From the 9th until the 13th of June, Affinity had the pleasure of hosting 3 PhD students from Indonesia who had been invited to Australia by DFAT.Affinity Intercultural Foundation was asked to host the 3 PhD students for their 4 day visit.
The Students included:
* Mr Bayu Jatmiko - B.A. (Russian Literature), Head of Education Institute Madrasah Aliyah Negeri
* Mr Mi’rajurrahman - B.A. (Education), English Teacher at Boarding School Pondok Pesantren Darul Hijrah
* Mr Muhammad Irsyadul Ibad - B.A. (Arabic Studies and Psychology), Teacher at Boarding School Pondok Pesantren Darul Hijrah
On Thursday evening Affinity’s President, Mr Mehmet Saral, hosted the guests for dinner and welcomed the guests to Australia.
For the 4 days, Affinity members Osman Karolia, Ernest Kulauzovic and Kerem Kiris escorted the guests around Sydney, showing them the sights that this great City has to offer.
The program also allowed the students to be introduced to many of the individuals within the Christian and Jewish faith, that Affinity has a close relationship with.
One such relationship is with the St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney CBD. The students had the chance to visit the large and historic cathedral on their tour. They had the pleasure also of conversing with Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese.
They also had the chance to visit the Jewish Museum where they had the pleasure of meeting Mr Vic Alhadeff from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. They were taken around the museum by a survivor of the Holocaust and were fascinated by the museum as they had never seen Jewish people or heard their history before in Indonesia.Also along the way they visited Sule College located in Prestons and learnt about the values based education that the school’s success rests on.
Some places of worship Affinity took them included the Shia Mosque in Kingsgrove, Lakemba Mosque and Auburn Gallipoli Mosque.
All this coupled with countless dinners and lunches, made their visit to Australia fruitful indeed. The group really enjoyed their time here and left for home on the 13th of June with very fond memories of Australia.
