Volunteer Profile: Annemarie - Adopteer Regenwoud
Volunteer Profile: Annemarie

Volunteer Profile: Annemarie

Adopt Rainforest employs a lot of volunteers who do amazing and, above all, very diverse work. In this blog post we would like to share the experiences of Annemarie, who has been volunteering for Adopt Rainforest since September 2022.

Introducing myself

I am Annemarie Silkens, 56 years old and I live in Hilversum. I have a family with 4 children, I work at the social neighborhood team of the municipality of Soest. I also row, do yoga, walk and read a lot. Since September 2022 I work as a volunteer for the Foundation Adopt Rainforest.

 

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Why did you become a volunteer?

In April 2022, I unexpectedly got the chance to go to Costa Rica. A friend was going and asked if I wanted to come along. Well, of course I wanted to! It had been a long time since I had taken a faraway trip and a long time since I had been in the jungle. What an opportunity! I immediately started investigating what I would like to see in Costa Rica.

On the map I found the Parque Nacional de los Quetzales. Wow! Now it so happens that I am a big bird lover, and especially wanted to see the quetzal. So I had to go there. I wanted to go into the rainforest anyway. And what I already knew about myself became clear again…..I love the rainforest!

Movingly beautiful, impressive, vivid, colorful, in a word: fantastic! A peace came over me, a kind of serenity. It was – and this sounds crazy, but it is really true – very special that a softness came over me, which I did not have in the busy life in the Netherlands. Even the face ID of my mobile phone didn’t work anymore… Bizarre right?

 

What did you experience in Costa Rica?

With a guide, we were able to set off through the rainforest in search of the quetzal, other birds, insects, frogs and many other animals. Enjoying the sloth hanging from a branch just along the path, the beautiful colors and smells, swarms of hummingbirds, the roar of the howler monkeys, the sounds of the forest, of life.

In Costa Rica I totally came to rest, and a world opened up for me! The beautiful and impressive nature. Because I speak Spanish, I was able to converse with the locals. And what struck me most; all of them are proud of their country and of nature, of the rainforest. And all of them want to protect it, they are outraged about the felling of precious old trees and forests for the construction of palm oil plantations, among other things.

Back in the Netherlands

Once back in the Netherlands, I really had to get used again. To the structure, the busy life, the full schedule. But something in me had changed. I knew I wanted to stay connected to this beautiful and impressive piece of earth. I knew I wanted to dedicate myself to raising awareness and preserving the beautiful and indispensable nature.

With this experience, I set out to find. What could I do! How could I contribute something? I started searching and soon came across the Adopt Rainforest Foundation. I came into conversation with Matthijs Bol, who told me how Maarten and he realized their boyhood dream years ago in Costa Rica. How they made their way through the jungle in search of a place from which to shape the Foundation. When I heard his story, I was sold….ja, this is what I want to contribute to! The boy’s dream has now grown into a beautiful reserve, where students come for research, where volunteers work, where the local population is involved, where education is given, where in the meantime beautiful cooperation has been created with Trees for All and the University of Utrecht, with the TUI Care Foundation, among others. And a foundation that works well with the government in Costa Rica, so that protected rainforest is and remains protected. Yes, I would like to contribute to that as well.

Still active!

And so it came about, now I am already 2 years active as a volunteer for the foundation. We have a nice team of volunteers who contribute in many ways. For example, you can follow our news on Facebook and Instagram, or you can read our blogs on the site. I feel proud to be associated with this enthusiastic team at the Foundation.

Have you become curious? Would you also like to contribute something? You can always sign up as a volunteer. Or you can adopt a piece of rainforest yourself. Or give a piece of rainforest as a gift, and in this way give even more publicity to the work of the Foundation.

 

 

Particpate and adopt rain forest!