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Dreams for Aceh
Alice Evans, April 2006

“My dream for Aceh is a land of peace and security. I have been a prisoner of my sadness and anger from the war and the tsunami.  I now have a mirror to better understand myself.  My ability to speak in front of this group is the result of our trauma healing workshop. This week has given me the confidence to be a part of making my dream for Aceh come true.” 

“My dream is for no more Javanese, or Chinese, or Acehnese.  We must all build Aceh together.”

“People in Aceh have very little peace in their lives. This program helps us build peace by giving us skills and changing the way we see conflict.”

“I dream about a peaceful Aceh without oppression and with dignity, freedom and the opportunity for every person to develop.....This process for making peace must be given to everybody.”

These reflections were shared by some of the 40 participants in a joint session for the trauma healing and the human rights/conflict transformation courses during our last day together in early March.

These are remarkable dreams in light of the massive trauma experienced by Acehnese from the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004 and thirty years of civil way with the Indonesian government.

My own reflections of the intensive week include the energizing diversity of participants – a GAM fighter who has returned from 11 years living in the jungle, university lecturers, influential religious leaders, tsunami victims, prison officials, school teachers, and representatives from NGOs and the media. Their vastly different experiences and insights led to dynamic discussions and expanding perceptions of their collective reality.

Some of my strongest images include their laughter in group “energizers” and their flair for drama as teams of six created and enacted pantomimes of specific violations of human rights – which the full group had to guess- followed by resolutions the teams created.  Their depictions of police violence, oppression of women, and judicial bribery were as blunt about the reality as they were creative and hopeful in their resolutions.  Another strong image is the dedication and insight of the three “coaches” chosen in December to return in February for additional training. Following the class session, Anisah, a school teacher; Damanhur, the principal of an Islamic boarding school; and Rysiad, a member of GAM, spent an additional hour and a half every afternoon with the facilitation team discussing course content and methodology, and making innovative suggestions to improve the course.  These three will take a stronger role in teaching the next course, and I am looking forward to learning from the second group of three new coaches which they helped select from the February course.

Along with the other five facilitators from the Trauma Center at the University of Indonesia; the Center for Empowering Reconciliation with Justice; and Plowshares Institute, I am deeply impressed by the diligence and scope of participants’ “actions plans” as they considered concrete application of what they had learned in the workshops.

A few examples of the ways participants plan to extend their learnings to others in their communities include:
 

• The rector (president) of the Islamic Institute in Banda Aceh established a program which takes 300 students and 50 staff members throughout Aceh Province to offer ten days of “peace education” in rural communities. These communities are now requesting additional training. Yusny is asking the three Acehnese coaches from the December ‘05 workshop, who received additional training in February ‘06, to equip the next group of students and staff by expanding the curriculum to include training in human rights and conflict transformation. Through this program, hundreds of rural villages will be equipped to deal justly and effectively with conflict.

• Radio is the most widespread means of mass communication in Aceh.  Intan, who is the “voice” of Radio Banda Aceh (a branch of the national radio system), wants to develop radio programs based on her experience in the conflict transformation /human rights course. She is convinced that weekly 30 minute dramas about family and community conflicts which are resolved through mediation will be a powerful tool to communicate the potential of this approach in Aceh. One of our funding goals is to help Intan realize this vision.

• Irnawati, a tsunami victim and now the director of an orphanage for children who lost their parents in the tsunami, participated in the trauma healing course in December. One of the primary goals of this course has been to help those with little or no knowledge of psychology to understand that the symptoms of serious trauma are seldom indications of mental illness. A support team in the February conflict transformation course worked with Irnawati to develop a constructive intervention approach to work with the principal and parents of an elementary school to take back one of the orphans who was permanently expelled from her third grade class. The child had begun to cry uncontrollably in class, calling for her mother; the teacher and principle were convinced she was “crazy” and a danger to the other children.

• Damanhur is returning to his role as principal of an Islamic boarding school in central Aceh with clear and concrete plans to equip his teachers with skills of mediation.

The program’s goals of building a sustainable base for trauma healing, for constructive conflict intervention and transformation, and for the promotion and protection of human rights have already begun to take root through these actions and action plans.