My name is Martijn.I am a 23 year old management student from Holland. I'm studying management and economics in Rotterdam and worked at St. Joseph's for five months in 2008.

At St. Joseph's I did HR related work and so I was located in the office with the director, Mrs. Patterson, and most of the managers. I was doing a project which had to do with the appraisal of the personnel and renewing all the job descriptions. In order to do this project I had to work closely with Mrs. Patterson and some of the managers. So, during my time at St. Joseph's, I got to know some of these managers fairly well. I can only say that they were very nice to me at all times. This made me feel welcome soon after I joined St. Joseph's and that makes everything easier.

Most of the interns/volunteers are doing social work and are working with the kids most of the day. I usually worked in the office and in the afternoons I would go and spend some time with the kids. Although I'm not used to this kind of work and I really had no experience of working with kids whatsoever, I must say that I really enjoyed it. Doing this work in addition to my regular tasks has really added to the experience of being in Africa and experiencing Africa in all its forms.