There is no greater SRRC fan than the nineteen year old Maaike de Breed from Malden. Last week, she walked four laps of 40 kilometres in the Four-day-walk in Nijmegen, especially for the seals. But it did not start with that. Maaike had already been campaigning for the SRRC for months.
Maaike had to do a project about animal care, accommodation, hygiene and health care for her school (the Helicon College in Nijmegen), where she is in the 3rd year of the animal management course. Together with a couple of fellow students, she chose the SRRC for her subject. Part of the project was to set up a campaign for their chosen organisation. They did so with great drive. So much so, that the proceeds of their campaign were enough to adopt a seal. Maaike and her colleagues thought long and hard about a name and finally opted for “Vechtertje” (Little Survivor), because they wanted a name with a meaning. A couple of months later, the trio released “their” seal in Vlieland.
But that was not the end of it. Maaike applied for a traineeship at the SRRC and was accepted. For six weeks, she worked really hard in Pieterburen, along with fellow trainees from, for instance, France, Russia, Spain, Germany and Poland. It was a fantastic time for her.
And now, she has also walked the Four-Day-Walk, for which she had found sponsorship for the seals. Packed and laden with flags, flyers, supporters’ fishes, and for anyone interested, a great story about the seals, she walked her 40-mile laps. On the third day, she even made an entire military procession loudly copy the call of a crying baby seal! Tired but satisfied, she finally arrived in Nijmegen on the fourth day.
07-28-2009 Source: SRRC Lenie 't Hart
