‘Here, dissatisfied with a lot, there, happy with almost nothing’

That is what Annelize Maasse experienced the most when, as a year pre-vocational secondary school pupil, she travelled to Sierra Leone in the context of Wees Eerlijk (Be Fair). She was particularly affected by the differences in the way in which people there and here value their possessions. ‘The differences between the Netherlands and Sierra Leone are enormous’, she noticed during the trip she made with Woord en Daad. ‘People in the Netherlands, with all their wealth, complain quite a lot about all the things they don’t have. While the people in Sierra Leone are always looking for ways to get as much out of life as they can with the little they do have.’

She gives an example: ‘When I was in Sierra Leone, my sandal broke and I was forced to walk on bare feet for a while. Shame, I thought, I’d better buy some more sandals quickly. Samuel, our Sierra Leonean guide, took a good look at the sandal, picked up a small ring form the street and repaired it in an instant. That is Africa! Not giving up when something doesn’t work but always looking for a solution.’

Her visit to Sierra Leone changed Annelize. She still regularly holds presentations for groups of children and youths. She tells them about the country and the work that Woord en Daad is involved in. Annelize herself worked on an agricultural project, which opened her eyes for the incredibly low incomes that farmers get in relation to the amount of work they put in. ‘For example, you can do something about it by buying Fairtrade products then the farmer gets a fair price for his work’. she tells people. ‘That is really new to some people, they never gave it any thought before.’ There are also now more ‘fair’ products in Annelize’s cupboards at home. ‘My mother has really started to pay attention to it’, she states proudly. For Annelize, making ‘fair choices’ in the shop is equal to supporting people living in financial poverty. ‘We are so rich here, we can easily do both: support a foster child and buy fair products. You help your neighbour doing both.’