Bandung School of Peace

Morning Walk In Circle of Peace

2 July 2022, Saturday morning. At 9 am we started our thing. 

It was absolutely an expected thing when gathering with our youth friends. They come from various religious backgrounds. Who are they?

Some come from the Mormon Church, including their elders from the USA and Semarang. Some of the others come from Hindus, Christian churches, and students of Islamic University plus Trust Building program members, and a transmen representative. 

What is behind this? 

The fantastic collaboration between us, Bandung School of Peace Indonesia (SEKODI Bandung), and the Trust Building Program (TBP) from Initiatives of Changes Indonesia, supported by Metrum, a streaming radio network for community as our media partner,  really made this gathering out. Both of us have the same mission in terms of cultivating peace for the youth through the development of understanding, empathy, and tolerance. Therefore, we can promote the eradication of suspicions among all with different cultural and social backgrounds. 

We started by walking around Taman Lansia, a public park with lots of trees and fresh air around. After some walking sessions, all of us started our stories by telling what interested and upset us. It was our great reflection due to our diverse story to practice our capacity to listen and to speak out what came to our minds without feeling fear. This is believed to intensify our empathic and tolerant minds to see our diversity. After that, we continued the session of Friends of Life by playing cards that created an exercise to share our stories, objections, and debate without offending one to another. 

In the end, we think that our diversity and difference will not interrupt our friendship. In fact, this relationship could be one of the role models for us in promoting peace amongst people with different backgrounds with no exceptions. 

By Fanny Syariful Alam