Youth Peace Camp | YMCA Yogyakarta, Indonesia ♥ YMCA Setouchi, Japan (Part 1)

Hello everybody!!

Haven't post anything almost a month due to many assignments to do, no internet connection and I attended a youth camp that I will share with you now!! I am typing this while drinking my Matcha Green Tea Ice Blended at Cuppajo Cafe, alone. Hahaha! Sometimes, even though I have boyfriend I still need my 'me-time' too hehehe :p

So, last week as I mentioned before, I attended a youth camp held by YMCA Yogyakarta cooperated with YMCA Setouchi for a week. Theme for this event was Peace Beyond Cultural and Religion Borders, so the participant came from different cultures and religion. Here, I will share my daily activities during the camp, so scroll down your mouse or navigator or screen or whatever you use to read this hehehe :))

(This post includes many photos, so it may take a while to load them)

Day 1: Wednesday, September 11

I packed my clothes and all stuffs I need for this camp right after I finished my lecture. My Village Coordinator, Mas Sam, texted me that we have to gather at UKDW's dormitory at 4 p.m but I told him that I had something to do first so I would be a little bit late. The fact is I went to Kalimilk with my boyfriend because I was hungry, we would not meet for a whole week also so I wanted to spend a little quality time with him hehehe :p But! Guess what? I was the first one who arrived at UKDW's dormitory!! Hahahaha

So after registered and brought our bags into meeting hall, we Indonesian participants had a little meeting, we talked about what we would do and give to the Japanese participants. Then we had a small explanation about YMCA by one of the committee whom I forgot :B After dinner, we had a little bit time to prepare our 'tiny welcoming party', we danced and sang but still confused because we hadn't found the best danced and song to greet them. We were panicked when the committee said the Japanese participants had been arrived and about to enter the meeting hall. Aaannd, when our Japanese friends entered the room we were speechless hahaha! I think our performance was a little bit messy at that time, but we felt happy because our Japanese friends were following our dance! Hahaha

After greeted them with dancing and singing, we gave them welcome drinks :D

These are what we gave to them, Jamu! :D

And these were their reactions when they sipped Jamu :p

Funny isn't it? That was their first time to drink Jamu so it's common if they felt strange because that was our purpose, to trick them hohoho! Sorry guys :p

After that 'tiny welcoming party', we introduced ourselves one by one. Then the committee announced our bedroom and we go to our bedroom. My room mate was Nares (Indonesian), Ririn (Indonesian) and Karin (Japanese). At first the circumstances was totally awkward because we didn't know how to start the conversation. That night, we spent our time mostly in silent :B

Day 2: Thursday, September 12

In the morning, after had a breakfast and mood-meter, the committee did a little ice-breaking to help us knew each other. We did several games and sang (and danced) several song too.

L-O-V-E

PAPA TOME

After that we had a snack time! Our Japanese fellows were surprised when they saw and tasted chilly or here in Indonesia we call it "lombok rawit". Here are their expressions when they tried "lombok" :p

Done with snack, we were divided into two groups based on our village. Here in this camp, we had to live in the village for three days and followed our hosts activities. There were two villages that we used to live, Tanen and Selorejo. Mine was Tanen, and my friends in this group was Ratih (Indonesian), Mentari (Indonesian), Ruki (Indonesian), Karin (Japanese), Lala (Japanese), Rei a.k.a Ghost (Japanese) and Osamu (Japanese), and our Village Coordinator was Samuel (Indonesian).

In this group discussion, we were discussing our plan in the village and after lunch we practiced the games that we would play with the children.

Group discussion

We played Darumasan Ga Koronda, a very funny game from Japanese. I want to play it agaaaiiinnnn!!!

We finished playing games and stuff in the afternoon, then we had our personal time to take a bath or nap because in the evening we would walk around Seturan and Babarsari to see cultural, ethnic and religion differences among society here.

Wanted to post the picture here but I couldn't found any picture while we walked around :( Sorry!

And, our second day of this peace camp was ended by a small reflection about our 'tiny trip' around Seturan and Babarsari. I just noticed that in Seturan and Babarsari, many ethnics and cultures from Indonesia (and Asia) mixed in one society! Though I live in this city and have passed Seturan and Babarsari for hundred times, I never noticed this!

Day 3: Friday, September 13

We started our day with having breakfast and mood-meter. It was still early morning so we felt a little bit sleepy.

After breakfast, we packed our stuffs to live in village for three days. Before we headed to the village, we visited an Islamic Boarding School and House--In Indonesia we usually call it "Pesantren", Al-Qodir first. There, we explored this "Pesantren" surroundings; we saw the plantation and farm, after that we had a small discussion with the founder of this Pesantren, lunch together and finally we watched the Friday Praying or Indonesian usually call it "Sholat Jumat" or "Jumatan".

Time to be separated! Couldn't believe that Lala and Karin was crying because they would be separated from the others for 3 days hihihi :B

In Tanen village, we separated again into 3 houses. This time, my housemate was Lala! :D

After had personal time to take a rest and take a bath, we went to the Chief village's house to have a discussion with the villagers.

There we talked and shared about peace beyond religion diversity. The villagers shared their experiences to keep peace in this village that consists of 3 different religions (Catholic, Christian and Islam). We learned that their key is to respect each others. Very inspiring!

After the sharing, we went back to our houses and had a good sleep!

Actually I want to type my activities from day 1 until 7 in this post but it is 11:39 p.m and I have to go home! This weekend, I will post the rest of my activities. Psssttt, we who lived in Tanen village were tried Javanese traditional dance also! Curious? Find it here! Good night, good afternoon or good morning everyone! :D

Photos were taken by Dimas Haryo Saputro and Andreas Yordan.
Read the related post:
Youth Peace Camp | YMCA Yogyakarta, Indonesia ♥ YMCA Setouchi, Japan (Part 2)

Take care and God bless you!

~eschilla