{"id":107003,"date":"2019-12-11T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=107003"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:37","slug":"psychology-student-tessa-volunteers-can-make-such-a-valuable-contribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/12\/11\/psychology-student-tessa-volunteers-can-make-such-a-valuable-contribution\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology student Tessa: volunteers can make such a valuable contribution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extra courses? Unpaid internships for work experience? Various board roles? Everything for a great CV? These students spend their free time helping others. In this second edition: Tessa helps at a care home for eight hours a week.<\/p>\n

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Tessa Razafindrakoto<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

As Tessa Razafindrakoto started walking away, a patient came with her. \u201cWe\u2019re going, but you\u2019re staying here,\u201d Tessa said patiently. \u201cHow was I supposed to know that?\u201d responded the old lady. \u201cI just don\u2019t know these things anymore.\u201d As well as being a Psychology master student, Tessa (22) is also a volunteer at Pni\u00ebl care home on Oudedijk in Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

Tessa is host on the department for people with dementia. She helps set the tables, asks which of the two meal options the patients want to eat, but mainly she chats a lot with people. She has a four-hour shift and does two shifts a week. It feels rather sterile in the corridors downstairs, as care homes are, but upstairs there are two decorated living rooms. There\u2019s even an open fire, even though it\u2019s not a working one.<\/p>\n\n\t

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The first episode <\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t