Work placement across cultures

Our four Indonesian students have completed their work placement with success. They gained a lot of experiences and made friends for life. High time to look back!

Recycling waste together

The trainees continued the research where last year's trainees left off. Indeed, the 'circular economy' theme is still very important in Indonesia. Awareness is the key to deal with waste better and to recycle it properly.

The trainees attended the Waste@School workshop that took place in collaboration with our partner and waste processing plant Fost Plus. A private teacher gave them different tips to use during their workshops on circular economy in Indonesia. For years now, they have been encouraging people in their environment to handle waste better.

With this knowledge, they each worked on their own project and presented it to their coaches, host families and project supervisor Mieke Vercaeren. Lots of inspiring proposals were passed in review.

Talking with young people from different corners of the world 

At the first edition of Tomorrow's Voices, our trainees met about 50 other youngsters from different corners of the world. Four different education projects thus united: BOOST, YOUCA, EduExposure and Collibri Foundation. During fascinating workshops they worked on personal leadership. Afterwards, they had a talk with CEO Jef Colruyt.

Working at Colruyt on YOUCA Action Day

During YOUCA Action Day, the trainees got to know all about Colruyt stores. Indeed, no better way to do this than by working in the team. They worked at the check-out and helped stock up the shelves.

They also met the two Belgian students, Arne and Christelle, who followed a special programme at Colruyt Group. They exchanged ideas about entrepreneurship for young people and learned more about each other's culture. Read more about it here.

Welcoming host families

The students were welcomed into a friendly host family. For the host parents, this period was a fantastic experience once again. Geert Roels, Purchase manager in training at Colruyt, received Lola with open arms. Despite their different cultures, they discovered they both loved the same dishes. "She thought my self-made spring rolls were delicious and took them with her to share with the other trainees. And she prepared fried rise the Indonesian way for us. I had to check her use of pungent spices though."  (laughs)

But of course, there were also differences the trainees were surprised at. It was the first time for Adianto to see the leaves of trees change colour in the fall, a phenomenon that is not known in Indonesia.

And Siba feasted her eyes on the self-harvesting farm where his host parent Anje Himpens, application manager at BP&S, is a member. "He tasted the different vegetables to his heart's content. Especially the yellow tomatoes; he thought they were really special", she says.

An enriching experience that formed a bridge between cultures and was over much too soon for everyone. Najat Belhouari, co-worker at OKay Jette had the same experience: "Dewi has already become part of our family. If only she could stay a few weeks longer!" 

We are looking forward to next year and wish our trainees a lot of success in their career!

Our Stories

Collibri Foundation

Address

Colruyt Group
Edingensesteenweg 196
1500 Halle

Phone

+32 (0)2 363 55 45
during office hours

Mail

info@collibrifoundation.org

KBO 0753.616.160