Youth trip 2015

In the past we have traveled to Tanzania several times with young people. This trip has left so many positive impressions on these young people, the guides and the organizers, but also the young people and the guides in Tanzania, that we organized another youth trip in 2015.
  • Ruth Bles
  • Evy ten Broeke
  • Pien Derksen
  • Judith Eberson
  • Amber van Elk
  • Luuk van Elk
  • Lotte Huisman
  • Willemijn Hummelink
  • Simone Kleijburg
  • Hilde Kouwenberg
  • Lize Meboer
  • Tom Peperkamp
  • Marlies Rothoff
  • Rogier Sloot
  • Anne Veens
  • Wout Visser
  • Mayke Winnemuller

Ruth Bles

My name is Ruth Bles, 19 years old and a 2nd year Health Sciences student and I will join the youth trip in 2015! When my sister, Pauli, came along in 2008, I said ‘when I’m old enough and there’s another trip I’ll come along!’. Somewhere in May of this year a link was forwarded that another youth trip would be organized and I couldn’t really think about anything that day but THE trip. We had the first meeting after the summer holidays and I am looking forward to the upcoming meetings with the ultimate goal of the trip. Can’t wait for Summer 2015! Get to know another country, language, culture, people, habits, norms and values and not from a book, from the internet or via TV! That is one great learning experience that I certainly do not want to miss and a chance that you only get once. Kwaheri! Ruth

Marlies Rothoff

On the way to Africa. I was still working on my previous adventure when I saw the message. The first time via Facebook and then it was forwarded again by my sister and my mother, in case I hadn’t seen it there in the far north. However, I had already seen it and all the cogs in my head had already started turning. In July 2015 it would be that time again: a youth trip to Tanzania. And me, I could finally come along. Since I was sixteen I dreamed of going on this special trip, I just never had enough money at the right time. The motivation letter was written quickly and eventually I was told that I could also come along. The journey is still a long way off, it will be another eight months before we actually leave, but the adventure becomes clearer with each meeting. It won’t be an easy journey. Not just because you have to spend so many hours on a plane. No. The continent is completely different from ours. The country where we will soon be staying is poor. Some people have no houses, no clothes, no normal water supply and are therefore constantly at risk of not being able to survive. Very different from Europe. And yet, despite all this negative, I would like to go to this country. Not only because Africa seems to be very beautiful, also to see what MOV/Fotas is really doing. Of course we were told this from childhood before we started our sponsor run, but seeing it with our own eyes gives more value to all those laps. In addition, I am also very curious what the population thinks of our sponsored walks and of the projects that have been set up in their area and also the help that is offered to students by Fotas. With the month, curiosity strikes more. To the continent, to the country, the language, the culture, the people. Since Sweden I want to know more about other cultures. There we sat around the table in the evening and told strange things that could happen in the home country or given the biggest differences with Sweden. For the Netherlands, these differences were of course not great, but for a country like Chile, they were. I am also curious about the mindset of the students we will meet there. What do they think about things that we consider very normal (studying and working women, for example)? I’ll find out in eight months. It still seems far away and to think that I will soon be in Africa is very strange. Yet the itch is getting bigger and bigger: Finally to Africa!

Simone Kleijburg

My name is Simone Kleijburg, I am 18 years old and will be joining the youth trip to Tanzania during the summer holidays in 2015! I really wanted to join this trip because I have been in contact with Tanzania, MOV and Fotas all my life. This is because my mother’s aunt, sister Helmine Tilleman, founded Fotas. My parents also sponsor students, meanwhile we sponsor as our 4th students. I also have contact with these students, first through letters, but they are also developing more and more in Africa and in the meantime we can sometimes email and facebook with our students. My brother also joined the previous youth trip and when I saw all those photos, I thought it would be great to go too. And I can come along in a while! It seems to me very impressive to see the gigantic difference between the Netherlands and Tanzania. Furthermore, I would love it if I could meet one of our students and really see how they live and where our money is invested. Then you know what you’re doing it for, and what a small organization like Fotas and MOV can have major effects in a country like Tanzania. I am really looking forward to the trip and it is again a super beautiful experience that you can take with you for the rest of your life!