Tolerance for All

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Cici Situmorang (32), pendiri Inspiration House, saat diwawancarai di Kota Cirebon, Jawa Barat, Kamis (28/1/2021). Melalui komunitasnya, Cici menyebarkan semangat toleransi kepada anak-anak.

Cici Situmorang, 32, opposes discrimination by faithfully sharing access to education for underprivileged children. Through Inspiration House, Cici shows the beauty of diversity in Indonesia.

Cici had been a victim of the cruelty of ethnic, religious, racial and inter-group discrimination. One by one her comrades have left. Quiet. However, she is reluctant to give up.

Clouds blanketed Cirebon City, West Java, Thursday (28/1/2021) afternoon, as if describing Cici\'s dark memory.

At that time, Cici never imagined that the news about Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was involved in a 2016 blasphemy case in Jakarta, would affect her. She was accused of spreading a certain religion on a campus in Cirebon.

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"The accusation emerged simply because I led a prayer before social service activities. In fact, I invited people to pray together according to their personal beliefs," she said. She was a pioneer of an intra-campus organization that focused on social activities in Cirebon. Then, like fungus in the rainy season, the accusation spread fast.

“I suddenly had no friends. I was like rotten meat when I entered campus. My grades were also affected. For a year, after attending teaching and learning activities, I went straight home, crying,” she recalled.

In fact, the organization was engaged in the education sector for underprivileged children.

The impact extended beyond the campus. Inspiration House, the community she founded in late 2014, almost broke up. In fact, the organization was engaged in the education sector for underprivileged children. Of the 30 members, only four were left. Students who had reached 300 people shrank to 100 children.

In the midst of that downturn, she remembered her mother\'s message that God would give her something better. Sure enough, God did not leave her alone. In 2018, Cici passed the selection in the Maarif School of Thought which was held by the Maarif Institute.

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The program was attended by undergraduates to masters. The goal was to care for the ideas of Ahmad Syafii Maarif, a national figure who is known to be closely related to humanity, Indonesianness and Islam. Former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Mahfud MD also taught at the school.

"The coolest thing, at the last event at school, I was asked to lead a prayer. In fact, I was the only Christian," she said.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Cici Situmorang (32), pendiri Inspiration House, saat diwawancarai di Kota Cirebon, Jawa Barat, Kamis (28/1/2021). Melalui komunitasnya, Cici menyebarkan semangat toleransi kepada anak-anak.

Cici felt that her friends who had disappeared one by one had now grown to a thousand. Cici is a member of the Indonesian Peace Train. This activity invites young people from various

religious and ethnic backgrounds to embrace tolerance by traveling. Cici is also part of the Gusdurian network.

Tolerance is something engrained in Cici. Her mother\'s uncle is Muslim. His mother is a Christian who attended Muhammadiyah Elementary School in Aceh. During Christmas, her Muslim family members visited her home. She also attended Lebaran celebrations.

Marginalized children

Inspiration House is growing. Even though there are only 11 people, almost all of them women, they are still actively teaching English and Mathematics to children who are economically underprivileged in the Larangan and Gang Pandawa areas, Cirebon.

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Instruction happens once a week. Her methods, from telling stories with puppets (hand puppets) to calling doctors, police, and those of other professions, share stories to spur children\'s dreams.

They also built the Harmony Kids Trip program, which promotes tolerance by visiting various places of worship in Cirebon every three months.

“Their parents also come along and were amazed by the beauty of the churches and mosques. I always tell the children on their way to not forget to recite the Koran,” he said with a smile.

Several times she’s been accused of being heretical when visiting a mosque. Some people asked about her religion. However, no matter what other people said, Cici continued to carry out her activities. All of her activities to promote religious tolerance do not change her faith.

The teachers of Inspiration House chose five children to explain Pancasila in their own language.

Another program is the little spokespersons for Pancasila. The teachers of Inspiration House chose five children to explain Pancasila in their own language. For example, they were asked to speak about the first principle of the Almighty God. "If you have friends of different religions, can they be insulted? No," said Cici, imitating the words of the children.

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For her, marginalized children, like street children, need attention. So far they have been discriminated against in terms of access to education.

"They also need an understanding of diversity so they don\'t become victims of discrimination like me. Moreover, their life is already difficult,” said the lecturer of Pancasila and Citizenship Education at Catur Insan Cendekia University, Cirebon.

After running for about six years, Inspiration House further strengthened her. During the pandemic, her community becomes a bridge to provide assistance in the form of basic necessities from Gusdurian and a number of donors to the families of her students. For the sustainability of the organization, Cici often used her salary as a lecturer and private English teacher.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

An Inspiration House activity in Cirebon City, West Java, in 2020.

What is unique is the fact that a private tutoring participant for the last six years has a different religion from her. "If she didn\'t pray on Friday, her household assistant would make a video call. Then, I reminded him to pray,” she said. Through the Inspiration House, Cici is trying to inject tolerance vaccines into children. Her dream is to be able to establish a school that promotes tolerance. "Once there was an offer to build a school, but for certain religious interests. I didn\'t want to," she said.

Cici Situmorang

Born: Bandar Lampung, March 23, 1988

Education:

- SD Santa Maria elementary school, Cirebon (1997)

- SMPN 7 state junior high school, Cirebon (2003)

- SMAN 5 state senior high school, Cirebon (2006)

- S-1, Political Science, University of Diponegoro, Semarang (2011)

Profession: Tutor Lecturer of Pancasila and Citizenship Education at Catur Insan Cendekia University, Cirebon

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).