Heal the Past and Hope for the Future

Datum

The Trustbuilding Camp in Bandung, Indonesia, brought together young trustbuilding leaders.

The Initiatives of Change (IofC) teams in Indonesia returned to Bandung this year to host another Trustbuilding Camp from Friday, 29 July – Sunday, 31 July 2022, after hosting the first camp in 2015. The camp brought together young leaders to learn about diversity, building trust, and breaking prejudice through dialogues and games.  

Nur Hayati Syafii, President of Initiatives of Change (IofC) Indonesia, warmly welcomed all facilitators and participants. In her opening speech, she shared the importance of personal change for self-development and growth. “Listening to our inner selves is one of the keys to creating change. I have been involved with IofC Indonesia since 2009, which is how I learned about quiet time and learned to practice this daily.” Miftahul Huda, Program Manager of the trustbuilding project in Indonesia, said that this camp is a space for the participants to go on an inner and outer journey. All participants sang IofC together to open the camp.  

Trustbuilding conceptual framework
People of different religious backgrounds
Personal stories from participants

Participants also shared personal stories, like Nashat from Iraq, who has been in Indonesia for six years. He is a dentist who graduated from a Ukrainian University, from where he was sent to Indonesia as a refugee. He now runs Through Hope Learning Center, where he and his friends build trust between refugees and local Indonesian people and create spaces for refugees to express their opinions and where they can be heard. He also initiated charity clinics for refugees. “In 2017, I got to know IofC through an Asia Pacific Life Matters Course (LMC). IofC has influenced my life. The community has helped me develop friendships in my community, and tools to listen deep and better understand people, to keep an open mind, and skills for conflict resolution and decision making.”  

Playing trustbuilding games

On the last day of the camp, the by IofC Indonesia developed games Friends for Life, and Pest Attack were played, designed for people to share their personal stories - a playful and fun way to build trustful connections. As the highlight of the camp, participants learned to turn reflection into actions. Some participants shared that taking quiet time had them. “Being disciplined of having regular quiet time will be one of the things I will continue to implement in my life after the camp,” a participant shared. 

The Trustbuilding camp will be followed up by a community outreach and monthly gatherings designed to share moments of quiet time and exercises.