This January has been a very busy and exciting month at educate., packed with events, reunions, new projects and the welcoming of two new team members!
Back in 2017, educate. began to plan a collaboration with Amsterdam University College’s philanthropy and voluntary service committee, Hands On, who select a different theme and organisation to support each month. Using events, including film screenings, bake sales, dinners and expert guest lectures, they raise awareness within the AUC community about a host of different issues, and have supported causes ranging from prostate cancer in the Netherlands to famine and starvation worldwide.
Education was the theme for January, and educate. the organisation supported! Over the course of the month, we held three bake sales (including one at AUC’s TEDX Pitch Night) and a pub quiz, which included rounds on Honduras, Latin America and education. We encountered many surprises while carrying out research for the quiz: for instance, during the heaviest rainy season in Honduras, it can literally “rain fish”!
These events, aimed at raising awareness about educate. and Honduras within the AUC community, and raising funds for our library project in El Progreso, were a huge success! The final count is yet to be announced, but so far we predict we raised over €400, all of which will go to our partnership with Chispa Project, the NGO with whom we are starting a library in northern Honduras.
The first month of 2018 has seen educate. continue to grow, in terms the projects we’re supporting and the members we’re made up of. At the beginning of the month, we donated the second instalment of Stephanie Chevez’s scholarship grant, and took on a new scholarship recipient, Tania Caballero, who is beginning to study industrial engineering this year. By supporting the higher education of these two women in Honduras, we are recognising the importance of women in social and economic development at the local level, taking a decisive (albeit initially unintentional) stance against gender inequality.
We also welcomed two new team members: intern Frank van der Wulp, whose role will involve creating and editing videos and organising events, and board member Fionnuala Davidson. Fionn lived and volunteered in Honduras with Antonia and Lisa, also working as a teacher on a Project Trust placement.
To contrast to all the growing that took place during 2017, we have finally reduced the geographical distance over which our team members are spread. educate.’s chair, Antonia, and secretary, Lisa, have returned to the Netherlands from their semesters abroad, meaning the board no longer need to meet over Skype calls spanning three continents!
We’d like to send out a huge thank you to all of the people we worked with this month – the Hands On committee, Pub Quiz board, and the organisers of the TEDX Pitch Night – as well as all those who attended our events! We couldn’t have done it without your support!
educate. 