Yogyakarta and Its Surroundings Germany – Indonesia Exchange 2017/2018 in Yogyakarta
Tuesday, 31 July 2018by adminstube
Taksaka train took us from Jakarta to Yogyakarta. Arriving in Yogyakarta, Yuda welcomed us with beautiful red rose. The feeling of joy is in everyone’s mind, because the secretariat of Stube-HEMAT Indonesia is located in this city and most of the Stube activists were still studying here. Thedinner was held at the secretariat with Stube-HEMAT board fullfiled with warm atmosphere.
On the next day we visited Sultan's Palace of Yogyakarta. Withone tour guide, we went around and witnessed the atmosphere and cultural heritage in the palace. Kanjeng Pangeran Haryo Yudohadiningrat gladly explained the history and philosophy of Javanese culture in Yogyakarta, so participants knew the meaning of place names taken from the imaginary axis of Merapi, Tugu, Kraton, Krapyak, to the Indian Ocean.
It was an unforgettable opportunity when the participants from Germany performed a German songs accompanied by angklung by Indonesian students at Javanese Christian Church ofMergangsan. Spending a night in Indonesian friends' boarding houses is also memorable experience with all the limitations and simplicity of Indonesian students who came from other islands.
The education dynamics, especially Christian education in the midst of Indonesia's Muslim majority became an interesting thing to discuss, as well as service involvement in health. So, we visited UKDW as one of Christian universities in Yogyakarta and Bethesda Hospital, discussed and observed many challenges and opportunities. The bag industry Dowa empowering andinvolving the surrounding localpeople and women in their bag-making process as an effort to develop society economy became a divergent attraction. No less exciting when we walked through Malioboro and spent time together there.
In order to enjoy sunrise at Borobudur Temple, all of us pushed ourselves to wake up at 4:00 A.M. Our effort was not vain, we could see the beautifulsunrise, nature and the temple that morning. Further, Ketep and Merapi became our next destination. A short film about Mount Merapi with its eruption made us reflect the unpredictable nature, sometimes it brings blessings but sometimesit causes disaster.
We spent our last day in Yogyakarta by cooking together at Stube HEMAT secretariat and watched Ramayana ballet performance at Prambanan temple complex in the evening. The next day, early in the morning we flew to Sumba Island by NAM Air. (RPA).
Hand in Hand For A Better World Wisma Pojok Indah, 27-29 July 2018
Monday, 30 July 2018by adminstube
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 arestudying 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 havingdiscussion 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 isinteresting because they came from differentperceptions 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 implantedperceptions 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 graduallyduring the development of age, era and experience. Those make values different in one communitycompared 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 experiencesduring 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 lastwas 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.
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 valuesincluding togetherness, human life and welfare remain universal. Those are unifying values that can make us always joining hands to create a better world. (TRU).
First Step in Indonesia:Jakarta
Friday, 27 July 2018by adminstube
The date of July,twenty-two, 2018 finally arrived, one by one participants of Germany-Indonesia Exchange 2017/2018 stepped out of the arrival gate of Soekarno Hatta international airport, Tangerang, Banten. Nine students and two group leaders from ESG and Stube Germany came to Indonesia in return for Stube-HEMAT Indonesia's students who visited Germany in 2017 along with the 500th anniversary of church reformation. Stube-HEMAT Indonesia team and Rev. Tumpal Tobing, who brought the Stube program to Indonesia welcomed their arrival.
Tirtamarta-BPK Penabur School, GKI Pondok Indah and PP-GMKI,
Education services carried out by GKI Pondok Indah through Tirtamarta-BPK Penabur education foundation were the first destination in Jakarta. Here isthe place where Rev. Tumpal serves as a school pastor. Participants got opportunity tohave dialogue with students and teachers andinteracted with the members of church assembly about the challenges of current education services in Indonesia. Character building is the main focus in this school to be implemented beside supporting facilities and extra curricular activities to develop competitive human resources.
Dialogue with GMKI central board in Jakarta, Sahat MP Sinurat and Alan Christian Singkali, opened up opportunities to get to know eachother of fourorganizations which concerned on youth movement to build the nation and open opportunities for cooperation in the future among ESG, Stube Germany and Stube-HEMAT Indonesia and GMKI.
Indonesia House of Representatives and the Old City area
Knowing Indonesia, democracy and the Indonesian political system became an interesting agenda. The national anthem‘Indonesia Raya’filled the air ofAbdul Muis hall, part of Wisma Nusantara to preceed the meeting. Then, the participants listened the explanation about the steps of policy making, budget allocation, and other topics. In this place participants also visited House of Representative museum to get to know the history and democracy of Indonesia.
The Old City area in North Jakarta and its history were depicted by Pius Ledjap, a local tour guide. Beginning with the story of the existence of 'Engelse Burg', the oldest bridge in Indonesia which was built in 1628, participants began to explore the region. Bahari Museum with various types of traditional boats from Sabang to Merauke, shipping equipment, and various pictures relating to shipping; Syahbandar Tower, a tower to watch the vessels at Batavia port; the area of the old city and the Fatahillah square are currently growing into a public space and be preserved by its environment and architecture of the building.
Betawinese Cultural Village and Ciliwung Merdeka group
The traffic jam in Jakarta became a real experience of the participants when visiting Setu Babakan, Betawinese Cultural Village in Srengseng Sawah, South Jakarta. "This area become the pioneer of the Betawinese Culture preservation center which include documentation of cultural literatures, tools relating to the tradition, typical building architecture, typical foods and flora commonly found here", said Kang Indra, a local facilitator, originated to Betawinese ethnic. Participants also made happily their own egg crust, one of the typical Betawinese ethnic foods, called ‘kerak telor’.
The visit and dialogue at Ciliwung Merdeka group and the opportunity to visit Grand Indonesia Mall, showed the Jakarta's lifecomprehensively. Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi, the leader of Ciliwung Merdeka, continued to take side and pay attention consistently to the marginalized people living on Ciliwung riverbaks. The existence of people on the riverbanks is oftenassumed as city rubbish and they disturb the sceneryof the city. Ciliwung Merdeka encourages them to dare to fight for life through togetherness and diversity, strengthens economic independence and channel their expression in cultural arts. While on the other hand, Grand Indonesia Mall presents city sheen, glittering shops and modern lifestyles. These two conditions are integral life in Jakarta. (TRU).
“Studying Abroad: Why Not?”
Monday, 9 July 2018by adminstube
Studying abroad is really a dream of most Indonesian students, especially having a chance to study byscholarship program. Many students compete to get it. Of course, it requires serious preparation, time planning and efforts to bring us closer to the scholarship opportunity.
On Saturday, July 7, 2018, Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta felt so proud when Julianti Marbun, M.Si., alumny of Stube, who iscurrently teaching at Nusa Cendana University, Kupang, and her colleague, Tanda Soalagogo Sirait, M.Sc, alumni of University of Canberra, Australia visited Stube. Tanda continuedhis study on Regional and city planning, focusing on development in urban areas, through scholarships from Australian government. This discussion was attended by 13 students from various study backgrounds, regions and campuses in Yogyakarta.
According to Tanda, there are five important things to be prepared when someone wants to study abroad.First, Interest in specific field: Everyone has different talent and interest, and if he/she does not know, he/she has to find out what theinteresting thing for him/her. Second, Be proactive: having an initiative to find information related to overseas scholarships and observing sources of the information, if the website is official or not.Third, Be a smart explorer: Observe the admission scheme because each campus has different system, such as the deadline for collecting administration, etc. In addition, it is also important to look for lecturers or professors to get letter ofrecommendation, commonly called Letter of Agreement.Don’t forget to improve the quality of your English and take TOEFL/IELTS test to achieve a high score. The conditions and weather abroad are different from our origin, so, it is important for us to keep goodstamina. Fourth, self-improvement: Interpersonal skills are very important to train our confidence when we meet new people. Be active in organization, both locally and internationally and achieve best academic score and non-academic values. Like Tanda’s experience in attending Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), it was really great to increase confidence. Fifth, Improve the quality of worship: surrender to God’s will because everything we do needs God's help to make everything goes well.
Let us prepare ourselves to welcome the future by observing many opportunities and by improving the quality of ourselves. Viva students. (RPA).
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