{"id":166926,"date":"2024-04-23T20:18:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T18:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=166926"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:18","slug":"yasmine-we-all-have-the-power-to-do-the-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/04\/23\/yasmine-we-all-have-the-power-to-do-the-right-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Yasmine: \u2018We all have the power to do the right thing’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yasmine Haggui (20) has been nominated for Student of the Year for her efforts to combat inequality of opportunity and for her positive contribution to society. She and the An-Nahl foundation \u2013 an organisation she founded herself \u2013 are committed to helping orphans and children who have fled their homes. Yasmine shows that every little step brings you closer to achieving your goal, as long as you keep believing in yourself.<\/p>\n

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Never will Yasmine appear recognisable in a photo. Not on her LinkedIn photo, not on Whatsapp and so not here either. That commitment comes from her faith, but she also believes that her message comes across better this way.<\/span><\/p>

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Besides the work she does in the An-Nahl Foundation, Yasmine is keen to show others that you don\u2019t need any special skills to make a positive impact on the world. She does this by trying to set a good example to others. In photos, you never see her full face. Anywhere. So, not here either. This is partly due to her faith, but also because she wants attention to focus firmly on the message she wants to communicate: everyone can do something good for someone else.<\/p>\n

You set up your own foundation. How did that come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt started off as a very abstract idea that some ladies came up with as a way of bringing about change and promoting equality. I\u2019m a real \u2018doer\u2019. Whenever there\u2019s anyone who needs help and I think I could help, I have to do everything I can to make it happen. Our foundation is committed to orphans. We deeply believe that children\u2019s development should be key in every aspect of life. We build playgrounds at orphanages. Playtime is very important for children. Not just for their mental well-being but also for the connections they make while playing and the associations it creates with being outdoors. The injustice I saw when people found themselves on the receiving end of inequality of opportunity affected me so much that I just had to try to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also ensure that children are able to grow up carefree by providing them with things like clothes and school supplies. Making sure that children have a safe, loving and stimulating environment as they grow up enables you to fight inequality of opportunity at its very core.\u201d<\/p>\n

What motivates you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I\u2019m motivated by the belief that change starts with the individual and that\u2019s where my own strengths lie. I\u2019ve come up against obstacle after obstacle ever since I was a child. In the school system, for example. At primary school, I was wrongly given a MAVO (pre-vocational secondary education) advice. It wasn\u2019t the right place for me. At secondary school, I tried really hard to do better than I had the year before. So, from the pre-vocational school, I went to senior general secondary education (HAVO) and, after my third year there, I started Year 4 of pre-university education (VWO). I heard the word \u2018no\u2019 so many times, every time I was getting closer to the finish line. It felt like I\u2019d never make it. But then I asked myself: why am I actually waiting for the approval of others? I\u2019m going to create the opportunity for myself. Well, this approach has led to me now doing three bachelor degrees at the university. I\u2019ve had to fight very hard against various systems to get where I am now and to be seen. I don\u2019t want other people to have to fight the way I have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember someone making a joke when I was getting closer to starting pre-university education. He said: \u2018If you keep going like this, you might actually make it.\u2019 That joke had a negative connotation that I didn\u2019t understand because getting to that level was a really positive development. That\u2019s when I decided that I wanted to help others rather than shooting them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

What has stayed with you most about your work for the foundation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA 17-year-old boy told me that he had written his name on his stomach when he left his homeland, so that his parents would be able to identify him if he did not survive the crossing. That brought a lump to my throat. At the end of the day, he came to me and said: \u2018I haven\u2019t had this much fun in a long time, thank you very much.\u2019 On that particular day, the foundation and I had given young male refugees the chance to go skating. It was a cold winter\u2019s day, so we\u2019d brought along scarves, hats and gloves for the boys. For me it was such a small act to go skating with him, but he experienced so much happiness through it. You can\u2019t help feeling great when you see how much people appreciate what you\u2019re doing for them. It\u2019s really priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018You can\u2019t help feeling great when you see how much people appreciate what you\u2019re doing for them. It\u2019s really priceless\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

How do you feel about your nomination?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was called about my nomination, I thought they had the wrong person. I\u2019m really honoured, but the first thing I thought was that the nomination isn\u2019t about me at all. It\u2019s about the message I\u2019m trying to get across: you don\u2019t need any special talent, just a genuine dedication to helping others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to take part anonymously. Because anyone could have been nominated. We all have the power to do the right thing, whether you\u2019re the student of the year or the neighbour who lives around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell us something that no-one knows about you<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was at secondary school, I really wanted to join the forces. But that career choice ended for me when I started wearing a headscarf. Although my ambitions are different now, it did help to get me where I am today. I am now doing three degree programmes and I\u2019m very happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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