VHL student wins field visit to South Africa
Second-year student Regional Development and Innovation Liana Boogaars (23) has won a field visit to South Africa in the Urban Challenge competition by development-aid organisation Cordaid. Together with students from the Netherlands and South Africa, she wrote a proposition for a wasteproject in the slumarea Philippi in Cape Town. The team has worked there for ten days to start up the project.
"It is not just a theoretical plan, we really got to work in South Africa, as learning professionals, with professional organisations. That was the great thing about this experience," says Liana.
"The theme of the Urban Challenge was waste management. Because there is a large amount of organic waste in Philippi, we wrote a project on this. Kids in the age of 7 to 15, our targetgroup, are of school age, but in this community they often quit school early. They get a chance to, with guidance, cultivate vegetable gardens, which will be fertilised by compost, made out of organic waste. Also they will receive education in the field of environment, separation of waste products, English language and business skills. This way, we offer them a way back to school. Children are the future!
The challenge was open to third-year students, but I got chosen to participate anyway! Cordaid put together the teams, made up of Dutch and South African students. I first went to South Africa on my own, to meet them and to explore the possibilities.
I think the strength of our team here in the Netherlands lay in the passion for South Africa. We had all been there before, which gives you a better idea of what the country is like and what the possibilities are."
To see what Liana and her fellow students have been up to in Philippi, check out the Urban Challenge page on the Cordaid website.