Text: Gina Ho
Solina Liliane Diallo (22) is a second-year BSc student of International Development. She’s just had lunch at Forum and she’s catching up on her to-do list for Wageningen Student Farm.
Recently a bunch of new people have joined Wageningen Student Farm (WSF), a communal vegetable garden at the far southwest end of campus, near Dijkgraaf. Solina: ‘I need to make sure they’re on the database. As secretary, I also do the newsletters, which is the most fun part, because I get to make a lot of bad jokes!’
By Thursday evening, Solina is usually pretty tired from all the lectures and projects during the week. ‘But then I usually feel that life is good again, having worked outdoors for a bit during our working sessions on the farm. It sounds like a very obvious thing, but I learnt that being out in the open air could actually do me loads of good. Now, when I’m stressed I just go outside for a walk in nature. Before I started working on the student farm, I didn’t use to go out into nature often. I probably would’ve crashed on the couch and watched YouTube or something instead.’
Sometimes you just have to throw yourself in at the deep end and see what happens
When she started working for WSF, organizing stuff wasn’t really Solina’s thing. ‘I’m quite a messy person. When I came to WUR a year and a half ago, most of the WSF board had moved on, so they were really looking for people. I also got on really well with the former secretary: she’s a bit like me and she thought I could be a good fit. Working for a committee is a nice way to learn how to become more systematic, because I have to.’
Compared to other student organizations, WSF is not that big, Solina explains. ‘Everyone more or less knows each other so it’s not so bad if I occasionally slip up. It is nice to have a safe place to make mistakes and learn! Sometimes you just have to throw yourself in at the deep end and see what happens.’