Joining the Frans Seda Seminar 2017 in Indonesia was a very exciting and challenging experience. If I could describe my experience in a single sentence, it would be: Frans Seda Seminar, where open minded and talented people meet to change the world.
We started the seminar with defining the meaning of Global Citizenship and, despite of our different backgrounds, we soon discovered that we shared most ideas about it. The Dutch and Indonesian participants were then split in five teams. Every team had to deliver a meaningful project proposal with a connection to Global Citizenship. We shared different creative ideas but we all had the same purpose: come up with something great to set up. Me and my team members introduced a great project proposal with regard to entrepreneurship: “Aku Pengusaha”. The project is about teaching underprivileged children in Indonesia how to become successful entrepreneurs.
After we pitched our project we soon came to know that the Frans Seda Foundation Board selected our project to be fund. We were very excited, because this means that the Board is giving us the opportunity to really bring in practice what we discussed during the seminar. We are looking forward to set up the project in 2018!
The Frans Seda Foundation Seminar and the participants influenced me more than I expected. It was a unique opportunity that significantly enriched my own learning experience and helped me to develop skills on how to build bridges between different countries, cultures and religions. In fact, beyond the knowledge that I acquired, it is the multicultural exposure that I cherish the most. The way the seminar was set up, also enabled us to learn while having fun. That made it very challenging. It was definitively the most effective and exciting way to learn, discover and contribute in the same time. Specially because we are given the chance to make a difference with our project.
I am back in the Netherlands and I am still full of energy and determination to contribute to the goals of the Frans Seda Foundation. I think this seminar was indeed life-changing to me. Thank you Board, moderators and the whole team for the perfect organisation. It was a great and amazing experience. And I will definitely continue to be part of the Frans Seda Foundation family.