DEPOK, WEST JAVA – One day after holding a musical drama action with Panji Sakti, Eve, and Gulali Warna Indonesia, Al Fikri Islamic Fitrah School (SIF) Depok again collaborated with Dompet Dhuafa on Tuesday (1/7/2025). This time, the humanitarian program was held in Palestine Talk and Disaster Preparedness.
This program aims to raise awareness of the humanitarian tragedy in Palestine through a sharing session with Ustaz Herman Budianto, especially telling the role of Dompet Dhuafa volunteers in distributing aid to the region. In addition, this program also presents disaster mitigation education guided by the Dompet Dhuafa Disaster Management Center (DMC) team, providing important insights to participants regarding steps to effectively face potential disasters and their mitigation.
The participants included 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students of SMPIF Al Fikri and teachers. In the first session, the participants listened enthusiastically to the conflict between Palestine and Zionist Israel that has been going on for decades, rooted in conflicting territorial claims since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
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Ustaz Herman said that these tensions peaked again on October 7, 2023, when there was a major attack that killed thousands of civilians, resulting in a humanitarian tragedy that has been called a form of genocide. To this day, Palestinians live in dire conditions, with limited access to basic needs such as water, food, and healthcare, and face uncertainty and the threat of violence on a daily basis.
In the Talkshow session entitled “Palestine: A Land that Continues to Struggle”, Ustaz Herman, who has served as a humanitarian volunteer in Palestine, shared his experiences, from helping to distribute humanitarian aid entrusted by the community through Dompet Dhuafa to witnessing firsthand the suffering experienced by the Palestinian people.
Hundreds of SMPIF Al Fikri Depok students listened enthusiastically, responding with questions that showed their interest in the topic, Sabrina Lustiawan (9) being one of them.
“Earlier we participated in a Talkshow about Palestine, there was Ustaz Herman who shared his experience about Palestine, and I was really happy because finally my confusion about Palestine was answered, and I became more aware of the genocide that occurred in Palestine,” said the girl who is familiarly called Eina.
Sabrina Lustiawan, a 9th grade student of SMPIF Al Fikri, enthusiastically asked questions that had been her confusion regarding the situation of Palestine and Israel.
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After the talk show session, it was continued with a Disaster Mitigation Workshop entitled “Preparedness and Evacuation in Facing Disasters” which was guided by Achmad Lukman as the Manager of the DMC Dompet Dhuafa Disaster Training Education Center. Disaster mitigation socialization and education aims to provide literacy and insight to students regarding various aspects of disaster, ranging from the definition of disasters, their types, to how to mitigate them.
In addition to receiving theoretical material, students also participated in practical simulations involving teachers and other school parties. This activity is designed so that all elements of the school understand the mitigation steps thoroughly, so as to create a safer and more responsive school environment to disaster risks.
“The goal is for the community in this school to become a safe school. What we do here is to provide earthquake simulations, how to protect ourselves, save ourselves and evacuate independently to the gathering point through the evacuation route that has been determined by the school, then we continue with the practice of small-scale fire fighting, using tools that can extinguish, for example using wet cloths and so on, and we explain how to extinguish the fire when there is a gas stove fire, how to prevent them from panicking and be able to extinguish the fire,” said Achmad Lukman.
The simulation was interactive, involving students, teachers and all elements of the school. The students were trained to evacuate from the third floor to a safe gathering point, followed by a fire extinguishing simulation using a wet cloth and a Light Fire Extinguisher (APAR).
Ahmad Samy Basaiban (7), one of the participants, shared his experience when he was able to put out the fire with a wet cloth.
“I think it adds to the knowledge about putting out fires, I was a little hesitant at first but wanted to try and could. It was really fun, I got the experience of putting out the fire directly. Then there was disaster education and I understand more about disaster, and I’m happy,” said Sami.
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SMPIF Al Fikri shares the same vision as Dompet Dhuafa in supporting humanitarian issues. Febna Tri Kurniawati as the Student Affairs Section of SMPIF Al Fikri said that the cooperation that has been established so far with Dompet Dhuafa has gone well. For him, Dompet Dhuafa is a trusted institution in managing fundraising, so that it will make it easier for schools to channel their donations.
As a tangible manifestation of the school’s concern, the school is collecting weekly donations specifically to help Palestine during the month of January. Febna added that the school wants to raise awareness among the students of SMPIF Al Fikri, to donate some of their wealth through the infaq that will be donated to Palestine.
“Now the issue of Palestine is no longer a religious issue, it’s a humanitarian issue, it’s enough to be a human being who should care about Palestine. By building the humanitarian side of the students, we hope that for this junior high school, it is indeed the students who donate, at least the students will be moved to set aside their pocket money to be donated to Palestine,” added Febna.
He further revealed that through education and simulation, students are taught the steps to take in the event of a disaster, so that they can act quickly and appropriately. This knowledge is one of the prevention efforts as well as a way to reduce the risk and impact of disasters in the future.
“At least for students, they have skills on how when they experience a disaster, they know what to do, there is information that they receive, at least this is one of the prevention efforts or reduces the risk related to disasters,” continued Febna. (Dompet Dhuafa)
Text and photo: Anndini Dwi Putri
Editor: Dhika