In Brighter Futures students are paired with a Maastricht high school student. The students are supported in doing their homework, developing their talent and realizing their dreams. That all sounds very nice, but why would a student volunteer 3 hours a week to help a student? To find out, we talked to students, pupils and coordinators.
Tonight is Christmas Eve, for many one of the most enjoyable evenings of the year. Apart from spending Christmas with your family, for most people it also means thinking more about their fellow man. Christmas is a time to do good for others, like inviting someone to join you at home, preparing a meal for them and donating warm clothes.
You might have spotted them on Maastricht’s streets already: a bearded old man dressed as a bishop and his exotically dressed helper. They are Saint Nicolas (Sinterklaas) and Pete (Piet) and they’re here to punish the naughty children and treat the nice.
Every six weeks, the members of the Match Houses teams gather and inspire each other. They have dinner together and get to know each other at a deeper level. In this manner, students can blow new life into the current projects in their neighborhoods.
For the first inspiration evening of the academic year, Janna and Shanti, coaches of Match Houses prepared several entertaining, small tasks in order for the group to get to know each other better.
The students live in houses in different neighbourhoods and as the inspiration evening continues, it becomes clear that they all face different challenges (and benefits). Below, Allisa, Lizette, Nicole and Esmee tell about their experiences.
This interview was done by our partner Wohnbuddy, a HomeSharing program in Vienna, Austria. See https://www.wohnbuddy.com/ for more information. Want to apply for HomeSharing yourself? Visit our page www.matchmaastricht.nl/homesharing. We interviewed Elisabeth who lived with an elderly woman, Dorli, a 102-year old lady. Elisabeth got matched with her through the platform wohnbuddy.com Her friends and …
Elisabeth and Dorli are friends with a 70-year age gap Read More »
On a cold and rainy autumnal evening, a group of friends stands in front of the Inner City Library. They are installing a voting box for students who are on their smoking break. Their goal? To create incentives for students to throw their cigarette butts in the special bin, instead of on the ground. Initially …
Cigarette butts, coffee cups and secondhand clothes Read More »
Ewout van den Engel (1983) studeerde cultuurwetenschappen in Maastricht en woonde in totaal 14 jaar in en om de stad. Op dit moment houdt hij een crowdfundingactie voor zijn project ‘Op zoek naar de Mestreechter Geis’, waarin hij de Maastrichtse waarden en identiteit onderzoekt om zo nieuwkomers gemakkelijker te laten integreren in de Maastrichtse gemeenschap. …
When I moved into my new neighborhood, I noticed two interesting things. A big passion for gardening in my new neighbors, and a lot of community organizing. Afew minutes away from my home lies my newest favorite place in all of Maastricht – the Hof van Heer community garden (in Dutch – ‘buurttuinderij’). It all …
Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? Perhaps your friends, family, or culture made you feel like the odd one out? You try to fit in, to adapt, to force yourself into someone you are not. Overflown by frustration and sadness, you ask yourself: ‘Why can’t I be more like them?’ What you are …
During my bachelor’s I found a side-job as a student coach for elementary and secondary school children. I noticed that learning math or reading was not always as easy for others as it was for me. You sit next to a student, trying to explain one algebra exercise for the 10th time. While they are …
