As the young generation, we have so much spirit. We can be anything we want, nothing can limit us. We have so many dreams, yet maybe they seem to be very big and ambitious, but we never hold our self back. We are so proud of our dreams and passions, yes, PASSION. Passion is something that keeps us alive. Passion is what identifies us, and we want by that, then we can inspire others.
The spirit of passion is what I was experiencing at ASEC vacation on Sambisari Temple, Juli 27, 2013. Three different passions were colliding, which are Komunitas Tangan Di Atas (TDA) Jogja, Actual Smile English Club (ASEC), and AIESEC UGM. TDA Jogja is a community which provides consultancy and sharing for any level of entrepreneur, which is lead by Mas Rizky. ASEC is a way extraordinary fun English club which gives chance for anybody to speak their English up to overcome shyness in communicating lead by Mbak Emmy. AIESEC UGM is an international platform which provides life changing experience through exchange. AIESEC UGM is the youngest among other two organizations, which is just established 2 years ago, but the spirit to give social impact to society has been so huge and at the moment I was the representative.
This vacation is quickly planned by ASEC since the three organizations held a meeting in TDA’s office, and we found a great opportunities if we collaborate on making social contribution. The first step to make collaboration run smooth is by having a bonding time, so we gathered at Masjid UIN at the north side of UIN Sunan Kalijaga entry gate. I and my AIESEC mate Indyarie Vega Tyassanto or usually called Ivo, arrived there at about 2 p.m. About four people from TDA and six people from ASEC already been there, and we went to the temple from there.
It took about 20 minutes to get there. We drive along Jalan Solo and turn left to Kelurahan Purwomartani. We parked our vehicles and paid Rp 2000 for each person for entry ticket. The sky wasn’t shining so bright because the cloud was blocking the sun, it makes the atmosphere quite comfortable for us to explore the temple. The temple placed down the valley, a very unique landscape. The temple consists of 3 buildings: there is one main temple which has area about 13 square meters, and other 3 small buildings but only shapes like piles of stones. The main temple is so beautiful, only consist of one level up but the sculpture is very typical, reminds us of big temples like Borobudur or Prambanan. We took some good photos there.
After about 20 minutes of exploring, we were away for Ashar prayer in musholla. Afterwards we gathered up at the west wing of the valley and made a circle. Sari from ASEC, as the moderator, opened the discussion. We started the discussion by the introduction of AIESEC from myself. My point was this kind of collaboration should be sustainable because the impact is going to be big without our notice. I realized that Jogja youth is so passionate on gathering as community with diverse field of concern. But all way I saw, the collaboration of each community is so lack, we tend to stand on our own. We knew that we aim for the same thing, which is social impact to society and inspiration to others. So why don’t we gather more intensely to build that dream? Being in different kind of passion doesn’t mean we should build wall to other passion. Collaboration could make something bigger, something wider and something more impactful to the society. This three communities collaboration – the combination of exchange, English and entrepreneurship – is one little step to build that bigger impact.
Then, it continued by the presentation from Mas Rizqi. He emphasized that TDA is not only for those who already had a big business, but also welcome for those who had not had one but so eager to learn. He also brought some materials, which were about personal branding through name card. We all realized that remembering new names and faces is quite hard for any people, so sharing name card can be the solution. But how to make this transaction doesn’t seem trivial instead of the start of something serious is the problem. The problem can be solved by our attitude on giving the card, which is by pinching it in between our point and thumb by both of our hands. This also worked foe the one who received that. It makes both parties feel appreciated.
Since this is basically ASEC’s event, this discussion should be led in English. But lots of participant seemed shy to speak up in English. So Mbak Emmy tried to raise the atmosphere by forcing each person to mingle and speak their thought afterwards in English. Some people spoke some simple expression like “it feels amazing”, “it feels great” etc, so she lured people to express it more in detail. Some people confused on how to translate their minds, but Mbak Emmy kept on encouraging them so finally everybody able to speak in English. She said the first thing to learn English is to overcome shyness. We should be proud of our country because we are so unique. One of the uniqueness we have is our tongue can speak English perfectly, either in British or American accent. Unlike other Asian country like Chine, Japan, or India, they hardly speak a proper English accent.
We got into hot discussion. Some topics were touching, it was when we hear Mas Ryo from ASEC share his experience in learning English. Two years ago, his English was poor at all. Since he met ASEC, he found an encouraging circumstance which motivates him to overcome his shyness and learn English in fun way. Now everybody could hear how fluent his English is.
The sky turned into dark reddish. The shadow of the temple grew longer up to the hill and soon we heard Adzan Maghrib. So we ended the heart to heart sharing session today and started drinking water. We went to the musholla with warm heart. We feel that we have been one step closer to be as family. We ended that day by having iftar at lesehan somewhere in Janti by Mba Sevi from TDA recommendation. The food was served late – we actually break our fasting when we heard Adzan Isya – but we spend a good time sharing, laughing and talk some random things. There’s no more boundary. We may have different passion, but that what makes the conversation keep flowing. We gain new friends and valuable knowledge.
Today’s session might have ended, but the journey had just started. Action is needed to make the collaboration worked to achieve what we envision, social impact and inspiration to others. But don’t forget this one essential thing, PASSION. Passion is what keeps us alive, keeps us young. Thank you TDA and ASEC to share the same passion, this one passion that unite us all as youth, which is passion for collaboration..
