Project description and activities

In the Blue Neighbourhood Economy Project we are working to set an example for other neighbourhoods to follow by creating a so called circular inclusive neighbourhood economy. In practice, we focus on our neighbourhood but of course we are also intensively co-operating with the city of Arnhem, NGOs, knowledge institutions and other organisations.

Spijker Design
In Spijker Design we are searching for new ways of reusing waste streams and scouting for other companies and projects which are setting good examples in this field. This is why we made our wall of fame; to present innovative solutions and make more people see what is possible if we take some extra steps and think outside the box.

Spijkerzwam
This is one of our flagship projects which involves a lot of experimenting and extra efforts. To be perfectly sincere, I feel like I could not help out as much on this project as I wanted to, because of my lack of expertise and limited experience of working with machinery. But once the mushroom farm is installed, I will be more than happy to collect the coffee waste with the electric cargo bikes and learn more about the process of growing mushrooms out of coffee waste.

Spijkerstudents
Spijkerstudents is a project in cooperation with students from nearby universities, designed to tackle loneliness amongst students and young internationals in the area by organising activities where they can meet people with similar problems and interests and make new connections.

Spijkerbikes
Spijkerbikes is another new project in which we repair old bicycles and re-use old parts for other purposes and rent them out. By doing so, this project also provides employment to people who due to various reasons could not find employment elsewhere, and hopefully gives them enough experience to find their way back to the labour market

Buurt Groen Bedrijf
The Neighbourhood Landscaping Company makes sure the community gardens are well-maintained and that the streets are clean and green. We also planted a new insect hotel in the Watertuin last month.

Puurland - Groen Rijders
I usually help the Green Rijders preparing their deliveries and taking them with the electric cargo bikes. For me this is a good way to learn the names of food products in dutch and also relax my brain and have some fresh air after spending hours working on flyers or other communication materials.

Learning goals and personal development

I joined the Blauwe Wijkeconomie Project with the specific aim to observe how a sustainable circular economy works in practice. My other goal was to attain a higher level of knowledge of Dutch language and culture.

During the course of the last two months I met a lot of interesting people who are active in the neighbourhood and learned a lot by simply helping them with their daily activities; such as cleaning up the streets, preparing and delivering locally grown organic food products, maintaining community gardens, installing the indoor mushroom farm or participating in university projects.

Furthermore, I also had the opportunity to learn how to work, communicate and generally deal with people with certain disabilities, coming from very different cultural, socio-economic backgrounds, and so on. It is really interesting for me to see how civil servants, teachers, and people in the neighbourhood and in Dutch society in general treat refugees, the differently abled, the poor, the elderly and children with respect and this ‘how can I help me help yourself’ attitude. Needless to say how much one can learn from other people by simply treating them with openness and respect and not along the lines of stereotypes, but with the mindset of what can I learn from this person?

With regards to learning the language, it took me more effort and a longer time to get down to it, than expected, but thanks to one of my colleagues, who has experience in teaching before, now I have two intensive one on one language sessions every week with a native speaker. Not to mention colleagues and acquaintances who are always ready to make conversations in Dutch and teach me a few new words.

General overview

In summary, I am quite pleased with the past few weeks behind my back, and hopeful that things continue on the same course. Sometimes I find it hard to believe how many things have happened over such a short period of time and it feels like only a couple of weeks. However, I also have the feeling that I cannot sit back because I have so much more to learn, see, and experience here and I am almost halfway through already.

Weiland Antal Hollandiában önkéntes az ESC program támogatásával.