SDG 2: Zero Hunger | SDGs 2: End hunger | SDG 5: Gender equality | SDGs 5: Equality | SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation | SDGs 6: Clean water | SDG 10: Reduced inequalities | SDGs 10: Children | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Community | SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions | SDGs 16: Conflicts | SDG 17: Partnerships for goals | SDGs 17: Global partnership

In the midst of the raging conflict, the Palestinian people continue to struggle tirelessly to survive. To find out more about their condition and struggle, students of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada attended a TALK SHOW entitled “The Struggle of Palestinian Women and Children Amidst the Israeli Onslaught” with FATMA ALGHUSAIN as the guest speaker. She is the Executive Director of Amna Care Fund, an organization that helps the Palestinian people, especially women and children. “I have experienced four wars while living in Palestine. But this one is not a war. This is genocide!” She said. Mrs Fatma Alghusain also explained the current situation in Palestine.

This activity will be held on Tuesday, 26 March 2024 at 11.00 – 13.00 WIB at Soegondo Building 709 for participants who can attend offline, and via the zoom link for participants who can only follow the event remotely or online. As a form of solidarity for the freedom of the Palestinian people, talk show participants can also prepare their best infaq. In addition to students, the event was also attended by the Head of Arabic Literature Study Programme UGM, Dr Zulfa Purnamawati, S. S., M.Hum. and Mr Imam Hidayat, S.Pd.I., M.Pd. as a representative of Dompet Dhuafa Yogyakarta. After the Q&A session ended, the Head of Arabic Literature UGM handed over souvenirs to the speakers. With this cooperation between the Arabic literature programme and the Dompet Dhuafa, it is hoped that it can make people aware of the current conditions in Palestine.

SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Community | SDG 17: Partnership for goals | SDGs 17: Fostering innovation 

Tak Kenal Maka Tak Sayang. This is a proverb that is often heard in our ears, which contains an extraordinary meaning, namely a call to get to know each other so that good relations are established between fellow human beings. Therefore, in order to strengthen the bond of brotherhood, the Linguistic Family of Gadjah Mada or abbreviated as Kalingga held a MAKRAB KALINGGA event held at Villa Darmawan Kaliurang on 8-9 March 2024. The event was attended by the Gadjah Mada Linguistics Master Student Family from various batches, where the organizers were linguistics students from batch 2023 as well as Kalingga administrators.

With the theme “Menyala Kalinggaku“, a series of events were arranged as interesting as possible to ignite the enthusiasm of the participants in establishing cooperation such as playing games, barbeque, karaoke, congregational prayer, and eating together. The event was closed on the next day by giving prizes to the winners of the games and then a group photo. Kalingga Chairperson, Yuliana Kristianti, in her closing remarks was very grateful to the participants who attended the event, especially the seniors who still took the time to attend to meet and play with their juniors. She also hoped that with the end of the event, the kinship between students would be even closer.

SDGs 4: Quality Education | SDGs 5: Gender Equality | SDGs 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities | SDGs 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Being a college student is certainly one of the most valuable moments in an individual’s life. Their moment is utilized and strived to create significant impacts on the community environment. This act of virtue is realized by Maulita Shinta Maharani, a final year student of the English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, who has taken part in social contributions during her college years. Uli, her nickname, actively participates in several student and external activities, especially those around community relations and social service. She is experienced in cultural immersion and interaction with international students which adds to her insight and knowledge of inclusivity and diversity of cross-cultural backgrounds.

Uli’s journey to be an active student begins with her motivation when she entered college in her first year. Before that, she had not found a suitable student organization or activity for her, but that changed when she entered one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Uli had the opportunity to join many student organizations and activities that supported her development and growth in the environment she was interested in. Her organizational experiences include an internship at the UGM Office of International Affairs, Head of HRD at UGM Buddy Club, Research Assistant at the English Literature UGM, Academic and Development Staff at Women Beyond Indonesia, Founder of Amnesty Amawa Wikreti under Amnesty International Indonesia, Learning and Development Staff at HopeHelps Network, and currently active as Public Relations Staff at Faculty of Cultural Sciences ,UGM. Uli’s organizational activities led her to take one step further by applying for the Erasmus student exchange program and having the opportunity to become an Erasmus Awardee at Budapest Business University, Hungary.

Not only active in organizations and student activities, Uli has participated in student activities in the scope of culture, namely the Cultural Exchange to the National University of Singapore (NUS) held in October 2023 which aimed to explore multiculturalism in Singapore. At the same time, she also became a research assistant for NUS students who were conducting a research on local communities in Yogyakarta. The result of this activity was a book entitled “Harmony in Diversity: A Journey from Jogja to Singapore, and Back” which tells about the multiculturalism aspects in Singapore and Yogyakarta in particular.

In addition, her passion for writing has made her actively contribute to pouring his thoughts into articles published in several platforms. Some of the articles she has written are as follows:

• “Should Gender be Equal?”: Gender Inequality in Family Form
• “Who is more likely to benefit from child marriage? Children or parents?”: Child Marriage in Temanggung, Central Java
• Nyadran and the Interpretation of Ubarampe: An Annual Tradition to Welcome Ramadan in Temanggung, Central Java, Indonesia
• Fairy Tales vs Feminism
• Women Beyond Bias: Learning from A Figure, An Eye-opening Discussion with Prof. Wening Udasmoro on Multiple Subordination in the Workplace

Her focus on gender studies, diversity, and inclusivity, also made her take the initiative to serve socially by establishing an organization called Amnesty Amawa Wikreti, a human rights organization led by women affiliated with Amnesty International Indonesia. In 2023, she also participated in the Student Community Service-Community Empowerment Learning (KKN-PPM UGM), as part of the final activity for UGM students. Through this program, she participated in community service in Ofu Village, Timor Tengah Selatan, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, which made her become more interested in social service in remote areas and contributing to the service of educational development during the continuation of the program she was involved in.

“I really want to experience life, I want to spend my youth doing a lot of positive activities and building as many relationships as possible,” said Uli, reflecting on the positive experiences and activities she has gone through during her almost four years as a student.

Uli emphasizes the role of a supportive environment as the main source of her successful achievements and experiences to grow and develop. “My parents also gave me the freedom to participate in anything and choose my own path in life. Support from lecturers and the closest ones; Nanda Yulfi Chairunnisa and Steven Glenn Ravanelli Waromi also serves as an important point to grow.”

SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure | SDGs 9: Cooperation | SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities | SDGs 11: Adaptation | SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions

After attending their first lecture for about 3 weeks, it would be incomplete if they did not get to know each other better. Therefore, the Master of Literature new students at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences held a familiarity night to strengthen the bond between the master of literature students. The activity was held at Villa Kalimasada in Kaliurang for two days starting from 2nd to 3rd of March 2024. Their spirits were not dampened despite the heavy rain on the day of their departure. Gathering at the Faculty, they left together for the villa at 4pm and returned home at 10am the next day. 

With this activity, it is hoped that the Master of Literature new students of 2024 even period can familiarize themselves with each other so that all forms of lecture activities in the future can run well. In order to achieve this goal, various event agendas were compiled that were able to strengthen their closeness, starting with personal introductions to get to know more, eating together, and playing games that they prepared themselves to make the atmosphere of the activity more fun and not boring.

SDGs 4: Quality Education | SDGs 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities | SDGs 17: Partnerships For The Goals

On Friday, March 8, 2024, as many as 16 UGM Archaeology students accompanied by three Department of Archaeology lecturers participated in the Borobudur Youth Engage 2024. This program is part of the cultural introduction program from UNESCO to youth, especially university students. The Borobudur Youth Engage 2024 program with UNESCO Jakarta collaborates with some universities such as Universitas Gadjah Mada through the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, Atma Jaya University, and Tidar University. In this activity, UGM Archaeology participated in a tour around Borobudur Temple and Borobudur Temple Tourism Area to learn the history of archaeological remains and management of cultural heritage management.

The UGM Archaeology group departed from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM at 05.30 WIB and arrived at Borobudur Temple at 06.30 WIB. When arriving at the location, the UGM Archaeology group went to the registration desk and was given special equipment in the form of sandals called upanat sandals. Upanat means footwear which is suitable to be mentioned as special sandals that must be used when visiting Borobudur Temple as a preventive measure from the Borobudur Conservation Center to prevent damage to the temple’s andesite stones. Uniquely, the shape of these upanat sandals follows the shape of the footwear found on Karmawibhangga Relief No. 150 from the walls of Borobudur Temple.

After registration, UGM Archaeology students including Atma Jaya University and Tidar University students visited the pavilion not far from the registration location to watch historical presentations and introduction of supporting sites around the Borobudur Temple area. After watching the presentation, the students departed on foot to the Borobudur Temple courtyard area. Arriving at the courtyard area, the students were assisted by a guide who explained the points of interest around the Borobudur Temple area which is a tourist attraction that is often visited by domestic and foreign visitors. The guide then invited the group to climb Borobudur Temple for a further tour of the meaning of the reliefs and statues around the temple.

After the temple tour ended, the group of students and lecturers visited one of the cultural heritage sites around Borobudur Temple, namely the Brongsongan Site. At this site, students are invited to have an interactive discussion with questions and answers about the Brongsongan Site which has some temple-style relics. After visiting the Brongsongan Site, the group followed the last agenda which was a meeting session and presentation by successful figures from the management of the Borobudur Temple area, one of which was the famous Batik Nawasena craft to the international scene.

This activity ended at 14.00 WIB, with the UGM Archaeology group returning to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. The implementation of one of several activities from UNESCO is a start for UGM Archaeology students to recognize and learn more about local cultural heritage.