03.08.18

Student learns from traumatic events to bring peace

Jessica Hill / For The Post

Elizarni has survived a war, tsunami and migration to the U.S., a new world where she has encountered prejudice as a Muslim woman. Through her traumatic past, she has decided to fight hatred and violence the way her mother inspired her: with peace.

From Aceh, Indonesia, Elizarni, a doctoral student studying educational leadership, has dedicated her life to bringing peace in war-torn countries and spreading public awareness about what Muslims are truly like.

“In the future, I really want to focus on things that teach peace, being critical people in a society so that they can stand when they see injustices happening,” Elizarni said. “It’s a time to speak up.”

When Elizarni was 13, her village, Batee Iliek, was a scene of the ongoing conflict between the government of Indonesia and the Free Acehnese Movement, a separatist group. She could hear children and women screaming in her village. She ran out the back of her house as it burned to the ground and ran between the two groups shooting at each other.

Her mother had built the house with the money from her dowry. Looking at the coals where the house once stood, she was hopeful. She said that when God takes something away, he will give something better.

Her mother influenced Elizarni and taught her that it is not good to preserve hatred. Since the battle that destroyed her home, instead of fighting in anger, Elizarni decided that she wanted to work on peace.

Hannah Ruhoff | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Elizarni, a PhD student from Indonesia, poses for a portrait on Feb. 7, 2018. Indonesian people are commonly only known by one name.

“I don’t want to see war anymore,” Elizarni said.

She went to college and joined organizations for women and children affected by violent conflicts. Having seen the results of war firsthand, Elizarni joined women’s organizations in Indonesia, such as Beujroh, a women’s organization based in Aceh.

Women and children did not start the conflict, but they were the ones most affected, Elizarni said. But from the war, women created solidarity and helped each other survive those conflicts, inciting peace. The women in her village are strong and are “actual feminists” who survive in the most difficult situations and continue to feel hopeful, Elizarni said.

Elizarni and her village had not seen the last of tragedy, however.

In December 2004, an earthquake with a 9.1 magnitude and tsunami hit Indonesia, particularly Elizarni’s region. It killed more than 230,000 people, including many of Elizarni’s relatives.

At the time, she was in college and was running late to a dance class. She stepped outside her building, a few kilometers from the city Banda Aceh, and saw the road crack in front of her. She was afraid of falling into the chasm. People yelled a warning about water coming. She ran and climbed into the back of a truck that drove her to a safe space. After the tsunami, Elizarni saw people lying on the ground.

“Peace is very hard work, actually. It is not soft work. It has a soft meaning, but it’s hard. With peace, there is a justice first. When we can accept tolerance, respect each other, it’s not hard.”- Elizarni, a doctoral student

“It was the last day I saw my friends,” Elizarni said.

After the tsunami, which she called Judgment Day, Elizarni became even more inspired to join peace organizations.

She joined the Interfaith Cooperation Forum, promoting peace among different ethnicities and religions. She traveled to different Southeast Asian countries organizing schools of peace in which 20 young people from different conflicts went through a three-month program about the role of peace.

“Peace is very hard work, actually,” Elizarni said. “It is not soft work. It has a soft meaning, but it’s hard. With peace, there is a justice first. When we can accept tolerance, respect each other, it’s not hard.”

Elizarni has continued that peaceful work since arriving in the U.S. in 2009. At Ohio University, Elizarni works to show American students what being Muslim is actually like, and she also works to show her people in Indonesia what the U.S. is truly like. People tend to generalize, Elizarni said. Americans may think of Muslims as oppressed or violent, just as many Indonesians may look at President Donald Trump and generalize the U.S. as a whole.

“There are good and bad things in every country,” Elizarni said. “When there is a bad story, I counter it with a good story.”

For instance, someone had once screamed at her while she was walking down the street, she said. But last year, 70 students were arrested at Baker for protesting about protecting undocumented and international students. She was thrilled to see how students came together.

“They are not Muslim, but I feel accepted,” Elizarni said. “They fight for me. They fight for us. It was only the problem for seven countries, but it is the problem for all of us. … They see us as their sisters and brothers.”

Mohamed Amira, the president of the Muslim Student Association, met Elizarni at an education workshop. He listened to her story in a diversity presentation through the Indonesian Student Association and admired her strength to work toward peace.

“I felt many times in all these occasions the pain and suffering she gone through,” Amira, a graduate student studying teacher education, said. “When you interact with people you think, ‘What would I do if I were in her place?’ I know I would feel anger and upsetments, maybe this desire to get revenge … but if I choose peace, it takes a lot of courage. It shows what a good person she is.”

Elizarni considers herself lucky compared to other people in her village. They have a strong desire to learn, Elizarni said, but do not have the opportunity. She said the current education system focuses only on profit, and if people don’t have money, they cannot go to school. After she graduates, Elizarni plans to return to Indonesia and build a nonprofit learning center for the poor and marginalized.

Candace Stewart, a coordinator at the Student Writing Center who has known Elizarni for three years, was not surprised to learn Elizarni’s plans to build a learning center.

“She has always been an advocate for those outside the margins,” Stewart said in an email.

For now, Elizarni wants to continue taking a stand against discrimination and hatred that she sees, whether it is against LGBT people or any other group. Any human deserves equality, she said.

“I believe in humanity,” Elizarni said. “I put humanity, justice and peace in front of my work. When you can see love manifest in anything. By the logic of love, I believe peace is going to arise.”

Development by: Megan Knapp / For The Post