Darwis longs to see a peaceful Poso

Darwis longs to see a peaceful Poso

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Poso, Central Sulawesi

This is a man who knows how to be at peace. He has freed his mind
of the monstrous acts that he has witnessed. He wants to share
what he has learned with others.

While he works hard for peace, he does not perceive himself as
a peacemaker.

He is 32-year-old Darwis Waru and he has put aside all
personal business to mend the severed ties between Christians and
Muslims in his hometown of Poso.

His face shows no sign of weariness, although, when The
Jakarta Post met him at his office, he had just arrived from
organizing a training session on conflict management and
resolution in Tentena -- four hours drive from Poso, the capital
of Central Sulawesi.

Darwis, sporting a T-shirt and shorts, was verbose when
talking of the peace process in conflict-ridden Poso.

His intense drive for peace inspires people of all walks of
life. Foreign reporters covering the events in Poso, researchers
and embassy officials are among those who frequent his office.

Darwis was born in Sidrap, South Sulawesi on Dec. 11 to a
farming couple: the late Waru Badja and the late Darisa Mangatta.
He is of Bugis origin and says that he has the blood of an
adventurer.

Darwis attended elementary and secondary school in Sidrap
before moving to Makassar to study communications at Hasanuddin
University's School of Social and Political Sciences. After
graduating in 1998, he moved to Palu, Central Sulawesi. There he
was a lecturer of the communications department of the Panca
Bhakti College of social and political sciences (STISIPOL).

While working at the college, he took up a side job as a
reporter for a local mass media publication. He became so
absorbed in reporting that finally, he gave up teaching.

In 2000, when the conflict in Poso erupted, Darwis helped to
evacuate the bodies of those drowned in the Poso river and others
which had been buried en masse.

It was this experience that prompted him to devote himself to
humanitarian causes. On July 9, 2000, a number of local non-
governmental organizations and the Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI) Palu chapter met to set up a working group on
conflict resolution in Poso. Darwis was elected chairman of that
group.

As the conflict in Poso worsened, more lives were claimed and
more houses set ablaze. Violence, gunfire and the explosion of
bombs left many dead, injured or homeless. In such a grim
situation, Darwis and his working group provided emergency
assistance and supplied mattresses and sarongs.

As the situation improved, he began to organize training
sessions and workshops to help the community move toward peace
and begin to come to terms with what had happened in Poso. With
Christian and Muslim youths his number one priority, the initial
figure of 30 participants quickly grew. At present 200 youths are
in training.

Workshop participants later act as agents of peace in all
districts of Poso. Their work was largely responsible for the
peace talk between Muslims of Poso and Christians in Tentena on
March 8.

Darwis, the fourth of five siblings, said his family generally
supported his activities in Poso. His elder sister, he explained,
wished that he wasn't involved in the conflict, but he remains
firm in his decision.

"I have vowed to work for humanity. I will give all my
attention to people whom I can assist. I realize I come from a
poor family," he said modestly.

Darwis is indeed so busy with humanitarian activities that he
refused an invitation to attend a meeting on conflict resolution
in the United States on April 7. "I've refused the invitation not
because I'm against the U.S., but because on that very date there
is a similar activity in Poso," he said.

When asked about marriage, Darwis, who is a heavy smoker, said
that the time wasn't right. Not because he doesn't have a
girlfriend, but because his work in Poso is not yet over.

"I will get married when Poso is really peaceful, as it was
before. I will get married when there is no more enmity between
Muslims and Christians in Poso," he said.

Darwis commutes daily between Poso and Tentena and regularly
visits 17 districts of Poso, not just to help the people overcome
their fear, but also to build trust among the community.