Hannah Baerveldt; SICA Chairperson

SICA: Getting Ready for the 2028 Subud World Congress

by Hannah Bearveldt

A Subud Centennial celebration was held at the end of January in Java followed by the Indonesian National Congress. Elias David, the SICA chairman for Indonesia, gave a report to congress about SICA activities in the country. During his term, SICA worked in tandem with SES (Subud Enterprise Services) Indonesia to provide an innovative approach for members wishing to develop their talents. The participants have written about their experiences and aspirations. If you’d like a copy of this report, please contact Lawrence Pevec at SICA-USA lfpevec@gmail.com

Following the Indonesian National Congress, the International Helpers (IHs), along with Rifka Several (WSA Chairperson), Arifin Konrad, (Board Member) and Hamid da Silva, the new World Congress Organizing Team, (WCOT) chair came to Rungan Sari to meet for ten days. Daniela Bustillo, (SICA vice-chairperson), and I were able to come together with these WSA office holders nearly every day. We discussed general directions for SICA & WSA, specific concerns, and the importance of SICA productively integrating into the next Subud World Congress program. I gave an informal verbal report to the IHs and fielded their questions, and I met again separately with the South American IHs who had issues particular to their area.

I had a couple of sessions with Hamid regarding the upcoming congress and heard his hopes for how SICA could actively contribute to its success by providing cultural enrichment to the congress experience. The next WSC meeting will be held in Portugal in July. Three SICA board members plan to attend to assess potential venues and infrastructure as a first step.

Leading up to congress, SICA plans to write a series of articles about the history and culture of Portugal to help prepare congress attendees of what to expect. The articles will provide background information so attendees may better appreciate all that Portugal has to offer. We will be liaising with WCOT on this to ensure a well-rounded series emerges. The written series will be available through an email newsletter that SICA is currently preparing. This newsletter will be coming out in the latter half of 2025. You can get them here or contact Eyisha@subud-sica.org to get on our mailing list. You won’t want to miss a single issue.

We are pleased that Lucian Parshall has agreed to assist us as our bank liaison. We are still looking for a US-based contact who is willing to assist us with the usual state and federal reports every year. If you are interested to know more about this, please contact Eyisha@subud-sica.org 

We are looking forward to a wonderful 2025 with you all!
Best regards,
Hannah