Better Understanding for A Better World Conference Baltimore 2014, 4 daysfor a long lasting impact

Hey guys! I'd like to tell my experience in a wonderful conference that I've already experienced on April 23rd-April 27th. till now, I still remember the exact moments with all of my exchange buddies in that conference, the chaperones, Imam Bashar, Kim, Ahson, Nadia, and Ray<3. I love them so much! They inspire me so much and succeeded to change our perspective to see the differences. there were 45 students from 25 countries. I'm grateful because now I have brothers and sisters from all around the world. BUBW conference gives me a huge impact, it definitely bridging understanding among us. we all from different countries, race, color, religion, and so on, but I feel like with those differences life becoming so colorful and beautiful<3 so i'll tell y'all when I first got there, big thanks to my host mom who drove me to the Sheraton hotel in Baltimore where the conference took place. it was like 1,5 hours drive from Hershey,PA.  As I got there, Kim and Imam Bashar gave me a warm welcome for me and I met several exchange students who participated in that conference. Mehriban from Azerbaijan was my first room mate that I met,, awwwh I miss her so much, then we went downstairs to find another exchange student. yep, we were going to in front of the conference area and yeah I met a lotta other exchange students there. As I got there, I saw pizza! omg! so I grab 2 slices of pizza because I was sooo hungry, then I had conversation with all of my exchange buddies. at first I found it difficult to remember their name but you know whattt now I even remember all of their names and where they are from yay! in our first day there (April 23rd) we were all introducing ourselves and gave few words about our exchange year and talking about what we really wanna be. I hope we all could reach what we dream of guys, ooh dear future leaders! Amien.

and after we all finished introducing ourselves and receive our name tag  and T-shirt, we played a game that I forgot what the name is, basically the one who hold the word has to guess what word they get and we gotta try to act based on the word that the player get. it's sso much fun guys!

This is what I mean! :p

Day 1 of our conference

On the next day (April 24th) the conference was actually started, Imam Bashar gave the presentation about what BUBW is and all about a wonderful organization CECF! we also talked about the global issues that's happening in our countries. because of that, I get to know more about what's going on in the world nowadays. and also in every session of this conference I got greater understanding about the differences among us.

Imam Bashar delivered the presentation about BUBW. So inspiring! thanks for inspiring us:) May Allah always be in your favor. I will definitely try to bridge understanding in my home country and also in the world:) So grateful being one of BUBW alumni.

 

 

Basically the point is diversity will be a problem if we look down on others! we shouldn't judge someone because of their differences, if we think again actually people all around the world are rely on each other rite? Why is this conference needed? because from this conference we could inspire others to make a difference and respect the differences, God make the differences because he want us to learn one another. So be a peacemaker guys! YES WE CAN <3And the other session that we got is the session about Leadership delivered by Sultana Ali. She also inspires us so much. I'd like to share about some important things that she said: the ingredients of leadership are: character, charisma, commitment, compassion, competence, courage, discernment, focus, generosity, initiative, listening, partnership, passion, positive attitude, problem solving, responsibility, self awareness, self discipline, servant hood, ability to teach, vision. As long as we believe on ourselves and we could overcome our fear I'm sure we could be a good leader and make a good change. but don't forget as a leader we also have to remember to "Be kind To Your Self"-Sultana Ali.

On the second day of our conference, our agenda was visiting church, mosque and also synagogue. while we were waiting for the bus to take us there, one of my Egyptian friend, his name is Omar, he had an initiative to amuse everyone by come up to sing, and he came to my table and wanted me to sing well yeaaaa I love to sing especially in the bathroom (?) lol. I sang "because you loved me" and "one moment in time". awwwh they r all so sweet appreciating me, it's a pleasure to sing in front of y'all because from the deepest of dwike's heart, dwike will always love and remember all of yaaa <3

 

                                                                                    I love you all guys!

Beside of that, my Indonesian buddies and I also singing "Laskar Pelangi" hahaaha. here we are

laskar pelangiiii

So yeah, not only us, but the other students come up to sing even also the song from their countries, I'm gonna miss y'all guys! really! and finally it was the time for us to leave from the hotel and we get on to the bus, oo yeah our excitement won't be faded, we all sang and talk and yeah we r so chatty! and I love it <3.

The first place to visit was the church and all of us were discussing and questioning all about Christianity, to be honest because of that I got to know a lot more about Christianity although I found it familiar with because some of my family back home are Christian:) I was so impressed, the church is so beautiful and also the priest, father Bill welcome us and he is so friendly :) I also get to know more about Christianity because of my host family, I visited to their church several time and also get involved in some of volunteering activities at church, it was so much fun! I want to connect lives with everyone by doing volunteering, Inshaa Allah.

 

And the second one, all of us were visiting synagogue , and it was my very first time to visit the jewish temple. and the Rabay welcome us really well and answered all of our question. while we were visiting synagogue, the guys have to wear the cap. the rabay also explained to us about the holy book. it was really great to know all the information about Judaism:)

We were at synagogue!

 

 

And after that, all of us were visiting the mosque. it's such a pleasure for me because it's been so long I haven't gone to the mosque, even though to the mosque near my hometown in America. I'm so grateful I got chance to go there and because it was on Friday, so almost all of the moslem students did the jumah /Friday prayer. before we did our prayer, all of us had lunch together. during BUBW, we ate a lotta Pakistani or indian food yummy! I love spicy stuffs. After we did our prayer, we gathered and discussed about Islam, and some issues that cause the misconception about the religion. Because of this conference, all of us have a greater understanding about the difference among us, and also basically all of the religion always want a peace among us, it's only some extremist that bring religion's name to make border between all of us. none of the religion teach us bad things, all of them always want us people around the world to keep in peace and being tolerant among each other. <3 after that, we all were playing at the playground nearby the mosque, it was great and we all had so much fun. on that day, we had a big dinner in Pakistani restaurant, omggg I was sooo happy, I really love Pakistani food. and for some reason some Indonesian kid turn on one of Indonesian dangdut's song huahahaa, it's called terra jana! oo yeah dude, it's been too long we haven't heard that song.

 

 

Imam Bashar showed us the Quran, and we all also discussed all about Islam and people's perception about Islam. Although I'm a moslem, from this conference I also get to know more knowledge about my own religion :)

oo yeaah I forgot to tell that on that day we learned Tanzanian dance from Ahson! we were planning to do that on the next day in the harbor while we were going to the Baltimore aquarium

 

 

So yeah, finally in our last day of conference, on Saturday all of us went to the Baltimore Aquarium oh my that was fantastic! I still remember all of us walked together and some people stared at us because all of us are different. yeah! we all are from 25 countries yo! it's so great taking all great pictures with my exchange buddies:3 here are some pictures while we were on Baltimore Aquarium

 

 With my Thai bestie, Nada!

 



The Baltimore Harbor

 

 

And just like what I've said, after we all had an adventure inside the aquarium, all of us gathered outside and did the Tanzanian dance :)

After that all of us headed back to the hotel and all of us prepared for the banquet on that night. all of us were dressed up with our traditional dresses, there were several performances from each country and including from my country, Indonesia! every nite during the conference all of us practiced for our performance in the banquet and you know what, not only Indonesian student that do the dance but also the students from Malaysia,senegal,and also Germany!i wanna give shout out to them because within few days they could dance saman and one of fun dance that we made up. here is our performance:

 

yaaaaayyy!!!

 

And after that all of us received the certificate from CECF because we already completed the conference and now all of us are the BUBW alumni!!! thanks for all of you who participated in this conference, the chaperones, Imam Bashar, Kim, Nadia, you guys are the best people that I ever met and thank you for giving a big impact for all of us. Just like what I said, 4 days for a long lasting impact!

 

We all love ya! thanks for holding this wonderful conference <3 



 

UNITY IN DIVERSITY <3 my brothers and sisters from all around the world! thanks BUBW!!!!