Wetskills-The Netherlands, 31 October 2023 (by Theresa Fute, Department og Water and Sanitation South Africa)
This was very informative and very productive day. It started at the hostel where we gathered and went to the Hoge School of Rotterdam where we go daily for discussions and meetings with our groups. We took the bus and the train to the school. At the school we had a discussion with the supervisors regarding the plan of action for our case studies in our group. I found it very interesting to have a one on one discussion with our supervisors. I feel it is very important for them to get to know us better and to know the challenges that we are facing in a group and helping us to try and resolve them.
We then went to the Green Village in Delft where we had an excursion. It was interesting to know that there are no policies or government rules that applies to this piece of land. As a result they can do experiments and test any experiment without interference of the government or municipality which is a very important aspect because some of these experiments can come in very handy for the government and community as a whole. We were taught about the climate adaptation ,waste water management and water circulation which are the main points that we are currently discussing in our case study. It was nice to see this practically at the green village rather than study about them in the books.
Lastly, we went to the city called Delft and visited the Water Authority of Delfland. It is the government department where we had a presentation regarding the surface water, water quality, waste water treatment. They explained their main function, which is: to protect water from people/communities and to protect people from the water. It was so informative and to know that the actual building that is currently used as a government building it was once a house.
Wetskills project is one of the kind initiative that challenges young water professionals. Being part of it has opened my eyes and brought so many innovative ideas and insightful information that made me want to know more and I liked the part that they combined people from different countries with different mindset, experience and solutions to water challenges that the whole world is facing, and am grateful for the opportunity to be part of Wetskills.
