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The national motto of Kenya ‘harambee’ can be seen under its coat of arms. That’s Swahili for ‘working together.’ It typifies Talash, in whom 2 worlds combine: her mother is Kenyan and her father is Dutch.

Read the story of Talash below!
 


She grew up between the geraniums and succulents. Her father owns a large nursery for export close to Nairobi. During the peak season, 2,000 people work there. Her mother is civil engineer in the  road construction industry in Kenya. 
 
At her father’s company, Talash met lots of HAS trainees. She told one of them about her love for biology and economics. “You have to go to HAS!” he said. On her 18th birthday, she took the step. “I now live in a student house in Den Bosch, with 3 other HAS students. It’s great and we often eat together.” 
 
Talash is studying International Food & Agribusiness. Her domain choice is Crop Production. This interest started when she was at secondary school: “Many farmers in Kenya grow using traditional methods. Their yield is often poor. If you improve the soil and water provision, income will increase.” Her favourite crop? Potatoes or corn don’t really excite her, but exotic fruit does. Her all-time favourite is the mango.
 
After HAS Talash wants to see more of the world. Most of all, she’d love to work for an NGO, the FAO of the UN, or a development organisation. “That’s the area in which I want to look for a traineeship. What appeals to me are organisations that know a lot about remote areas.” Such as? “Such as delivering food to a refugee camp in the north of Kenya.” On the one hand, Talash is an idealist, while on the other, she’s a realist. But, most of all, she’s an international young woman. Smiling, she confesses: “During lectures, an Asian boy and I sometimes look at each other as if to say ‘we do that completely different where we come from’.”