So who are you?
That's a good question. I think I am a father,
I am a husband, I am a friend, I am an enemy
for some and I consider myself a non formal
educator, in the sense that I found my passion
in non formal education, as a practitioner,
as an animator, as a trainer.
When did you start working as
a trainer or as an educator?
It’s difficult to say because I started when
I was 15 years old, but as pure accident.
I ended up in a school holiday week in
a training course for being youth leader
in youth camps, which basically is a bit of
non-formal education. I enjoyed it so much
that from that moment I said this is what I
want to do. I feel this, that touches me and
passion makes you do things better.
I felt that people were acceptive about
how I was doing things so I spent all
my free time doing those kind of things,
those kind of trainings courses and at
the age of 17 I finished all the possible
courses in Flanders, in Belgium level,
outside of school and all this parallel things,
and I became instructor for my peers,
I called it instructor or head of instructor
which is basically a trainer and a coordinator
of trainings.I did it for a couple of years until
I accidentally ended up on international
project and I got to know European Youth
work.
Suddenly I was invited to be a trainer for
an European Network, in '97 as a volunteer,
because that’s a volunteer’s network and
I also found it very fitting! I did it more and
more 'till I suddenly got request from other
networks and I thought I need to make
a choice, or this remains a hobby and a
passion or maybe I can turn it into
international level, also a job.
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