MUHAMMADIYAH.ID, MADRID – General Chairwoman of the Central Board of ‘Aisyiyah Siti Noordjannah Djohantini attended and delivered a speech in an international meeting of a ‘Peace with No Borders: Religions and Culture in Dialogue’.
The international forum raised a theme of ‘Children Want Peace’. Acting was a moderator was Daiana Paoli, a Rai Journalist from Italy, and the speakers were Chairwoman of ‘Aisyiyah Siti Noordjannah Djohantini; a member of the European Parliament, Italy, Pietro Bartolo; a Mexican journalist and writer Anabel Hernández García; a community of of Sant'Egidio, Italy, Adriana Gulotta; a sociologist of University of Deusto, Spain Javier Elzo Imaz; a sociologist of Ramon Llull University, Spain Gallifa Roca; and Secretary General of the World Council of Churches WCC, Switzerland.Olav Fykse Tveit.
Noordjannah stated that the peace belongs to everyone, and they deserve to live in peace, tranquility, and harmony without interruption, harassment, conflicts, and wars.
“Therefore, every religious person must be a role-model in spreading and practicing peaceful lives for all. This includes creating peace for the children,” declared Noordjannah, who is also a lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY).
Children are God’s precious gifts whose potential needs to be developed as the generations who create civilization. Children from childhood must live in positive parenting and environment so that, when they become adults, they will be mature physically, psychologically, socially and humanly as God’s creatures who give meaningful lives to their environment.
“In particular, children need peaceful worlds. A world that gives them a sense of security, comfort, safety, and fun so that they grow into people who live in an atmosphere of harmony. Living in harmony with himself and his environment both at home, school and other social spaces,” explained Noorjannah.
Children must also be protected from any action and environment with full of negative pressures, violence, sexual harassment, conflict, war, and things that are detrimental to their lives.
Noordjannah emphasized that Aisyiyah invites all parties in all countries and civil society forces to collaborate in realizing a peaceful world for children and to give great hope and a better way of life in creating peace for the peaceful future of the universal humanity.
“These social organizations have a position and role as social agents of peace,” she conveyed.
She also presented roles of Muhammadiyah and ‘Aisyiyah. Aisyiyah has social experiences and programs for peace for children through educational programs. Educational institutions managed by Aisyiyah varies from Kindergartenlevel, elementary and secondary level to tertiary level.
“Through the children’s education, Aisyiyah was a pioneer in the establishment of early childhood education through Bustanul Atfhal Kindergarten. In 1919, ‘Aisyiyah founded a play group or Fröbel Kindergarten which was later called Aisyiyah Busthanul Atfhal Kindergarten,” informed Noordjannah.
Through education, Aisyiyah instilled the values of compassion, honesty, togetherness, justice, tolerance, love for the country, and multicultural human values.
“With more than 19,000 kindergartens, hundreds of primary and secondary schools, and 13 colleges, each year Aisyiyah can create a culture and peaceful behavior for tens of thousands of children in Indonesia,” mentioned Noordjannah.
Another agenda carried out by Aisyiyah is the “child love movement” (GACA) program and “social advocacy” as a unity in the community movement for the protection of children and women whose actors are Aisyiyah volunteers in each local community environment.
Aisyiyah’s commitment and role in the program of realizing a peaceful life with nonviolence and mistreatment of children are an effort to protect and fulfill the rights of child guaranteed by international conventions and the constitution in Indonesia.
“Hence, Aisyiyah invites all parties in all countries and civil society forces to collaborate in realizing a peaceful world for children and to give great hope and a better way of life in creating peace for the peaceful future of the universal humanity,” encouraged Noordjannah.