Halloween: not typically Southeast Asian, but still fun. Photo SEASAW SEASAW stands for Southeast Asian Student Association Wageningen. Alita Tithphit (23), a bachelor’s student in food technology from Cambodia, is the first president of the association. ‘We want SEASAW to be a place for community, culture and growth.’
It all started out as a group of friends, Tithphit explains. ‘We were just hanging out together quite often, having dinner and hotpots. Somebody would always say: ‘Hey, can these people come too?’ This way, the group grew organically. At some point, we thought, let’s turn it into an association.’
Currently, SEASAW has forty members. ‘We are growing pretty fast’, Tithphit says. One of the association’s aims is to share Southeast Asian culture with the rest of Wageningen. ‘We do that by hosting events that are open to everybody and collaborating with other associations. As food plays an important role in our culture, we often organise potlucks. But we also do other fun things that are not necessarily cultural traditions back home, like a Halloween party.’ Upcoming events in the near future include a MasterChef-inspired cooking session, a cultural fair and an opportunity to talk to alumni.
With PPI, there is already an association for students from Indonesia. ‘That makes sense because there are quite a lot of Indonesians in Wageningen’, Tithphit explains. ‘The communities from other Southeast Asian countries are smaller. There are only a few Vietnamese and Filipino students, for example. SEASAW is there for all Southeast Asian countries.’ The diversity of the region is reflected in the first board, she continues. ‘In it, you find students from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.’
Empowerment
Besides a community where its members can feel at home, Tithphit sees SEASAW as a tool for personal growth. ‘We want to help our members to make the most oftheir time in Wageningen. To do that, we have set up a mentoring system. To help them with their study choices, and to actively think about what they want to do and who they want to become. Also, we encourage everybody who has an idea for a project, event or workshop to take the lead and just do it. We will help you to organize it and guide you if necessary. All in all, we want to empower our community to flourish in Wageningen.’
In the future, Tithphit hopes that SEASAW can play a role in Southeast Asian countries as well. ‘By sharing our study experiences with high school students back home, we want to help and inspire them with deciding what to study.’
More information about SEASAW can be found on their Instagram page.
