A succesfull Preperation...

...day. Friday, the 15th of January, the lectureship organised was a succesfull informal gathering for students who will travel to development countries. 17 students where attending, going to places all over the world. Indonesia, Cameroon, Latin-America, Gambia, Ghana. But at the same time students who already gained some experience in this field of expertise came to tell about their project. Not to mention the international students whith whom the students could get in touch as well. Is was the lecturer Jos Walenkamp who welcomed the students and talked from his heart why he thinks these entrepeneural students are so special. "You have an advantage to your fellow students who stay in Holland. You are a special breed!"

 

Maarten, lecturer at The European Studies, gave some insights in development aid in general. And led a small debat on the goog and bad issues of aid. The group concluded that development of a country only works when development happens on every layer in society. Cultural, education, economics, health, politics, etc. And only on a longer term. "The national economic growth rate doesn't say anything about development." After this presentation Marie-Noëlle  talked about her project, Nafasi. A project which aims to bring the dream of education in Cameroon into reality. She mentioned that people should not only be dreaming of prosperity, but the knowledge to achieve that goal should be acquired as well. "Education gives you knowledge and knowledge replaces the idea of poverty in your head". A word of advice, "keep in touch with the organisation and help them out if possible so you can make sure that development doesn't stop, when you leave."

 

Maarten came back once again with some titles of books which he recomended. "De Crisiskaravaan - Linda Pollman", "The End Of Poverty - Jeffrey Sachs", "The White Mens Burden - William Easterley" and "Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo". All usefull if you want to get a global (though negativ view) of Development Aid.

 

After this, Divya and Karemita  held a very good and very practical presentation on Indonesia. Four Bewegingstechnologie students will be going there to work on a project to help disabled people with functional equipment. This fine presentation was followed by Hanna Lohman, a German student who has travelled and worked in Indonesia and Gambia. With fine German humor she gave some insight in the differences which she encountered with her "punctual"  German upraising and the "Manana, manana" lifestyle which is so common in most parts of the world. Some usefull tips she gave where about medicine; "people in other countries mostly know best about common diseases for their region". "Take some extra passport photo's." "Don't forget a big wallet or a (lunch)box especially travelling to countries with a high inflation."

 

Lorraine gave some insights in Cameroon, the country of her parents. "People think they talk english, but they actually speak Pigeon-English" One of the best way's to communicate in a country with over 250 dialects. Then, Ellen presented her project in Burkina Faso. Just 5 days ago she returned from the Centre Pour La Gouvernance Democratique. An NGO which supports the democratic development in African countries. She said in Burkina faso "People don't buy, people search".

 

After a long lunch, in which students could speak in an informal way to each other and exchange ideas, experience and adresses, Bryan Walker, continued. He focused on the dutch background of most of the students and top open their eyes to other cultures. "A culture exists of layers, those which you can see (communcation) and another 90% you cannot see; use of space; use of time; values." His advice "study the culture before you leave so you can understand". To emphesize this he showed this movie about misunderstanding.

 

To conclude the day, Maaike of the International Office of The Hague University explained how to apply for funds offered by the university. Funds to give the ambitous goals of students the means to fullfill them.

 

Jos Walenkamp again thanked everybody on this succesfull day and wished everybody, the best of times.