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ABCare

Op woensdag 14 december 2022 heeft de work life balance - groep van de Radboud Jonge Akademie het ABCare project gepresenteerd. Een impressie van deze geweldige en erg inspirerende avond.

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Just care
‘Caaaare’ is the first word of the poem that Friederike Landau-Donnely, assistant professor of Geography and co-organizer, reads at the launch of the ABC of Care project. The launch takes place on Wednesday evening December 14 in restaurant Veggie Galore. The students and employees of Radboud University and bystanders listen attentively to the poem. It is no surprise that the theme of care is central to this project, which was conceived by the Work-Life-Balance (WoLiBa) group of the Radboud Young Academy. The project includes the creation of a collection of postcards reflecting on care and self-care in academia and beyond. The launch opens op the conversation about the matter: ‘How does care move you,’ and, ‘how do you move care?’.

Radboud Young Academy ABCare 2

When asking Meike Zandjans, contributor to the project and a student at Radboud University, about her perspective on this initiative, she says: ‘Throughout the project and during this evening we found out that many people experience stress at their workplace. So I think it’s really cool that we organized a project around this topic.’ When asked what self-care means for herself, she answers: ‘For me, self-care has not really taken shape yet. Right now, it’s mostly spending time with friends and family, taking moments to relax a bit. I believe that’s a nice part of self-care, it’s not a fixed term, it is changeable throughout your life.’

Radboud Young Academy ABCare 3

The ABC of Care project is thus intended to create more awareness about care, especially taking care of yourself. ‘With that,’ says one of the attendees, ‘I think the project ABC of Care is a novel one. Most of the time when we talk about care, we only think about other people but it is about time that we also think about ourselves and therefore “selfcare”.’

Radboud Young Academy ABCare 4

But how exactly, do you selfcare? To answer that question for yourself and others, the project consists of a series of postcards. Each card presents a letter of the alphabet, which highlights an aspect of care. For instance, an advice, a question or a thought that you can take with you. Many people picked up the card with the letter “s” for “sleep” that asks the question: “Remember what a good night of sleep can do to you?” Asking these sort of questions out loud, creates a moment to reflect on how you take care of yourself and others in everyday life and within academia. Something that we should perhaps do more often.

Radboud Young Academy ABCare 5

It gives hope for change. At least, the message of the evening is clear, as reflected in the concluding words of Friederike’s poem: ‘caring near and far, be a caring superstar, just care.’

Radboud Young Academy ABCare 6

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De tekst is geschreven door Sophie Houppermans, de foto's zijn gemaakt door Sam Theunissen en de video is gemaakt door Jara Majerus. Zij werken allen voor het Radboud Creative Collective.