Meet Daisy van Vroenhoven,

Project manager.

 

🕵‍♂In everyday life I am...

Mental health professional at GGzE, a large psychiatric institution in Eindhoven. Here, I support people with a variety of psychiatric disorders as a case manager in an outpatient treatment team.

  

🌏I work at Out of Area because...

I've been infected with the Out of Area virus, as we call it. I once went on a trip with the foundation as a student. Back then, I was allowed to be the "head of activities." My group and I had prepared everything and spent the entire week with the Bosnian children. I got to know the country, its people, and its history. This inspired me to want to do more for the people. When the foundation approached me to help them more often, I wholeheartedly said yes!

 

💭 My fondest memory is...

A little boy who saw us in his small village. He was distant, shy, and angry. He radiated a sense of uncertainty about what to make of it all, or whether we were doing the right thing. The longer we were there, the more he thawed and bonded with the Dutch students. They played and worked together. At the end of the week, saying goodbye was very difficult, and many tears flowed. Both from him and from the students. My heart broke, but I also found it so incredibly beautiful that such a wonderful bond can form in such a short time. I will never forget that. This was during my first trip as a project leader.

​

📸 The photo below tells you..

"I passionately tell the local media about what we do with the Ouf of Area foundation. We met this woman when we were on a field trip to Sarajevo with a group of students. I had just explained to the group all the museums and sights in the area when this woman asked which foundation we were from. Of course, I explained it to them!"

 

✈A trip is successful for me when...

"There are two things that are necessary. The first is that we were able to help people with our project. In the broadest sense of the word. We do so many different things with the foundation. The second is that the group of students I take with me has also grown from the experience. Such a project trip often triggers a group process from which the students learn a great deal. You see a lot happening in a group and a lot of emotions being released. That's an experience they often won't forget. This gives me a tremendous amount of energy myself!"