By Ellen Nugroho | Project Leader

Jenni Anggita, one of the 2017 Trail participants.

Today is the BIG day!

We will officially start our Lasem Pluralism Trail this evening. We have ten participants from ten different cities and several observers joining the opening session.

Our participants are selected out of 147 applications received. Their essays reveal many touching stories and a yearning to understand better how people may live together harmoniously despite of differences of ethnicities and religions, such as displayed consistently in the city of Lasem.

Antonio (21), a Buddhist-Chinese from North Sumatra province was raised in a constant fear and prejudice towards the non-Chinese. Dedy (22), a Moslem-Bugis from Riau live among Malays who stigmatize his ethnicity as criminals. Fajar (21), a Christian-Batak whose mother married again with a moslem must learn to get along with five step-brothers-and-sisters living in the same house. Jenni (27), a Chinese descendant from Jakarta once hated her Chineseness. Juli (21) a Hindu-Balinese feels disturbed watching how people in Yogyakarta, a city well known as "the city of tolerance" where she studies, show nasty prejudices towards the transgenders.

And there is also Lintang (19), a Javanese girl who is actively involved in demonstrations against Ahok (the Jakarta Chinese governor who was sued for blasphemy) but feels uncomfortable with her fellow's hate speech towards non-Moslems. Dalhar (28) is a history teacher who stores great memories about peaceful relationships among the Javanese, Chinese, and Arabs. Maria (28) is a Chinese who endures many bullyings for her ethnicity who later converts to Islam. Arief (23) was born in a very conservative Moslem family but then experience existential struggle concerning his sexual identity. Lastly Evi (22), a mixed descendant of Ambon and Javanese who finds her Indonesian identity strengthened after living in the diversity of Banda Neira.

With all those different, even opposite backgrounds, they will share four days and three nights together, learning from keynote speakers about various studies about the root of conflicts and negative stereotypes and how to overcome them. They will visit many places storing stories of pluralism. They will talk with local people about how to live peacefully in a multicultural and multireligious community. They will write down insights they gain from this journey to become advocates of peace when they go back to their own habitat.

Alright, now we're picking up our first participants from the train station and the airport. Let's hope for the best, for everyone, for Indonesia, for the world!

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Aug 14, 2017
Trail Date is Set, Call for Application Launched!

By Ellen Nugroho | Project Leader

A qilin at the historical Gie Yong Bio temple.

Dear friends,

We're happy to announce that the date of our next Pluralism Trail will be October 12-15, 2017. It will be not only three day two nights as planned before, but extended to three nights and three days, because we want the participants to gain insights from this experience as much as possible. There are too many interesting sites to visit, inspiring people to meet, important themes to discuss about in Lasem!

Last August 10, we also have launched the Pluralism Trail call for application. We make clear that we're looking for young people aged 19-30, committed to build tolerance and peace among their circles, and are willing to share their experiences through their social media accounts and to write papers about lessons they get from the Trail. So far, the responses are great! Not only calls from the youth, we also receive calls from highly respected figures and religious leaders expressing their support for this project.

We're now considering to provide seats for observers for those who are really interested to join the Trail but do not meet criteria of participants, such as aged over 30. We really hope this Trail will give benefits to as many persons committed to work for peace and tolerance as we can accomodate.

As we get closer to the date, please wait for more reports coming from the field. We’ll update you with any interesting progress we’ve made. And we still hope for more supports from any of you who agree with our cause. You may donate for next Pluralism Trails through our GlobalGiving page. We, the participants, the observers, and many youth communities in Indonesia will thank you for that.

Bahasa Indonesia version:

Salam hangat, kawan-kawan!

Kali ini dengan gembira kami kabarkan bahwa tanggal pelaksanaan Pluralism Trail telah ditetapkan, yakni 12-15 Oktober 2017. Kami menambah durasi kegiatan, bukan lagi 3 hari 2 malam, tapi 3 hari 3 malam, supaya para peserta bisa maksimal terinspirasi lewat pengalaman ini. Begitu banyak tempat menarik untuk dikunjungi, orang-orang keren untuk dijumpai, dan tema-tema penting untuk dibahas soal dan di Lasem!

Tanggal 10 Agustus lalu, kami telah meluncurkan undangan pendaftaran beasiswa Pluralism Trail. Di situ kami jelaskan kriteria calon peserta yang kami cari, yakni anak muda berusia 19-30 tahun yang berkomitmen untuk kerja toleransi dan perdamaian di lingkar pergaulan mereka dan mau membagikan pengalaman mengikuti perjalanan ini lewat akun media sosial dan tulisan-tulisan. Sejauh ini, responsnya luar biasa positif! Bukan hanya dari kaum muda, kami juga dikontak oleh para tokoh penting dan agamawan yang menyatakan dukungan untuk proyek ini.

Saat ini kami sedang mempertimbangkan adanya slot untuk para peninjau yang betul-betul berminat ikut serta dalam Trail, tapi tidak memenuhi kriteria peserta, misalnya berusia di atas 30 tahun. Kami betul-betul berharap Trail ini akan memberi manfaat pada sebanyak mungkin orang yang serius ingin bekerja bagi perdamaian dan toleransi, sejauh kami sanggup mengatur akomodasinya.

Sementara tanggal pelaksanaan makin dekat, akan lebih banyak laporan kami tuliskan dari lapangan. Kami akan mengirimi Anda infomasi terbaru tentang kemajuan-kemajuan menarik dari Trail ini. Dan kami juga berharap akan terus datang dukungan dari siapa saja yang sepakat dengan yang kami perjuangkan. Anda pun masih bisa berdonasi untuk kloter Pluralism Trail berikutnya lewat laman GlobalGiving kami. Kami, para peserta, para peninjau, dan banyak komunitas anak muda di Indonesia akan bererima kasih pada Anda karenanya.

Lasem peranakan history in this heritage factory.

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Aug 7, 2017
Preparing Our Next Pluralism Trail in October, Thanks to You!

By Ellen Nugroho | Project Leader

Gus Zaim's heritage house, our venue in October.

Dear friends,

We are so excited to learn that we can give full Pluralism Trail scholarship to 10 participants with donations you and other generous people made through GlobalGiving last June. It means this educational program will impact at least 10 youth communities the participants represent.

This week EIN team went to Lasem to survey locations for the Trail. We met Hajj Mohammad Zaim Ahmad Ma'shoem (Gus Zaim), the highly respected founder and leader of Pesantren Kauman, a Moslem traditional boarding school located in Chinatown. He warmly welcome us and even offered his house to be the venue and lodging for our participants. What a kindness! We feel so honored!

We also listened to heartwarming stories of Aunty Ratna, an elderly Chinese-Indonesian woman who owns the oldest bakery in town. She has been working together with Kasmuri aka Pak Jon, her faithful (also elderly) Javanese assistant baker for decades. "I take heart to keep this bakery going on eventhough the sales have dropped significantly nowadays, because I don't want him to become jobless," she told us. We watched them mixed the dough and baked it in an old-fashioned stove, heated by burnt woods. We bought the freshly baked bread. Yumm ... the old, handed-down-over-generations recipe is a real delicacy! And it is only USD 15 cents a piece.

No matter how often we come, Lasem always fascinates us with new experience and deeper wisdom. "We need more than formal dialogue," said Gus Zaim. "We need to have better ways to communicate peace so that people are willing to listen and join hands."

The trail will be held in October 2017, probably the second week. We will come up with further report on that. We hope this news make you as excited as we are here. If you feel like you want to support us more, you can still donate or invite your friends to donate for our cause through our page in GlobalGiving. Every time we've got sufficient funds, we will provide this program for next batches of youth.

Once again, thank you for making the next Pluralism Trail possible. You have made a meaningful contribution to Indonesia, and to the lives of our young participants-to-be, and their communities.

Bahasa Indonesia version:

Halo, kawan-kawan!

Kami senang sekali bisa memberi kabar bahwa berkat donasi murah hati kawan-kawan sekalian, kami bisa memberikan beasiswa penuh Pluralism Trail kepada 10 peserta. Artinya, program pendidikan pluralisme ini akan berdampak kepada setidaknya 10 komunitas anak muda yang mereka wakili.

Hari Kamis (3/8) lalu, tim EIN melakukan survei ke Lasem. Kami bersilaturahmi dengan HM Zaim Ahmad Ma'shoem (Gus Zaim), tokoh Muslim setempat yang sangat dihormati, pendiri dan pemimpin Pesantren Kauman yang terletak di Pecinan. Beliau dengan hangat menyambut kami, bahkan menawarkan rumahnya untuk menjadi tempat menginap dan kelas bagi para peserta. Kebaikan tulus yang sungguh membuat kami merasa terhormat!

Kami juga menyimak kisah yang menghangatkan hati dari Tante Ratna, seorang perempuan Tionghoa pemilik usaha roti tertua di Lasem. Telah puluhan tahun dia bekerja sama dengan Kasmuri, asisten beretnis Jawa yang biasa dipanggilnya Pak Jon. "Saya berjuang agar usaha roti ini terus jalan meskipun penjualannya sekarang jauh dari dulu, karena saya tak mau Pak Jon kehilangan pekerjaan," katanya pada kami. Kami menonton mereka menguleni adonan dan memanggangnya dengan tungku kayu kuno. Kami membeli roti yang masih baru dari oven itu. Nyamm ... resep warisan turun-temurun itu sungguh lezat! Harganya pun hanya Rp2.500,- sepotong.

Seberapa pun sering kita berkunjung, Lasem akan senantiasa memesona kita dengan pengalaman baru dan hikmah inspiratif. "Kita perlu lebih dari sekadar dialog formal," kata Gus Zaim. "Kita perlu cara-cara yang lebih bagus untuk menyampaikan pesan perdamaian supaya banyak orang yang mau mendengar dan ikut."

Kegiatan Pluralism Trail diselenggarakan bulan Oktober 2017, kemungkinan besar minggu kedua. Kami akan mengirimkan laporan lebih lanjut soal detilnya. Semoga kabar ini membuat Anda bersemangat sama seperti yang kami rasakan di sini. Anda bisa memberi dukungan lebih dengan memberi donasi, baik dari Anda sendiri atau mengajak teman lain ikut menyumbang, lewat laman kami di GlobalGiving. Tiap kali tercapai dana yang cukup, kami akan memberangkatkan rombongan anak muda berikutnya.

Sekali lagi, terima kasih telah memampukan kami mengadakan Pluralism Trail di bulan Oktober mendatang. Anda telah menyumbangkan kebaikan bagi Indonesia, bagi kehidupan anak-anak muda calon peserta, serta komunitas mereka.

Listening to the owner of oldest bakery in Lasem.

Watching the making of old-time-recipe bread.

Surveying Cu An Kiong, Lasem oldest temple.

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