Students for Humanity

Posted January 22nd, 2009 in Portfolio by Frérieke

Bridging the digital divide, one blog post at a time …

Students for Humanity started in Jan 2009 with a group of students from underprivileged areas ‘Townships’ around Cape Town. I got to know those students quite well the year before while teaching them Leadership-class (working on self-esteem, presentations, teamwork). The reasons to start working ‘online’ with my students was three-folded:

– bridging the digital divide

– empowering students to have a voice (a continuation of our leadership program)

– creating global awareness : connecting students worldwide

I tried to involve outsiders as much as possible (for example, Jan Folmer – from the famous podcast justvocabulary.com came to do a Podcast workshop with the students). Andre Vermeulen (A South African living in the UK took care of the technical bits to create the site) The passionate South African writer, Nonkululeko Godana came to join the team during the second half of 2009. We are now trying to get youth in different places of the world to join the conversation,  some partners in that process are Zamo Nkatshu in Johannesburg, Chris in Malawi and Pelle Aardema in The Netherlands.

Read an interview that Media24 took with me here

VISIT THE PROJECTS WEBSITE HERE: www.studentsforhumanity.com

Photo a Day

Posted January 21st, 2009 in Portfolio by Frérieke

I post a photo each day.

Because my memory is so bad, and works very visual…I decided to make a record of my year. I started doing this the beginning of 2009. I managed to post 325 pics in 2009….improvements to be made this year!

Each photo has a description. Not just of what there is to see in the picture, but the life that is behind it… enjoy!

PS…most pictures are taken with my mobile phone (a Samsung SGH-E730) Material is no excuse…pics are not the best quality but the messages will be clear… BTW…you are welcome to donate me a REAL great camera!

You’ll find my photos and stories on Flickr, an online photo album. Click on one of the photos below and you’ll get there!

2010 Podcast

Posted January 22nd, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

Speak out, stand up to your greatness

Water

Posted January 21st, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

Water is my meditation

I love… swimming, surfing (wave, kite, wind) and being near water (hearing waves crushing, seeing the sun reflected in the water, smelling the ocean.)

Whenever I need inspiration or energy….I need water. It cools me down, it clears my head > no matter if I am in extreme action (jumping over a wave with my windsurf board), swimming Kilometers of croll or sitting quietly on the beach.

That explains why I choose to live near the ocean (Cape Town, Scheveningen) and spent my free moments searching for the best conditions (as a beach guard, surfing, swimming outdoors)

Find below some of my water-related-posts…

[catlist name=Water orderby=date content=yes offset=yes]

My heart in Africa

Posted January 21st, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

My African brother(s and sisters)

From 2006 – 2010 I lived in South Africa. Many youngsters became like a brother or sister to me. We started the project Studentsforhumanity together. Today 2011 – the project continues without me being there. It gives me a warm feeling to know that the ones that I once taught are now inspiring peers to stand up and be great. Thank you guys/girls for taking that on!

Ephraim Ntlamo flee away from Zimbabwe, ended up in the Cape Town streets, but managed to stay out of trouble and through his dedicated nature organized sponsors and schooling for himself. Ephraim used to stay with me, I learned a lot from him (dedication, inspiration, politics, friendship). Please follow Ephraim on his own blog here

On Stage

Posted January 20th, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

In life and on stage only barriers exist no impossibilities

Theater is a great tool to experience real life. In South Africa, I created an ‘art and leadership’ class, in which I used a lot of (improvisational) theater as structural or energizing exercises.

Besides that I love acting (read below some posts about the plays I participated in) and going to the theater (I used to work in a theater and could see the plays for free!).

[catlist name=Theater orderby=date order=asc content=yes date=yes ]

Design a smile, it is a choice

Posted January 20th, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

I am an architect who helps people design their own life

Cultural Diversity

Posted January 2nd, 2008 in Portfolio by Frérieke

The beauty in differences