FIG Foundation - Building a Sustainable Future
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Report from Kaarina Kaadia Toivo
FIG Foundation Young Surveyor Grant Recipient to attend the
FIG Working Week 2017 in Helsinki, Finland
“Overall it was best experience of
my entire life and I will forever be thankful to the foundation
for granting me this amazing opportunity. Who knew that this
small girl from a very small village can one day get on a plane
and see the world? I can honestly not put my entire experience
in one report no words can fully describe my experience there. I
am thankful once again.”
Firstly, I would like to give a big thank you to the
FIG Foundation for the humbling opportunity to attend
the FIG Working Week in Finland, Helsinki. I will
forever cherish this opportunity I am truly grateful.
Having never being on a plane or even just leaving my country, I must say
it was extremely terrifying yet exciting at the same time. The journey was
long but I finally reached my destination in good time. It was all like a
dream really. Ms Claudia was extremely helpful and she directed me so well
to the venue. The people of Helsinki were all very friendly and they were so
eager to assist me in getting my way around the city.
The working week was the best. I honestly learned so much and I was
really excited to learn about all the technological advances in the
surveying industry and how my country can gain so much from these
conferences. I was more impressed with the number of females,
especially the young surveyors. I got a chance to speak with some of them
and they really inspired me to do better and be more involved in my country.
I can honestly say that I am a better surveyor because of the FIG. The NSDI
training was the highlight to my experience, my country could really use
this kind of system especially with the land registration issue and land
grabbing that the youth of our country want to implement because they are
feeling left out.
The food was amazing, not really my kind of food but it was good, except
the meat that tasted very funny. Coming back to my country I was really
excited to share with my fellow students and lecturers the experience. They
were all so very proud and I encourage the students to get involved and to
believe in themselves. Male or female, all things are possible if you put
your heart and soul into it. I encouraged them to look into a future of
surveying and to come up with new technologies and new ideas on how to make
surveying better. I also encouraged them to attend the working week next
year. Hopefully, I can also apply again next year because it is an event not
to be missed.
Overall it was best experience of my entire life and I will forever be
thankful to the foundation for granting me this amazing opportunity. Who
knew that this small girl from a very small village can one day get on a
plane and see the world? I can honestly not put my entire experience in one
report no words can fully describe my experience there. I am thankful once
again.
/Kaarina Kaadia Toivo
Namibia
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