I am a freelance journalist from the Netherlands addicted to Africa. I write mainly about social economic issues, women and urbanisation. I travel to sub-Saharan Africa regularly to write articles. The last couple of years I spent a lot of time reporting in the Great Lakes area. Congo, Rwanda, Uganda... These and other African countries have gotten under my skin. Every trip seems to evoke a new one. I am currenty working on my second book that will be about urbanisation in Africa. For that book I've lived in six different African cities the last two years: Luanda, Maputo, Goma, Jinja, Ibadan and Bobo-Dioulasso. In October Gin-tonic & Cholera will be published in Dutch.

People I've interviewed abroad always ask me if they can read the article, thinking I'd write it in English. When I tell them that my stories are written in Dutch, they're dissapointed. Who speaks this language anyway? This is why I decided to give my website in Dutch an English equivalent. Inevitably it will be less extensive than the Dutch blog, but I'll keep it updated with the most important developments.

mail me if you have any questions or remarks.
click here to go to the main page of this blog in English.

A girl who spends a night in a mortar will wake up as a boy, so a Rwandan myth goes. It inspires many a little girl in Rwanda to sacrifice a night's sleep to try whether it works. Dutch Journalist Femke van Zeijl has been travelling through Africa for years to write articles for Dutch and anglophone magazines and newspapers. In A Night in a Mortar she describes the lives of ordinary people, thus portraying current affairs. Often her attention turns toward women. From their perspective, one that is often forgotten, she paints a picture of social relationships in Africa.
In her stories women never are portrayed as mainly victims. Even in Darfur she meets women who try to rebuild their lives and look towards the future. These women are not sitting around waiting for something terrible to happen, on the contrary: they fight back. Sometimes they take up arms (Burundi), they almost single handedly reconstruct their country ravaged by genocide (Rwanda) and more often than not they play a crucial role in the peace process (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Rwandan girls trying to change into a boy have good reasons to do so. Women are often treated a second-class citizens and abuse and violence are part of their life. Femke van Zeijl does not avoid these serious issues, but manages to cover them in a smooth style. She has the giggles with a refugee in Darfur, discovers night life in Mozambique and takes a course of self defence for women in Eastern Congo.

For now this book is only available in Dutch - hoping for translations in English, French, German, Portuguese etc....

Last update: January 2010

Femke van Zeijl, born September 22nd 1971, Berkel-Enschot, The Netherlands

Journalism

2008 - 2009
Travelling to get material for my book on urbanisation in Africa

2009
February - March: Jinja, Uganda
June - August: Ibadan, Nigeria
November - December: Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

2008
April: Luanda, Angola
July - August: Maputo, Mozambique
October - November: Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

November - December 2007
Stay in Maputo, Mozambique to work on my next book and on my Portuguese

September 5, '07
Official book launch Een nacht in een vijzel

July - August '07
Reporting trip to South-Africa and - mostly - Mozambique, for several Dutch magazines (Opzij, Onze Wereld, NRC Handelsblad, Vrij Nederland)

December '06 - June '07
Writing my book Een nacht in een vijzel, which appears in Dutch early September 2007

April '07
Presentation of Zwartboek. De positie van vrouwen wereldwijd, for which I contributed two chapters. Translated from French: Ockrent (red), Le Livre Noir de la Condition des Femmes.

October - November '06
Reporting trip to Burundi and Congo to gather the last information for my book that will appear next Autumn: a travel book telling the stories of the many impressive women I've met on my journeys in Mozambique, Sudan, Uganda and elsewhere on the continent

October 2006
Belgian Filip de Cock Encouragement Award for Third World Journalism

July - August '06
Reporting trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Dutch Magazines like Opzij, Esta and Onze Wereld

March - July '06
Visiting professor at the Fontys Academy for Journalism in Tilburg

December '05
Reporting trip to Kenya and Uganda for several Dutch magazines like Marie Claire and Onze Wereld

September - December '05
Visiting professor at the Fontys Academy for Journalism in Tilburg

August '05
Reporting trip to Rwanda and Burundi for several Dutch magazines like Vrij Nederland and Opzij and newspaper NRC Handelsblad

June '04 - July '05
Political editor of Opzij Magazine

January '04 - now
Columnist for www.cnv.nl

December '04
Reporting trip to Darfur, Sudan for Opzij

November '03 - '04
Freelancing for Volkskrant Magazine and political reporting Opzij

April '03 - now
Freelancing for Onze Wereld, Dutch monthly on globalisation

August - September '02
Reporting in Johannesburg, South-Africa during the World Summit
Reporting trip to Mozambique for Opzij

April '00 - now
Reporting for Opzij in Berlin, Cologne, Hannover, Brussels, Vienna Mozambique, Sudan and Burundi
Columnist for Die Frankfurter Rundschau, Magazine on Saturday
Reporting for Vrij Nederland and Intermediair
Monthly columns in Opzij, weekly in U-blad
Guest lectures at the Fontys Hogeschool Journalistiek in Tilburg

February - March '00
Participation in Duits-Nederlands Journalistenstipendium, exchange program for Dutch and German journalists. Working at Die Frankfurter Rundschau in Frankfurt am Main

From January '99
Start as a freelance journalist for among others monthly Opzij, weekly Intermediair, newspaper Trouw, opinion magazine HP/DE TIJD, the U-blad, weekly of University of Utrecht, bi-weekly column in Intermediair

October '98- December '98
Internship at Opzij

August '96 - September '98
Editor at newspaper De Gelderlander

June - August '96
Internship at De Gelderlander


Education

July - August '03
Portuguese language course at Kosmus, Lissabon

September '94 - April '98
Switched to journalism at the Academie voor Journalistiek en Voorlichting in Tilburg

September '89 - August '93
Student of History at the Universiteit Utrecht

May '89
Highschool: VWO at Cobbenhagencollege in Tilburg


Managing skills

February '08 - now
Member of the board of ZAM-net Foundation, publisher of ZAM Africa Magazine

June '05 - December '08
President of Stichting Vrouw & Media, foundation for the advancement of women in journalism

January - June '05
Vice-president Stichting Vrouw & Media

January '03 - January '05
Member of the board of Stichting Vrouw & Media and webmaster of its website

January '99 - October 2005
Organisation of Thomas Jazzdansdagen, yearly jazzdancing course for 150 participants with five international dancing teachers

'99 - '02
Took the initiative for and became listminder of the Press-mailinglist of Women on the Web for female journalists and copywriters


Other

Language skills
Dutch, German, English, French and Portuguese

Computers
Knowledge of html, building simple websites, user experience with Linux, Apple