TU Delft African Students Association (TUDASA) is an organization that represents and assists students of African heritage at the university.
Founded in 2006, TUDASA aims to create a strong educational and socio-cultural base for prospective African students and researchers at TU Delft. By doing so, they hope to help facilitate their integration into the TU Delft community and Dutch society as a whole
TUDASA currently has about fifty members from places like Kenya, South Sudan, Egypt and Rwanda. For some of these students, moving to the Netherlands can be challenging in different ways. Collins Eno, an aerospace student from Cameroon, knows something about that. Currently the TUDASA activities coordinator, he came to the Netherlands five years ago. “You need someone who has been here before to guide you through the process,” he says. Eno mentions that one of the most important things TUDASA does is to assist African students with adjusting to the social life and their studies as well. To do this, TUDASA acts as a liaison to the university, gives advice to members regarding learning, living and working in the Netherlands.
Members of TUDASA also participate in events like cultural festivals, dinners and even did a tour of Dutch parliament earlier this year. But TUDASA is also involved in efforts to help others outside of their group. They collaborate on fundraising projects with other organizations such as Africa In Motion (AIM- http://africainmotion.nl), a network created by African migrants in the Netherlands. The general goal of AIM is to support economic empowerment of Africa through peaceful dialogue and action research. Eno says that TUDASA also hopes to start a program of educational collaboration. “It would be great if we can create a study exchange between universities in Africa and the Netherlands,” he states.
Eno comments about adjusting to life in the Netherlands. “For me and many others, you miss the food from home and the aspect of living as a community,” he says. One of the interesting cultural differences he has experienced is that at home people are free to visit friends at any time. “Here you must make an appointment to visit someone,” he states. “That is something you never get used to.”
Although full membership in TUDASA is reserved for people of African heritage, anyone with an interest in Africa is welcome to participate in events. For more information about membership and events visit www.facebook.com/tudasadelft.
This is part of our ongoing series Meet The Society which highlights different student groups and societies at TU Delft. If you’d like to suggest an organziation for us to cover, please email us at deltainternational@tudelft.nl.
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