In November 2025 the whole team of International Helpers of area 2 went to visit the groups in Spain, to meet and do Latihan with the helpers, committees and members in Barcelona, Alicante, Madrid and Orgiva. Isolated members Ibiza joined as well. Our visit ended with our attendance to the Spanish National Congress in early December. Miguel Perez, present KC of Subud Spain was travelling with us, being a travel agent, interpreter and host for 2 weeks.
About 15 members attended in Barcelona, 25-30 in Alicante (some joined from Elche), 20-25 in Madrid and 35-40 in Orgiva, 3 members from Ibiza joined. There is a common theme in most groups which is aging membership, new members leaving within a year and members returning to group latihan post Covid. Orgiva does have a younger population and has grown, but still has reported that those opened have not continued with the latihan.
Despite all this, our visit was very fruitful. We focused on Awakening Testing and experiencing the true vibration of the Latihan Kejiwaan of Subud. Many members expressed that this was a new experience for them and they felt more in line with their true latihan.
In Madrid, there are now 7 members from Columbia, who are very keen on finding a way for Madrid to have their own latihan premises. The majority of members are not yet on board with this as they fear the capacity to financially manage this.
In Barcelona, they have had 2 new openings and their premises are newly renovated and look beautiful, thanks to support from MSF, Subud Spain and the sale of land they owned outside of Barcelona.
In Alicante, many members who have not come for quite some time or who only come from time to time attended the Kejiwaan events and expressed a renewed commitment in doing latihan on a regular basis. Some members from the former Elche group joined as well.
In Orgiva, there are more younger members and has doubled in size since 2017 with local openings and with members relocating from elsewhere. Many members are from abroad with 15 different nationalities.
At the National Spanish Congress, discussions and working tables around enterprise and using our talents were organized in addition to time for Kejiwaan and a circle with all the helpers of Spain who attended the congress with the International Helpers. Finally, a new chair was elected to Subud Spain, Ruth Ciordia. Spain reportedly has over 200 members.
Overall, the Spanish membership was truly grateful for our visit and felt inspired to now hold rotating Kejiwaan events from group to group in Spain. They felt an increased awakening of parts of their bodies to the latihan. Helpers felt more confident on how to address challenging issues with the members.
We, the International Helpers team felt this trip was a big gift to us to grow together more deeply. Thank you to all spanish brothers and sisters, for their care and hospitality, we felt like we were at home!
