The Sudhamala School was held in two batches in 2023. the First Batch in June-July and the Second Batch in August-October. This school activity officially ended on Sunday, October 15 2023. There are several notable notes that should be underlined regarding its implementation, as follows:
1. Principles
The Sudhamala School has two principles: Islam rahmatan lil ‘alamin and local wisdom. Islam rahmatan lil ‘alamin in our understanding is Islam that respects the differences in each person’s background, experiences, stories and beliefs. This stems from the spirit of monotheism where nothing is higher than Allah Swt. so that every human being is essentially equal, we all are endowed with love.
Meanwhile, the local wisdom that we mean and use in the Sudhamala School sessions includes the willingness to listen. Listening is one of the wisdoms for understanding other people. Listening helps us to understand what other people feel with empathy.
Listening also means that we understand, acknowledge and respect each person’s thoughts or practices even though they are different.
Apart from that, we also do not forget to always link our discussions about sexuality, sexual violence and trauma to the history and culture of the archipelago. For example, linking sexuality and moral standards with the sexuality reliefs at Sukuh Temple, introducing ancient Indonesian stories about sexuality (for example: Sudhamala story) and thoughts that support understanding and deciphering reality.
The wisdom we mean in practice is also carried out by inviting participants to realize and practice how we are connected to the universe. How the parts of oneself, whether physical, mental or spiritual, cannot be separated from the environment. That is why the Sudhamala School, in some of its meetings, is held in the midst of nature.
These two principles, even though they are not included in the materials, guide the process of learning and discourse in Sudhamala School. These two principles are also used to guide all discussions to support the ideals of upholding human values and actualizing justice.
2. Safe Space
In this school, everyone involved in the activity agrees to uphold these principles:
- Everyone in the forum has an equal position; participants, resource persons, facilitators and organizers. Everyone can think according to their own opinion.
- Everyone can tell stories or have any opinion safely and comfortably without fear of being considered strange, ostracized, alienated, ridiculed, blamed, and so on.
- Everyone doesn’t talk about sensitive stories that come from other people outside the forum. If you want to tell it as a lesson for others, you must not mention the name, identity or anything that refers to the subject of the story.
- Everyone respects other people’s opinions and does not interrupt other people’s talking.
These principles create a sense of trust within the forum so that Sudhamala School becomes a safe space for all. In the participants’ testimonies, it can be seen how they feel Sudhamala is a safe space for them to tell any story. They also feel they can have an opinion and be themselves without feeling judged or blamed.
The atmosphere created in this activity is very relaxed, light and friendly. Carrying it out every Saturday, only once a week, also helps them feel less burdened by time. This time span gives them a break and a dialogue between the school materials and daily reality.
3. Raising Awareness
The Sudhamala School strives to ensure that sexuality and sexual violence are not understood only as knowledge but as awareness. The difference between knowing and realizing is in accordance with the learning we got from “raos mardika” or the feeling of freedom taught by Ki Ageng Suryomentaram.
According to him, a sense of freedom within oneself arises when there is no longer any conflict within oneself. In our understanding, inner conflict occurs when there is still a paradox between knowledge and experience. So, in understanding sexual violence and sexuality, this conflict arises when there is a difference between theory (knowledge) about it and the practice (experience) of oneself and society.
In this school, the principles, materials (example: Intersectionality, River of Life, Trauma, Reflection, etc.), learning methods (example: relaxed and friendly environment, etc.), place and time for learning (example: face-to-face in the office, via Zoom meeting, and in the middle of nature; the times are not sequential in several days), as well as the atmosphere (mutual respect and listening to each other) within the School encourages participants to realize that sexual violence and sexuality cannot be separated from themselves, the flow of their lives, inner conflict, so that it exists within the scope of self, family and society.
The inseparability of sexuality from oneself encourages individuals to take responsibility for any sexual violence that occurs in their surroundings.
So, the “awareness” we mean here is exactly the same as “raos mardika“, where there is no longer any conflict between sexual violence and sexuality in theories and the participants’ experience of it in their daily lives. So it is not an exaggeration if we believe that Sudhamala School can raise the awareness of the participants.
4. All People-Friendly
From our observations, learning at Sudhamala School has quite a strong influence on participants, both those who have previously got knowledge about sexuality and those who have got nothing related to it.
For those who already know about sexuality before, Sudhamala strengthens and provides an anchor for their thinking. This anchor makes theories, thoughts and movements have a basis in daily reality.
Meanwhile, for those who have not know any idea about it before, Sudhamala provides new knowledge through the experiences they have gone through related to sexuality and sexual violence.
From there, Sudhamala School has the advantage of providing knowledge and experience about sexuality, sexual violence, intersectionality, trauma, and the process of unraveling in its own unique way. This school does not emphasize providing theoretical knowledge but rather encourages them to go beyond it so that awareness emerges.
The ‘awareness’ in question is not only based on knowledge but also experience. Sudhamala School always encourages any discussion about sexual violence and sexuality to be understood in the space of self and collective awareness. []
This article was translated by Napol Riel.