Resilience

Night 7 Reflection Question: 

What does Resilience mean to you? 

[This was one of the reflection questions posed during one of the facilitation sessions at Cabin 2]

The first image that instantly enters my mind when I see the word resilience is an image of a warrior-like man, like the type you will find in Sparta or Troy, where there is a lot of fighting and a strong determination to win or die trying. My initial impression of the term 'resilience' is that it connotes an act that is very much physical and external of the self. In this initial impression, resilience is almost equated to resistance - fighting against succumbing, if things don't go your way, which very much creates a lot of tension.

After breaking through my first impression, I realised that based on my experience and especially my experience in Cabin 2, resilience took on the form of love, and the human spirit. Through this experience of working and interacting with people like Ari, Rio, Darma, Febo, Ramses, Ayee, Eddie, Bang Wagiman, Satrya, Kemek, the ibu-ibu and everyone else, what I saw was an undying love and passion for a cause, in one way or another, and not necessarily the Reforestation cause. 

The term 'resilience' normally implies an obstacle or challenge that has perhaps dropped onto your normal, daily path. There are many obstacles that the Team Restorasi has come across in their experience, like misunderstanding of their work by the local villagers, or lack of governmental support, which are understandably, very frustrating challenges, but challenges which they have overcome by their love and strong belief in their cause. I see their love and passion as being resilient, and also as a group effort. What I've learnt from the Team Restorasi is that while an individual's efforts alone are important, it is more important to work as a group. You are never alone, especially in work like reforestation, where you are connected to a bigger scheme of things. 

What I've learnt from Ari is that, when it comes to reforestation, it's also not just about working as a group (of humans) but also with the entire ecosystem in the forest. He stresses on the importance of letting the forest renew itself naturally, where reforestation is merely an aid to help it regenerate faster, after its degradation from deforestation. To encourage the forest to renew more naturally, the Team Restorasi makes use of the birds and other animals to help disperse seeds around the forest (which is also an important role of the orangutan in the forest!). So, Resilience seems to me to also be evident in the collective act of collaboration (between people and between 

people and their environment), to achieve a common goal (to restore the forest). 

I remember asking a lot of the people from the team whether they feel that the work they do may feel boring at times, because the restoration process appears to get very routine and mundane, with a lot of waiting and challenges. Rio said that, well yes sometimes, but everything can get boring if you let it, and so it's up to you to make it more interesting for yourself. And everyone there said that they're doing what they do at Cabin 2 because of an end-goal in mind, to restore the forests because they know that they are connected to the forest and do not see themselves as separate entities from the forest. So again, resilience is shown because there is a greater goal in mind that you are aiming towards. 

During this sharing session, I resonated a lot with what Weiqi shared - how resilience is a process: 

"If the forest gets better, you feel it too. 

Because you and the cause are one"

So again, it's this whole idea on interconnectedness, and realising that you exist in an ecosystem and not an egosystem. 

(image from www.ecohustler.co.uk)

The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to earth. 
All things are connected, like the blood that unites us all. 
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it
Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. 
~Chief Seattle, 1854

And from this, I've also learnt that resilience is about humility. Acknowledging that you are not alone in your challenges and whatever situation you are in, and that there are others around you to help you through it, because the cheesy truth of the matter is that we are really all in this together.