Biography:
I grew up amidst a loving family, cool friends and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The urge to travel came around at puberty, I think, but it wasn't until I finished a year of studying journalism in Utrecht that I hit the road at nineteen years old. I travelled Southeast Asia, fell in love with Cambodia, soul and jazz, practiced martial arts, wrote stories about my experiences, and witnessed poverty and social inequality for the first of many times.
Working my way through a reverse culture shock upon return, I moved to Utrecht and started studying Language and Culture Studies. After a year I came across a number of courses offered by the Centre for Conflict Studies. It was around this time that my academic interest in conflict and development was starting to gain momentum. Other than working in a psychiatric institution, I visited debates and conferences on the issues, and competed in the Millennium battle – a competition related to development cooperation. Also in 2007, a group of students and journalists including myself travelled Iran with the purpose of gaining mutual cultural and political understanding, visit mosques and holy shrines and chill out with the mullahs in Qom. When I got back I started to learn to play the guitar. Up to this day, I still suck at it.
In the meantime, I got accepted to an exchange programme with the Chinese University of Hong Kong where I would study politics and human rights law. So, in January 2008, I happily said goodbye to Dutch weather only to end up in one of the coldest winters Hong Kong had had in decades. Upon defrosting, I found myself caught between 'Western' and Chinese nationalisms resulting from the crackdowns in Tibet and the Sichuan earthquake that followed. These phenomena and the effects they had on those around me both fascinated and worried me. In between classes, elevators and riding the MTR endlessly, I travelled Thailand, Taiwan and Southern China. The programme ended and I made my way to Cambodia. Here, in the summer of 2008, I conducted research on the role of the press during the electoral campaign for my final thesis.
Back in Holland: while working my way towards finishing my studies, I pondered a zillion opportunities worth exploring. As I was applying for Masters and two friends and me laid the foundations of a (post)conflict correspondence-project around the globe, the TNT Global Experience Programme came into the picture. Excited about the prospect of gaining hands-on experience in the field of development cooperation in Africa, I decided to apply, participated in the selection rounds and got selected. As such, I now have the privilege of calling Lusaka, Zambia, home.
Currently, I am working in the Public Information and Resource Mobilization (PI & RM) of the World Food Programme in Zambia. By doing so, I engage all strata of Zambian society - from the 'big bosses' to the 'beneficiaries'. The work involves talking to a lot of people, shaking many hands, writing, photographing, shooting video footage where possible, and disseminating this information to the appropriate audiences. Whereas I may not fully move the world nor win the fight against world hunger while I am here, I - like TNT, WFP and my colleagues also featured on this blog - am doing my part. I will update this blog every two weeks, so please check back and drop me some lines when you can.
