Assalaamualaykum…

May peace be upon you…

2-YEAR PHD PROGRAM IN PAYAP UNIVERSITY

I have been through the journey of this crowdfunding since January 2022. And I decided to rewrite the campaign. Many things have happened during the process that make me less optimistic. But I decided to make this campaign open at least till my birthday on December 31, 2022. After that, I will focus on saving, saving, and saving more till I can pay the tuition by my own.

So, here is the note that I want to highlight. I will decline my dream to do Phd in Peace Education in UPEACE, Costa Rica, the place where I did one of my masters before.

Instead, I want to keep this PhD dream while working on it: making myself more suitable, saving more money from my works as a teacher and writer, and applying to available scholarships.

The most realistic place to study so far while making the three efforts I aforementioned is Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And because I have hold masters in peace education which is the part of peace and conflict studies, I am interested to apply to the 2-year PhD program which is I never know somewhere else does exist. Find out more about the program here: https://ircp.payap.ac.th/?page_id=179.

Then, the admission perhaps looked cheap, but for me, I still need to work hard and save at least 3-4 years without any funding if I want to achieve that USD 16,000 (not yet included flights and living cost to study for 2 years in Chiang Mai though I know the living cost there is quite affordable, even compared to the city I live now, Jakarta, Indonesia). Find out more about the admission and tuition here: https://ircp.payap.ac.th/?page_id=957.

If I break down, I think about USD 26,000 will be enough to start this PhD dream in peace education. Sadly I just cannot change the amount after going LIVE:

1. Tuition fee for 2-year PhD program: USD 16,000
2. Living cost (rent, food, transportation, miscellaneous, and insurance): USD 400 (monthly) x 2 years = USD 9,600
3. Return flights from and to Jakarta, Indonesia - Chiang Mai, Thailand: USD 300

I think that's the note I want to share as CLARIFICATION of my hopeless PhD dream campaign. The rest I won't change it's still same, about my peace education journey as an activist and educator.

RESEARCH PLAN FOR PHD IN PEACE EDUCATION

As an English teacher and peace educator in the same time, I think my heart and mind are strongly sure to write about: Why English class? Why learning and teaching English can contribute to decolonization of knowledge? How to teach and learn English by using peace-education lenses?

Several references that become the muse of this research idea are varied including Paulo Freire's book: Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Decolonizing Peace book by Victoria Fontan, and the explanation of David C. Smith and Terrance R. Carson in their book Educating for a Peaceful Future.

To know more about me, you may find out below:

My Peace Work Journey

Firstly, thank you very much who have supported me through my campaign in Launchgood few years ago in 2017-2018. At that time I was still pursuing my double masters in peace education in UPEACE (United Nations Mandated University for Peace), Costa Rica; and global politics in Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. I raised fund to pitch my idea of building a peace-education community based on Indonesia's local wisdom called PANDAI (Indonesia's Peace Education/Pendidikan Damai Indonesia). My paper was selected by East-West Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa. PANDAI officially established on December 31st, 2016 as graduation capstone. At that that time, the scholarship benefactor Nippon Foundation Japan required me to create a sustainable peacebuilding work in my community in Indonesia as the part of the legacy of Asian Peacebuilders Scholarship.

Since that time, especially since I pitched my idea in East-West Center with generosity and compassion of all donors in Launchgood, my peace-education community PANDAI is known widely not only in Indonesia, but by some other friends and peace educators in other countries like Lebanon, Tunisia, Qatar, Malawi, Costa Rica, Philippines, France, Canada, US, and some more. Those countries I mentioned who have invited me for peace collaborations both offline (before the pandemic) and online (during the pandemic). In Indonesia itself, more than 500 volunteers and participants have participated in various peace initiatives I held for 5 years so far.

In 2018, the same year I pitched my idea to East-West Center, in October to November I got selected by the UK government through British Council Indonesia to represent youths in my country to learn from the Elders in SOAS of University of London, the parliament, the prime minister's staffs in Downing Street 10, and the professionals in Møller Institute in University of Cambridge for 2 weeks.

Before that, US Embassy Jakarta awarded PANDAI as one of the inspiring peace and social communities during Ramadan 2018 in their cultural center, @america Jakarta. During the independence day of Indonesia on August 17th, 2018 I got invited to talk in Metro TV about a peace initiative that supported by interfaith friends called BBQ (Bersih-Bersih Quy/Let's Clean Up). There were 7 BBQs between 2018-2019. After that, Ministry of Education and Culture lended us a space in their library to conduct peace education and conflict transformation training to commemorate Peace Day on September 21st, 2018.

I got quite traumatized and needed time to heal after being hit by a car after Peace Day in 2019. A few months later pandemic struck. Many friends asked me about PANDAI and offered their supports by making several peace-education session through Live Instagram in 2020. Then, in 2021 my confidence returned, I made 4 sessions of peace circle called PIE (Peace is Every Time) inspired by the late peace teachers Thay, Thich Nhat Hanh; Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid); Abdul Sattar Edhi; Br. David Steindl-Rast; Martin Luther King; Bunda Mayora; Krista Tippett; Sami Yusuf; and my meditation teacher Stacy Sims who founded The Well World. She and her team helped me with one of the sessions and at the end of 2021, she offered me a generous and compassion offering, The Wellspring Fellowship from January to April 2022. Some of my pieces related to the fellowship can be found in TheWell.World website.

Why Ph.D in Peace Education?

After all of this journey that always leads me to peace-education path since I left the radicalized and intolerant group back in my high school period in 2009, I believe this 12-year colorful experiences that do not only empower me, but also people and community surrounding me. I also see the need to keep learning just like Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam: “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave, from womb to tomb.” Pursuing Ph.D in peace education will not only be beneficial for me personally, but for everyone who I serve and support.

Helping others to learn will help me to learn better. And helping others to heal will help me to heal better. I said these two beautiful sentences because of two reasons. When the pandemic struck, it was not easy to get up and keep believing that I still have hope to continue my life. In the middle of that darkness, I applied for two volunteer projects through UNV (United Nations Volunteer) website. I got accepted by WISE (Wash in South East Asia). It was an honoring volunteering journey for me during the early period of pandemic because I volunteered as translator, proofreader, and editor of some surveys, infographics, and related documents in English to Indonesian particularly for Indonesian migrant worker in Singapore. It was a humble work, yet, I believe it somehow could be a small help for those who were in need of these translations because especially in time of emergency like pandemic, information is a priceless asset for everyone regardless their social and economic status.

Then, I volunteered as a mentor. I felt the need to give back. I discovered that mentoring is not always about encouraging nor advising, but also about earning trust and bridging understand. From mentorship, I learn a lot the value of active and attentive listening, empathy beyond sympathy, and humanity plus humaneness. I am grateful I have been trusted to mentor two awesome young women. The first one was a young graduate, a Rising Star, from Chittagong from Bangladesh who currently works in Teach for Bangladesh. I mentored her for eight months. Then, my journey continued with a young doctor from Hanoi, Vietnam who builds her career on the field of epidemiology. It was a four months cycle which was the part of 2021 US - ASEAN's Women Leadership Academy for YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative). This year, WEDU will ask my support again as a mentor for female human rights defenders in Asia.

This offer reminds me to another peace project that I recently supported called TEMALI (Temui dan Kenali / Meet and Get to Know) Project initiated by Indorelawan and Indika Foundation. I began my journey as a speaker of one of the classes focused on peace. I shared my journey as a peace educator and activist begun in 2009 when I left the intolerant group that radicalized me until PANDAI could be founded in 2016. There were at least nine communities which just start their journeys in educating for peace. This class in general basically helped the communities to understand the correlation between personal branding and organizational leadership. Then, this project also invited me to be a mentor for three of nine communities that work to build their peace projects is an interesting experience because I become a discussion partner for three communities I mentor: CMI (Character Matters Indonesia), FPP (For Peace Project), and Bhurâân. Witnessing their journeys and listening to their stories help me to grow both as a person and peace educator. Mentoring is not always about giving advice and encouragement, but also about learning and improving listening skills and sense of empathy.

Links to My Peace Work:

To learn more about PANDAI, you may visit our instagram: @pandaiindonesia → http://www.instagram.com/pandaiindonesia/

The video was the summary of peace education and conflict transformation workshop and training help in the Library of Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Indonesia initiated by me through the community I founded, PANDAI (Indonesia's Peace Education). This annual event is the part of Peace Day commemoration on September 21, 2018.

Related to my healing from various past traumas, I created 10-minute pause movement called Humane Human, the instagram is: @humanehuman88 → https://www.instagram.com/humanehuman88/

Now I also have my small business by offering my service as English teacher for children, youths, and professionals. I also give free classes for those who are in need including two friends from Afghanistan and Syria. Further information can be found in instagram: @englishforall88 → https://www.instagram.com/englishforall88

Lastly, to learn about what I have worked on so far, I tidy up everything in my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isti-toq-ah/

Thank you very much and I will share more about what offerings I could offer to you as my gratefulness.

*Note: This is the book I am selling by pre-order system both offline as the paperback in Indonesia with price IDR 110K or USD 7 (including delivery fee all around Indonesia), and online as PDF e-book with price USD 10 (payment received by PayPal). If you are interested about the book, feel free to reach me by email: isti.toq.ah@gmail.com.

About the book:

All the books that are sold reported in Offline Donation as the part of crowdfunding.

The book is about my trauma healing that I have begun 12 years ago in 2009. I shared various methods of healing that I believe can be useful for the readers too. I also donate the book for those in need but can't afford it. So far I have donated about 10 copies of the paperback books and 7 copies of PDF e-books.

Salaam…

In peace…

(Isti Toq'ah)