Bandar Lampung, Indonesia—The second leg of UPF-Indonesia’s national tour, “Building Harmonious Families—Our Shared Responsibility,” took place in Sumatra.
Bandar Lampung, Lampung Province
The third program of the tour was held at Lampung University (UNILA) on October 12, 2016, and was organized by Ambassador for Peace Mr. Andy Corry Wardhani, head of Postgraduate Studies in Communication Science at the university.
More than 200 students and faculty attended the event.
The program began with greetings from the student emcees. After a traditional welcome dance was performed by some of the university’s students, Mr. Wardhani warmly welcomed everyone on behalf of the university.
The moderator introduced the three panelists: Dr. Tina Kartika; Mr. Alfred Forno, secretary general of UPF-Indonesia; and Mrs. Ursula McLackland, secretary general of UPF-Asia.
Dr. Kartika explained family problems from a sociological perspective. Then Mr. Forno introduced the vision, mission and activities of UPF in Indonesia. Mrs. McLackland spoke about the UPF Principles of Peace, which stimulated the participants to ask many questions on how to apply these principles in their daily lives. One female student thanked UPF for guiding her correctly at this important stage of her life. Then all the participants took the Pure Love Pledge.
After several new Ambassador for Peace were appointed, the dean of the Faculty for Social and Political Sciences at Lampung University, Mr. Agus Hadiawan, presented Mrs. McLackland with a gift from the province, as a token of appreciation.
Many participants stayed after the seminar to interact with the UPF team.
UPF agreed to organize future programs with the university.
Medan, North Sumatra
The fourth program of the National Tour took place on October 14 at the State University of Medan (UNIMED), and was organized by Ambassador for Peace Dr. Meisuri, professor of English literature at the university. UPF and UNIMED have held several events on character education and, this time, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to continue cooperating.
The emcees were Ms. Jikti Khairina and Ms. Fauziah Riyan, both UNIMED students. Students from the Department for Languages and Culture performed a beautiful welcome dance and entertained the audience with soul-stirring songs at different intervals throughout the seminar.
More than 200 students and faculty from three different institutions: UNIMED, the University of Medan Area and Pesantren Nurul Hikmah (an Islamic boarding school), participated in the program.
Mr. Azhar Azis Lubis, gave the welcoming address on behalf of the university, and Dr. Sumarsih, a professor at UNIMED, officially opened the conference.
Afterwards, UPF presented an Ambassador for Peace award to Dr. Sumarsih and other faculty members. Mr. Forno and Mrs. McLackland gave a presentation on UPF. During the Q & A session, many of the students were eager to ask questions; however, not everyone could be called on because of the time limit.
For the Pure Love Pledge, 16 students volunteered to come forward to lead it, and all the other participants enthusiastically followed their lead.
At the end of the program, Mr. Samsul Bahri thanked the organizers and the UPF team.
Ambassador for Peace Mr. Najamuddin Siregar, head of Pesantren Nurul Hikmah, an Islamic boarding school, who had brought 12 of his students to the seminar, invited the UPF team to speak to students of the school the same evening the program at UNIMED had concluded. All 290 students of the school gathered after dinner time to listen to a presentation on “Fulfilling Your Dreams,” which was given by Mrs. McLackland, and were provided with a chance to ask questions to the presenter. The students of the school are being prepared to continue their studies abroad to become either Muslim scholars or pursue studies in different fields. The UPF team was invited to stay at the school on its next visit to Medan.