Jakarta – Clouds of dragonflies spiraled upward in the sticky afternoon air at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno stadium Sunday as thousands of young Indonesians streamed through the entrances and into their seats. An estimated ten thousand gathered to celebrate the Global Peace Festival Asia Pacific 2010.

They came from area campuses that had been engaged in GPFF sponsored service projects for peace in the run-up to the festival, and from the youth branch of Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), the Muslim civic organization partnering with GPFF in the festival.

The crowd was a splash of color and a fashion melting-pot. Young women wore hijabs in a rainbow array of shades, some with white robes, some with sweatshirts and jeans. T-shirts sporting the slogan One Family under God were everywhere in red-orange-yellow or purple-violet-blue.

A concentrated hush settled on the stadium as verses from the Koran were chanted and, appropriately blessed, the festival began.

The young audience was at once modern and traditional. When Indonesian Idol winner Mike appeared to sing Laskar Pelangi they cheered and sang along with him. But they also cheered for the traditional drums and dances that were a big part of the festivities. Many of these performances were put on by the youth organizations supporting the festival. They included a remarkable carnival dragon that climbed up on ever taller pillars until it seemed to be walking on the roof of the stadium.

They cheered Prof. Said, General Chairman of NU, and Drs. Slamet Effendy Yusuf, M.Si, chair of the Muslim Council of Indonesian Ulama, when they spoke. Dr. Moon of GPFF divided the crowd into three sections and had them chanting “One Family under God, Aju!” in competition with each other until the stadium echoed with the sound. The large contingent from President University was judged the winner by unanimous consent.

As the dignitaries began to speak dark clouds rolled in, thunder crashed and lightning crackled. But the youthful energy in the stadium was not dampened at all. Everyone just retreated a few rows and kept celebrating.

What was celebrated most of all was the dream of One Family under God and the Power of Rupiah campaign that had been taken up on many Jakarta area campuses and brought most of the students to the festival. The rupiah is Indonesia’s unit of currency. Entry to the stadium was not by ticket but by one of the cardboard Power of Rupiah coin collection boxes that fit in the palm of the hand.

“From small acts, big hope” is the motto and students are encouraged to put a coin a day in their boxes. The most active have been distributing boxes among their friends and talking up Power of Rupiah on Facebook and Twitter.

Many campuses have already raised enough money through the campaign to fund specific service projects. Leaders are emerging among the students who have set up projects and recruited the volunteers to carry them out. Twenty of the most active students received Global Peace Awards at the festival.

As the strains of “Where Peace Begins,” the Global Peace Festival theme song, rang out around the stadium the rain had already stopped and the sky was clearing. Hope was in the air as everyone looked forward to a year filled with volunteer acts of service, each one doing a little more to bring the dream of One Family under God closer to reality.