- NEDERLANDS
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- ITHAKA
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- PASSION
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- CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY
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- WORK
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- MISSION
CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY
I really enjoy the luxury of being at liberty to chose from what suits me, where I could really add something, what incentives are coming my way.
The road you take is important, but so are the traces you leave behind.
Ethiopia
I first became acquainted with Ethiopia in 1996. I made a tour of mission posts, established friendships, and promised to return another time. I did, the following year, and while trekking through came to be much impressed by this country with such a fascinating past, a wonderful and varied scenery, and kind, proud inhabitants. A country of 80 million souls, but still among the poorest in the world, known mainly for images of hunger, heat, conflict, and drought. The idea to put together a coffee table book was born. Ethiopië - Kracht en Kwetsbaarheid shows the reverse side of those images. The book’s sales profits are channelled to a range of projects in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, I have made six visits to Ethiopia and more than 50,000 pictures have been shot. The book was very well received by the press and a revised edition in English is in the making. As a result of all this, I have formed a warm and lasting tie with Ethiopia and am narrowly involved with a number of projects. Those activities are placed with a separate foundation, the ‘Stichting Dharma.’
Microcredit
Things can just cross your path, such as the anniversary of Jumbo Supermarkets. At my own initiative, I proposed to cast the entire event in a corporate socially responsible (CSR) mould and so to really do something. The anniversary’s motto became “from small to large, from large to small;” its goal was to generate attention and money for the support of Microcredit (MC). The event’s total communication had a focus on the Microcredit program.
A wonderful book was published in support, Bomen tot in de Hemel, which for six third-world countries portrays the effects of microcredit, showing how individual underprivileged people become entrepreneurs with the help of this scheme. Different campaigns were designed for business partners, friends, suppliers, clients, and employees. This resulted in a total donation of a quarter million Euros, a sum that then was doubled. Thus, ten thousands of people are helped either directly or indirectly by MC.
