LAMPUNG — The International Volunteer Day (IVD) Camp in Lampung on December 16-18, 2022, is still so memorable. As many as 100 volunteers from all over Indonesia have received a lot of material on inclusion programs and actions. Entitled “Inclusive Volunteer in Action”, this national meeting of volunteers throughout Indonesia presented an “Inclusion & Communication of Empathy” (Inklusi & Komunikasi Empati) seminar by a volunteer figure with numerous achievements.
She is Triana Rahmawati, founder of Griya Schizofren and also Happiness Family Scholarship.
Founded in 2012, Schizofren was originally an implementation program for the Baktinusa 4 scholarship project. Growing and growing, Schizofren is now a community and in 2023, it will become a foundation.
It is not enough to stop there, as a beneficiary of the Baktinusa scholarship (now Etos ID), he upholds the values obtained from Baktinusa. Until he was motivated to build a similar scholarship, namely the Happiness Family Scholarship. Now it continues to grow to become wider, leading to a focus on social entrepreneurship and digital skills.
In her seminar session Friday (12/16/2022), about empathetic communication, Triana explained that it turns out that not all who enter the social realm mean they have empathized. However, it could be that these people are only at the sympathy stage.
“Even though we take care of other people’s social communication, we can be limited to sympathy and empathy,” She said.
Empathy has a deeper meaning than sympathy. If sympathy is only a trait of someone who feels compassion, empathy becomes the nature of someone who feels the sadness of others and knows what others are feeling in the situation. When this attitude arises, a person usually tries to work together to solve a common problem.
Tria then explains how to build empathetic communication towards others inclusively. She emphasized doing research first. “Nonjudgmental, don’t patronize,” he said. “Because we want to hear from their side. Then after that we begin to build equal relationships. Only then does it help in terms of his needs,” she continued.
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Like humans, empathy also needs space as a way to proceed. So, giving space in the heart to empathize is the initial way to start building a sense of empathy. The concrete action is to be social and community.
To start building a community or social project, Tria urges first to choose the community/social field. Then live it while studying it. Next, create a team. Only then did it use social media to publish and invite more people to collaborate.
“So the team is ready, the project is ready, the goal is also, when you go to a public meeting, the public is ready,” she said.
Triana’s message to the volunteers is that being an inclusive volunteer is the best space to hone space for empathy. The location of empathy lies in the interaction between people. However, remember to also empathize with yourself. For example, self-acceptance is accepting one’s shortcomings and advantages. (Dompet Dhuafa / Muthohar)