Master’s student Anna Daamen loves studying nanobiology. But volunteering through the Red Cross has given her something else to be passionate about.
(Photo: Heather Montague)
“I’m in my fifth year at TU Delft and just started my master’s. I really like nanobiology, it’s really my thing. I’m interested in DNA and how things work in our cells. I’m learning about how diseases can develop and how you can fix those diseases. I’m not really sure what I want to do after my studies but I will figure it out along the way.
With the Red Cross I do something totally different from my studies. We have a student organisation and I’m currently on the board. I’m responsible for the social media accounts, making posters and flyers and reaching out to people. I really enjoy helping people and it’s nice that I can contribute to such a big organisation that is totally focused on helping people without looking at what they believe in or where they come from. A friend of mine was on the previous board and when I learned I didn’t have to have first aid training to be able to help in some way, I got excited.
‘We need people who can think of creative ways to raise money’
We need people who can think of creative ways to raise money. There is the fundraising part, but we also want to organise activities for vulnerable people like the elderly. We connect them to someone like a fireman to help make their home safe or policemen to explain how to safely cross the street or use an ATM. And there are also quite a few refugees here that were helped by the Red Cross in their home countries and now that they are here they want to contribute something to give back. But at the moment, because they can’t communicate in Dutch so well, it’s complicated. We want to try and reach out to these groups of people.
Right now, we are limited to having students who speak Dutch because all the communication is currently in Dutch. But we have noticed that a lot of international students are interested and also want to contribute, so this year we will try to find a way to have opportunities for them. If you have people who are excited and want to help, it’s good to give them a chance to do that.”
Heather Montague / Freelance writer
Comments are closed.