On the 21st of June, me and my heavy suitcase took a long flight to Indonesia to meet up with the 3 other Belgian girls (Ruth Vandeputte, Amber Schoeters and Annelies Ada) to start a beautiful adventure. On the arrival day, I was welcomed by the most enthusiastic bunch of people I have ever met. Later I found out that it was typically Indonesian. The people on Java are friendly, helpful and always laughing.
Every year around 80 IAAS members of more than 20 different countries gather together in one place and talk about agriculture, our association and our goals for the next year. This is then called our World Congress or WoCo. For me it was a chance to explore different cultures, make new friends from all around the world and get to know IAAS better. It was a unique way of exploring the country, because you always had an Indonesian friend nearby who could tell you the story behind it.
We got the chance to plant rice, to swim in a mangrove, to visit Borobudur (an ancient temple), watch typical dances, taste traditional food, make our own Batik (typical clothing of the region) and so much more. At the end we voted the new board, with a beautiful result: 3 of our members (including me) got elected into the IAAS World board. We got so motivated during WoCo that we are ready to start working for IAAS straight away.
In our organization we sometimes joke around with the term, familIAAS, and say that differentiates us from the other organizations (we are friends first). I think it is only after something extraordinary as WoCo that you know what is meant by that term.
Terima kasih ('Thank you' in Indonesian) and see you all in Mexico next year.