Attending the Frans Seda Seminar in Indonesia is very interesting, fun, exiting but also very intensive. The organisation has developed an intense program that contains very interesting lectures and speeches. And of course there is also enough time reserved to work on the projects. The Frans Seda group 2017 is dived into five groups of four amazing people. Every group is working on a different project and it’s great to see how focused all participants are. Everyone is coming up with creative ideas and there is room for every participant to share, exchange and learn. In order to really build bridges, the groups are very well mixed: male, female, Dutch, Indonesian. And besides that, there is a great mix of educational background and skills as well. This makes every group very effective. Because we have been working very closely together, we really got to know each other very well. That alone is already creating bridges between different people and countries.
The past couple of days we have been working very hard on the projects. The project groups were very focused, because on Friday every group has to finish the final presentation and written report. On the same day every group has to pitch its project to the Frans Seda Board and the other participants. So obviously everyone was working very hard to make a good impression.
Work hard, play hard is the motto of one of the participants of the Frans Seda Seminar 2017. So after working very hard and focusing on discussing several topics, it was time to “play hard” by exploring Indonesia and the melting pot of cultures we can find here. For that, the moderators organised two excursions. Off course they weren’t being considered as “fun” (because this isn’t a fun holiday…) but more as educational experiences 😉 In order to set up a project with Indonesian people and potentially in Indonesia, obviously the Dutch participants have to feel, explore and taste the present cultures and religions and how the diverse group of Indonesian mingle with each other.
So in the morning we travelled by bus to Borobudur to discover a wonderful part of Indonesia. Wikipedia tells me that Borobudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple as well as the world’s largest. It’s also one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. Once we arrived to Borobudur, we had to separate the Dutch and Indonesian participants for a while because the tickets for Indonesian where eight times cheaper 🙂 After buying all the tickets we created two mixed groups of Indonesian and Dutch participants again. Every group had a guide who showed us around and explained every single detail there is to know about Borobudur. Off course I don’t remember all the facts and figures, but certain stories actually lingered because of the inspirational meaning.
One of them is about the levels of desire and how Buddha has reached Nirvana. The guide told us that it’s all about getting our desires in control. For an example the desire for material things such as cars. Some people will keep on focusing on having more and more fancy cars. Even if they bought the most fancy and expensive car, they won’t be satisfied because soon there will be an even more exclusive car in the market. When this happens, that person hasn’t got his desires into control. According to Buddhists you will only reach Nirvana and become liberated after you actually control your desires. Interesting!
While exploring the temple and listening to the guide, we (again) made a lot of selfies and wefies. Alone, with a couple of the participants, with strangers and off course we also made several (I mean a lot!) pictures with the entire group. I know for sure that tonight Facebook will be full with our pictures and faces again….
After this excursion it was time for a great lunch again. The moderators made a reservation at Stupa restaurant to have lunch and work on our projects there. Again the food was delicious and the view was stunning. Without any doubt I can say that this location was the most inspirational to work at. Again the participants focused on their projects and Ibu Ery was invited to provide each group with her advice. With only a few words of explanation needed, Ibu Ery was able to passionately guide us into the right direction. I could listen to her all day long without getting bored; she has a lot of wisdom to share and I got really inspired be her again.
After a few hours of very hard work we continued our journey to Prambanan where we would attend a play in the open air theatre, the Ramayana, and have diner there. The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. According to Hindu tradition, Rama is an incarnation of the god Vishnu and is worshipped in the Hindu religion. The main purpose of this incarnation is to demonstrate the righteous path for all living creatures on earth. The story displays the duties of relationships by portraying ideal characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king.
Having Ibu Ery’s story about her father in mind, I believe Frans Seda also tried to be the ideal father, husband, friend and leader. I hope we can live by these values as well and continue to build on his legacy. The world certainly will be a better place!