That day, it was unbearably hot in Surakarta City. Yet, the heat did not discourage 28 participants to come to the Sub-District Hall in Serengan, on Thursday (18/6/2026). They came from many backgrounds: health cadres, members of PPT, KLA, women and children protection activists, Karang Taruna (Youth Club), and community leaders in a number of villages within Serengan Sub-District.

That day was the start of the Prevention and Literacy for Anti-Violence Actions in Surakarta City Classes or Pencegahan dan Literasi Tindakan Anti Kekerasan Kota Surakarta (Pelita), a learning space initiated by the Coalition of Women and Children Civil Society or Koalisi Masyarakat Sipil Peduli Perempuan dan Anak (Komasipera) in order to strengthen prevention measures against violence targeting women and children at community level.

In contrast to a number of other programs that focused on victim accompaniment after violence happened, Sekolah Pelita used a different approach – prevention before the violence happened.

From the start, the committee highlighted the importance of safety principle and respect for participants’ identity. Adi Cahyo explained that the attendance list contained a number of additional columns, including information about disability and consent for documentation.

"Some people may not feel comfortable when their identity is revealed, particularly victims of violence. For that reason, we must respect whether they decide to give their consent for documentation or not," he said.

For Komasipera, identity protection was not simply administrative issue. The experience of people who accompany victims showed that sense of safety was important part of recovery process and joint learning.

Addition to technical explanation, Adi also introduced Sekolah Pelita as ongoing learning program that would proceed in a number of meetings. At least, there were eleven materials to discuss gradually, from self-concept, gender, human rights, child rights, disability sensitivity, online-based violence, to legal protection for women and children.

From Management to Prevention

Chief Komasipera, Ida Mufti acknowledged that most women and children protection measures centred around case management.

She believed that many organisations were working to accompany victims after violence has happenedketika. Yet, systematic and structured prevention measures were limited.

"Mostly we work after the case happened. We accompany, befriend, and help resolve the case. But how to prevent violence from happening again? That is what we are trying to establish with this Pelita," said Ida.

She explained that Komasipera was inter-community forum and an organisation focusing on women and children. The forum was a space for discussion, sharing experience, and joint learning with civil society.

Ida said that violence could not be resolved by one organisation alone. It necessitated collaboration of many stakeholders so that community understood fully the root cause and the prevention.

"We want communities not only to understand violence, but also to understand how to prevent it. Prevention is much better than managing the case after it happens," she insisted.


Keeping Family Resilience

Support for the program came from the Sub-District administrator of Serengan. IN his opening speech, the sub-district administrator of Serengan, Tri Widodo highlighted a number of violence cases that happened in the community.

He noticed that many cases of violence started with unresolved family issues.  Economic pressures, family conflicts, and inability to manage emotion often triggered violence.

"We have to maintain family unity. Children are the future. If a family is not healthy, the impacts would be long-lasting in the social life of the community," he said.

He gave his appreciation to Komasipera who chose prevention through community education. He believed that communities needed to have the ability to identify signs of violence and build healthy relations in the family.

Tri Widodo also expected that the good social condition in his area had to continue through mutual collaboration of all community members.

Mengenali Diri Sebelum Menolong Orang Lain

Materi perdana Sekolah Pelita terasa cukup unik. Alih-alih langsung membahas kekerasan, peserta justru diajak masuk ke ruang refleksi yang sangat personal: mengenali diri sendiri.

Fasilitator, Vera Kartika Giantari, membuka sesi dengan mengajak peserta menyepakati suasana belajar yang aman, nyaman, dan saling menghargai.

"Kita akan belajar bersama. Tidak ada jawaban yang salah. Yang penting kita berani menyampaikan apa yang kita pikirkan dan rasakan," katanya.

Peserta kemudian diminta menjawab empat pertanyaan sederhana namun mendalam. Pertanyaan itu dituliskan di empat lembar kertas berwarna berbeda:

Siapa saya? Dari mana saya berasal? Untuk apa saya hidup? Dan ke mana tujuan akhir hidup saya?

Awalnya ruangan terlihat hening. Namun perlahan para peserta mulai menuliskan jawabannya.

Ketika hasil refleksi dibacakan, tampak bahwa sebagian besar peserta memandang diri mereka sebagai manusia ciptaan Tuhan.

Ada yang menulis bahwa manusia adalah makhluk sosial yang harus mampu beradaptasi dan hidup berdampingan dengan orang lain. Ada pula yang menggambarkan dirinya sebagai pribadi yang belum sempurna dan masih terus belajar memperbaiki diri.

Sebagian peserta memaknai asal-usul manusia dari sudut pandang agama. Mereka menulis bahwa manusia berasal dari tanah, dari segumpal air mani, dilahirkan oleh seorang ibu, dan pada akhirnya merupakan ciptaan Tuhan.

Jawaban menjadi semakin beragam ketika peserta diminta menjelaskan tujuan hidup mereka.

Ada yang menulis bahwa hidup adalah kesempatan untuk beribadah dan menjalankan perintah Tuhan. Ada yang ingin menjadi manusia yang bermanfaat bagi sesama. Ada pula yang ingin membahagiakan keluarga, mendidik anak-anak, menikmati hidup dengan penuh rasa syukur, serta memperbaiki diri dari waktu ke waktu.

Menariknya, hampir seluruh peserta memiliki jawaban yang serupa ketika ditanya mengenai tujuan akhir hidup. Sebagian besar menuliskan keinginan untuk kembali kepada Tuhan dan memperoleh kehidupan yang baik di akhirat.

Ada yang menuliskan harapan sederhana: masuk surga. Ada pula yang menambahkan bahwa sebelum mencapai tujuan tersebut mereka ingin membawa anak-anaknya menuju kesuksesan dunia dan akhirat.

Bagi Vera, refleksi semacam itu penting karena banyak orang menjalani kehidupan sehari-hari tanpa pernah benar-benar berhenti untuk bertanya mengenai tujuan hidupnya.

"Kita sering sibuk bekerja, mengurus rumah, mengurus keluarga. Tahu-tahu hari sudah malam, besok mengulang lagi. Padahal mungkin kita jarang memberi waktu kepada diri sendiri untuk bertanya, sebenarnya apa tujuan hidup kita," ujarnya.

Know oneself before Helping Others

The first material of Sekolah Pelita was quite unique. Rather than going straight to the discussion about violence, participants immersed in a very personal reflection space: to know oneself.

The fasilitator, Vera Kartika Giantari opened the session by asking participants to agree on safe, comfortable learning space that highlighted mutual respect.

"WE learn together. There is no right or wrong answer. What is important is that everyone has the confidence to say what each is thinking and feeling," she said.

Participants then answered four simple questions. The questions were written in colourful pieces of paper:

Who am I? Where did I came from? What is the purpose of my life? And What is the final destination of my life?

The room was initially silent. But slowly participants wrote their answers.
When the results of the reflection were read out, it was obvious that most participants saw themselves as God’s creation.

Some participants wrote that humans were social beings that had to adapt and to lie with other people. There were also participants who described themselves as imperfect individuals and had to continuously learned to make themselves better.
Some participants viewed human’s origin from the point of religion. They wrote that humans came from earth, from semen, born to a mother, and essentially were God’s creation.

The answers tended to be diverse when participants were asked to explain the purpose of life.

Some wrote that life was opportunity for prayer and carrying out God’s commandments. Others wanted to be useful humans for others. Still some others wanted to make their family happy, to educate children, to enjoy life with gratitude, and to improve oneself from time to time.

It was interesting that most participants had similar answers when asked about the purpose of their life. Most wrote that they wished to return to God and enjoyed life in heaven.

Some scribbled simple expectations: Go to heaven. Some added that before reaching that final destination, they wanted to make sure that their children were successful in this world and in heaven.

For Vera, the reflection was critical because many people lived their day-to-day life without really taking time to ask what the purpose of their life was.

"WE are so busy with work, manage the household, manage the family. Then we realise it is already late at night, and tomorrow we repeat the same routine. It was rare that we gave time to ourselves to ask what was the real purpose of life," she said.


Three Human Capitals

From such reflection, Vera then asked participants to understand three key human capitals.

The first was the physical – the need for food, drink, sleep, and health.
The second was instinct. Vera said that humans had instinct for self-defence, love, reproduction, and spirituality.

The third was mind, that separated humans from other creatures.
"Mind helps human to think, analyse, store knowledge, and differentiate good from bad," she said.

Vera suggested that many social issues, including violence, were rooted in unmet basic needs or basic needs that were satisfied in the wrong way.

She gave an example of the need for love which was not fulfilled in children. When children did not get the attention, touch, time together, and positive words from parents, the impacts would have significant influence on the development of their concept about themselves.

Conversely, when the need for love was fulfilled, children would become self-confidence and had positive view about themselves.


Developing Positive Concept about Self

The subsequent discussion focused on the concept of self. Vera explained that the concept of self was a way for a person to see, judge, and imagine him/herself.

Many factors influenced the concept of self – from life experience, family parenting style, social environment, culture, physical condition, and social media.

She said that a person with positive concept of self tended to accept his/her strength and weaknesses easily. They would not be swayed by negative assessment/views that other people made and were ready to meet life’s challenges.

Conversely, negative concept of self often made a person offended easily, lose self-confidence, and find it difficult to grow. For that reason, Vera asked participants to start making peace with themselves.

One way was to accept their weaknesses, to forgive their past mistakes, to build positive affirmation, to make realistic targets, and to avoid the habits of comparing oneself to other people.

"We do not need to compare ourselves to other people who seem to have a perfect life in social media. What is important is to know oneself and to be grateful of what one has," said Vera.

Small Steps to Make Big Changes

By the end of the session, participants submitted their simple yet honest evaluation.
One participant asked that the subsequent meeting be more relaxed and not rushed.
"Do not be so tense, next time just relax," said the participant followed by other people’s laugh.

Yet, the first meeting of Sekolah Pelita showed that prevention measures for violence could start from small basic things: know oneself.

With increasing exposure of violence cases against women and children in public spaces, Komasipera chose to start from the root problem. It was not just about teaching how to help victims, but also to help community understand humans, relations, and neglected basic needs kebutuhan-kebutuhan dasar yang sering kali terabaikan.

Because before one could protect others, one had to be able to know oneself. ( Ast)