FICA has never imagined the wealth of knowledge and understanding gained through the Discovery Trip (DT) programs. This week we will share the insight we learned from our first planned DT. We will continue to share these insights through this column every week.
University of Texas at Austin
In 2001, our friend in Indonesian Christian Fellowship (ICF) in Austin, Texas had an idea to interview his driver during his Winter break visit to Indonesia. This idea was sparked as he attended OMC and participated in ICF discipleship curriculum. Both OMC and ICF curriculum had thought that we could not discount the facts that we were born in Indonesia. God must have a purpose for us and thus, should be considered when choosing our vocation.
During the interview he discovered that his driver was a Sundanese Muslim. His driver was born in Serang, West Java. His driver had a strong Muslim background and had been thought Arabic and Islam since he was 6 years old. Although his driver had a more peaceful view of Jihad, he still not comfortable talking about personal issues such as religion, beliefs, race, and family. He realized that there was a wall built between him and his driver due to their race and religion. Surprisingly their economic class did not make them uncomfortable during the interview.
His report sparked intense discourse among FICA staff. We realized for the first time that we really did not know Indonesia. We knew Indonesia by the numbers and statistics through the OMC. However, we did not know the people and felt uncomfortable in our own skin. We remembered Moses’ instructions to his spies before being sent to Canaan in Numbers 13. We need to first understand the people before we could understand the land. This people should include us and other Indonesians from other ethnic, religion, race, and class or SARA (Suku, Agama, Ras, Antar Golongan). Upon this realization, FICA decided to dedicate significant resources to conduct Discovery Trip to Indonesia.
At the beginning, the purpose of DT was simply an extension of his report which was to gain more understanding on our identity in Indonesian context. After the 19th times of DT programs, the purpose has evolved into participating in nation building in Indonesia. This year, which will be our 20th DT, will focus on developing social entrepreneur in rural area in Indonesia. The proposed activity of the 20th DT will be discussed in the next installment on this column.