Mark Spoelstra
The content on this page was translated automatically.
Water use in the global South
Traumatic experiences shape a person
Born in Amsterdam as a child of the war, I experienced hunger and deprivation. I was brought up on sugar beet and flower bulbs. My father was born in Indonesia as the son of a missionary, while my mother tried to save what could be saved as a nurse in the bombed-out districts of Amsterdam. They risked their lives to hide Jews and put up resistance.
After graduating from college, I studied tropical agriculture in Deventer. My preferred subject was hydraulic engineering, because the Dutch were world leaders in this field. Just as I graduated, the Dutch "lost" their colony in Indonesia. I now looked to the neighboring countries whose language I had learned at school: England, Belgium, France, Germany and so I decided to do the advanced course (12 months) in Witzenhausen. My parents were against me wanting to study in Germany. But I dreamed of a new generation and a united Europe, which was gradually becoming a reality with the EC, EEC and EU.
Career start in Algeria
During my studies, I was exempted from military service. As a conscientious objector, I was threatened with three years in prison with an entry in my criminal record. I emigrated to Algeria. The country had just gained independence from France and needed to be rebuilt. And so I went there as deputy manager of an experimental station for irrigation and drainage, but was dismissed again in the course of Arabization.
I applied to the Institute for Water Management and Agricultural Hydraulic Engineering at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Israel had just started drip irrigation in the Negev Desert. With a temporary research assignment, I helped to develop the theoretical basis for this.
Ethiopia, Indonesia and Australia
As a member of the advisory board of the alumni association Verband der Tropenlandwirte (VTW) - now transferred to the Witzenhausen University Association - I was a regular guest in Witzenhausen for over a decade. It was through the VTW that I became aware of BASF's Agricultural Department. This was followed by stays in Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie, in Indonesia on the former Dutch plantations and in Australia as head of one of the two experimental stations in the southern hemisphere.
Encouraged by the law that had just been passed enabling a second educational pathway and providing for the equal treatment of universities of applied sciences and universities, I left BASF and attended courses at the SLE (Seminar for Rural Development), the cadre forge of German international development cooperation, at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Ethiopia and Namibia again
This was followed by a position as project manager for "Menschen für Menschen" in Karlheinz Böhm's refugee project in Ethiopia. That was the time under the dictator Mengistu.
After training as an environmental consultant, I set up my own business as a government consultant in Namibia. I lived for a long time with the KhoiSan, the indigenous indigenous people, and accompanied the formation of the "conservancies" - nature reserves in which the inhabitants are given the management of their territory themselves. In the Oshanas, which are floodplains north of Etosha, I carried out selection trials with deep-water rice and subsequent seed propagation.
An offer from SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency) took me to Ethiopia for the third time with an integrated rural development program that would involve around one million small farmers over many years. I taught government advisors there about irrigation and drainage.
In retirement
This was followed by a correspondence course in human ecology at the University of Tübingen, which explored the links between population dynamics, food production and the environment. The causes of poverty, hunger and war have now become clear to me. Together with my partner, I founded the Ethiopia Aid Freinsheim e.V. after my retirement, of which I am now the project coordinator.
Comment
Hans-Jürgen Dahl: I was in Witzenhausen with Mark in 1963. I, too, was a "war child". I experienced nights of bombing in the cellar and went through hunger. Only . . on the other side. As a pacifist, I rejected the Bundeswehr back then. The right to conscientious objection didn't exist back then, but I managed to avoid the Bundeswehr, I already had my military service pass. In 1955 I became an apprentice in agriculture. As early as 57 I was drawn abroad (Sweden, USA) because Germany was too narrow for me.
I came back to Germany in 1963 and started work in Witzenhausen. Mark's training there is a little short, perhaps because he had already studied tropical agriculture in Deventer. Agriculture in Deventer. For me, however, studying in Witzenhausen was the leap into development aid. Some of the lecturers were employees of the training center, others were guest lecturers from the University of Göttingen. Many of them had previously worked abroad, so that the students from IIran, Togo, Nigeria, Colombia and I, etc., got the feeling that they knew what they were talking about. The workload was very large and it was up to the individual whether they wanted to take it on or not. There was contact with the former students of the 'Colonial School', from which not least the greenhouse under Mr. Schminke benefited. I still have the lectures I took notes from, for example, Prof. Dr. Mitscherlich and Prof. Dr. Chaika.
My professional career has taken me to all continents. I have worked as an advisor, consultant or expert for national and international institutions and banks (GTZ, AHT, World Bank, IFAD, AFC, KFW, EC, UNDP), most recently for 8 years as a government advisor in Nepal.
I have often been asked: Has development aid achieved anything? My answer is a resounding yes.
Witzenhausen is and remains a focal point in my life, not least because I found my wife there. My children were born in Kenya and spent their childhood in Malawi. Today I am enjoying my retirement with 7 grandchildren.