Board Functions I had

• Jan. 2019 - Mrt. 2020 Secretary on the  board of Stichting Verloren Jaren (UnPaid/onBezoldigd) (In The Netherlands, Via Databeet)

• Apr. 2017 - Dec. 2019 Secretary on the board of Stichting Anoiksis Beheer (Paid/Bezoldigd) (In The Netherlands, Via Databeet)

MYBODYWALK Dec. 2008 – Aug. 2009

During one of the times I was waiting for a doubles match with one of my tennis doubles partners. The talk was about doing 1 challenge a year together. In 2008 it was tandem skydiving together, there is a blog about this adventure. After that one, one more challenge was on the table, hiking the ‘4 Daagse van Nijmegen’, this is The Walk Of The World, the most famous one. It is hard to participate. My tennis doubles partner woke me up with a call in the middle of the night to register and I was selected to participate. This meant I had to train.

The First Hike

Our first training was in February around Lopik or IJsselstein in the cold Dutch weather. My toes were frozen when back at the car. It was a to long hike for me, but I kept training together and separately. It was my acquaintance with hiking and nature in The Netherlands.

How I Came Up To Sponsor A NGO With Participating In The Hike

On one of the hikes I decided to hike for a NGO WPF and their campaign MYBODY and named the campaign MYBODYWALK. I looked for donations which were given when I would finish the 4 day hike of 40 km each day. I don’t know exactly why this particular NGO was chosen back then, but it was a good one. I even talked to WPF campaign manager of MYBODY, featured in a magazine (Esta) and later in their annual report.

40 Km To Long, But Walked It Again

I finished the ‘4 Daagse van Nijmegen’. I learned a lot and liked it, but it is a very busy hike. I liked more hiking to train for the event than the event itself. Also 4x40 km was to much for me and I decided after that to only hike around 20 km a day. But I never kept that promise, because on the Camino (2016) and the ‘Nacht van de Vluchtelingen’ (2019) I hiked again somedays around 40 km.

I Met Hiking And It Will Be Always Part Of My Life

The money was given to WPF, I got my medal and I still love to hike. When I left Curaçao in 1997 to study in The Netherlands the vet I used to work at gave me a letter with in it:  

'You are one of the lucky ones with the opportunity to go study in The Netherlands, go hike a lot!'