Creators of Peace Australia embarked on a new venture this year; a CoP exchange program with the aim of strengthening connections between national CoP teams starting with our closest neighbour Indonesia. This is part of the expressed intention of Initiatives of Change Australia to collaborate more closely with IofC Indonesia.
In February four CoP women from Australia left on a self-funded exchange trip to join their counterparts in Indonesia to co-facilitate and share the experience of an intercultural CoP Circle, enjoy the hospitality of the hosts and importantly get a deeper cultural understanding of each other. The Indonesian CoP team is expected here later this year.
Zohra Aly one of the participants in the exchange program shares her thoughts on the visit:
From the outset, I was keen to travel to Indonesia, Australia’s closest and largest northern neighbour. I wanted to see how a CoP Circle translated in a different cultural setting. As a Muslim, I wanted to experience the Circle with other Muslims. Perhaps I could also debunk the popular Australian belief that Bali is all there is to Indonesia, knowing we would be side-stepping the island completely!
Our Indonesian CoP Exchange team had organised two residential CoP Circles, one in Bandung and the other in Yogyakarta. I was to co-facilitate with my fellow Australian Judy Schroeder from South Australia, and Nur Hayati Syafii, Siti Zaetun and Anisa Ladhuny from Indonesia. Khushnam Patel and Rozita Leoni from Sydney, who were part of the Australian team, joined the CoP Circle as participants, alongside women from various Indonesian cities selected based on the commitment to complete the program and continue peacebuilding within their own community.
Bandung, the capital city of the West Java province, is set in the highlands amid volcanoes and tea plantations. It is also where the historic Asia-Africa Conference was held in 1955. The first morning, we rose at dawn to the sounds of the call to prayer from the local mosque, accompanied by roosters crowing. This became a familiar wake-up call each morning throughout our trip.
The CoP Circle created a warm and safe space for the women to explore the ten-gathering points, share quiet time reflections and listen to each other’s stories, creating an understanding and appreciation of the others’ culture and life experiences. When language posed a barrier, the Indonesian facilitators stepped in skilfully and translated for clarity. The benches and nooks in the lush gardens of the house used in Bandung became a haven for hundreds of conversations, weaving threads of connection between the women, day and night. I felt a kinship with my Muslim sisters as we found quiet spaces to offer our five-daily prayers amidst the bustle of the house.
As a Shi’a Muslim, I had felt somewhat apprehensive traveling to predominantly Sunni Muslim Indonesia and had considered not revealing this to my hosts. Shi’a minorities around the globe are routinely marginalised and discriminated against. I need not have worried. In the typical IofC spirit of building trust across divides, I was warmly accepted by the CoPEX team and the women in the CoP Circles. There were opportunities to share experiences and have dialogue with my Sunni sisters about our differences, grateful to be able to explain and demystify certain practices and clarify misunderstandings. IofC Indonesia continuously focuses on building bridges with minority communities, and the team had also planned a visit to the IJABI Shi’a Muslim Mosque for dialogue with elders and youth in the community. After other cultural visits and exchanges, we farewelled Bandung with a traditional Indonesian dinner served on banana leaves, hosted at Rumah Damai – ‘House of Peace’, the IofC base.
Photo credit: IofC Indonesia
Photo credit: IofC Indonesia
The second Peace Circle was held in cultural capital Yogyajarta, or ‘Jogja’, a city which houses the Sultan’s Palace, UNESCO-listed Hindu and Buddhist temples as well as a vibrant university. The delightful group of women who were part of this Circle were academics, teachers and civil servants. They also practised a mix of faiths, reflecting the population of the city. This CoP Circle came with its own flavour and friendships, highlights and challenges. As facilitators, we took away learnings for the planning of future CoP Circles and exchanges.
Our final days of the exchange were spent in Jakarta, meeting the Jakarta IofC team and sharing the learnings from the CoP Circles and the CopEX team. A dinner at the home of the Vice Dean of the Education faculty of the university was an opportunity to meet with university students, and potential future IofC and CoP members.
‘In an increasingly divided world, fostering understanding between different faiths and cultures is essential for peace,’ said Gerard Pillay, President of IofC International at a recent gathering. For me, this quote captured the essence of our successful and memorable exchange. I was also incentivised to ask my Indonesian CoP sisters to include in their growing list of CoP Peace Circles to organise one between Sunni and Shi’a Muslim women.
Photo credits: Zohra Aly
- To be informed about future CoP activities please subscribe to our newsletter.