Remembering the quarantine measures at the start of last year’s Bridging Gaps programme, the new Bridging Gaps students arrived at the end of August. Although none of the students had to quarantine, the flights will always cause some stressful situations. Luckily, most students managed to arrive in the Netherlands. Two weeks later the last two students were able to join the program.
The first church visits and seminary visits have taken place and the students, slowly but steady, find their rhythm in a packed schedule. Besides the visits, students have class together, go on exposure visits and do their own research. The students also join a regular course at VU Amsterdam. They can use experiences from their own context and have interaction with students from outside of the programme. This interaction leads to valuable connections, both for the Bridging Gaps students as for the other students.
In October the classes ended, which gives the students the opportunity to focus on their own research for the next couple of weeks. The results of their research will be presented at the PThU on 17 and 18 November. There are still some visits planned to seminaries and museums. Furthermore we make use of the opportunity of a visit to the Netherlands by Charlene van der Walt from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. She will guide the students in an intensive session of contextual biblical interpretation, organized by the Ujaama Centre, South Africa. In addition, the students will visit some more churches and get invited to extra visits via the people they meet during their stay here.