Hand in Hand For A Better World

Wisma Pojok Indah, 27-29 July 2018

The presence of international students from ESG and Stube Germany services made the Stube HEMAT training different. A training on Western and Eastern Values with a theme 'Hand in Hand for A Better World' became a new experience for Indonesian participants because they can interact directly with students from Germany and other countries such as Nepal, Cameroon, Cuba, Colombia, Georgia, Ecuador who are studying in Germany and members of the exchange program.

Ariani Narwastujati, Executive Director of Stube-HEMAT explained Stube-HEMAT as a student mentoring institution that equips students with various activities to achieve the vision of the realization of human consciousness, especially students and youth to understand the surrounding social problems. Furthermore, the international network of Stube-HEMAT, Annette Klinke from 'Evangelische Studierenden Gemeinde (ESG)' explained about ESG as a forum for students studying in Germany and having various activities such as fellowship, discussion and excursions. Not much different, Esteban Guevara, the coordinator of Stube Berlin introduced STUBE Berlin as an educational development program having discussion activities, weekend meetings and one day seminars on sustainable development, cross-cultural, educational and student cooperation from southern states.

The topic on Western and Eastern Values is interesting because they came from different perceptions that develop in their own community. Amalinda Savirani, Ph.D., the chairman of Department of Politics and Government, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Postgraduate Program at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, explained that, in fact the Western and Eastern terms are not necessarily appropriate because the West and East itself are related with previously implanted perceptions and understandings. She also revealed two views about values. First, values are considered natural and they have existed from the beginning. Second,  values are maintained and then developed. When someone is born, he/she is already in the environment of values, but it will change gradually during the development of age, era and experience. Those make values different in one community compared to other communities. Values become local because they develop according to the development of the local community. However, there are universal values that are mutual agreements and must be campaigned continuously, such as humanity, sustainability of life and human welfare.

Four international students shared their experiences during the raining. They are; Hannah Eichberg, a German student studying Protestant Theology at University of Hamburg invited participants to reflect back on the attitude of nationalism and love of the country. This is important but not trapped in narrow nationalism; Onno Hofmann, also from Germany and studying at the Protestant Theology, outlined the relation between religion and values in society; then, Prapti Maharjan, a student from Nepal who studied at the Berlin Technical University discussed the issue of oil palm in Indonesia. Palm oil is indeed a prime source of plantations in the Sumatra and Kalimantan regions because it is a source of livelihood for local residents. Then, palm oil is one of the ingredients for making various products known globally. But on the other hand, the rise of palm oil plantations has triggered land clearing that threatens biodiversity, groundwater needs and conflicts over land use. This is a shared thought about palm oil and palm oil, not only thinking about the benefits but the environmental impacts. The last was Carlos Tamayo, a Cuban student who is studying economics, reminded of the importance of cross-cultural communication skills in the global era. According to him, this ability is important to be owned by someone because it will help him/her to adapt to new environment, how to behave and take part for responsibilities.

This training gave participants opportunity to dialogue in small groups with a variety of topics including lifestyle, religion, politics, arts and culture and work ethic. Participants found enlightenment from these topics. Not to forget, a 'bonfire' program was held to bring participants closer and more familiar.

At the end of the training, the coordinator of Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta, Trustha Rembaka, encouraged participants to have independently and proactively follow up on the experiences they had gained during the training, such as sharing new insights about values to other students, organizations and communities they participated in.

Values in society can be different because of country, region and culture, but human values including togetherness, human life and welfare remain universal. Those are unifying values that can make us always joining hands to create a better world. (TRU).