Stay in touch. Sign up for Born in Africa’s newsletter

Blijf op de hoogte. Schrijf je in voor de Born in Africa nieuwsbrief.

Meet Our Team In Belgium

Our team members in Belgium all serve as board members and ensure that the organization runs smoothly.  Each board member is passionate about BIA and is actively involved on a daily basis.  Thanks to their hard work and dedication, we will continue to aid our children in South Africa.

Besides our members of the board in Belgium, we would also like to mention and thank the co- founders of Born in Africa in Belgium for their support; Roger de Smet (2003-2023), Georges De Smul, Arlette Vanheule, Luc De Clercq (2003- 2022) Hilde de Baets (†2022) and Hanneke Siebelink.

Meet the board of directors and volunteers in Belgium:

Georges De Smul

Chairman

He carries the responsibility of liaison between all the board members and volunteers. He is consciously busy with fundraising for BIA. For more information about our organisation, please feel free to take up further contact with Georges.

 

Jaak Leenknegt

Vice- Chairman and Corporate Fundraising

Jaak is the vice- chairman of the board in Belgium, is responsible for corporate fundraising in Belgium and he is also involved with public relations.

Remi De Backer

PR-Coordinator Between SA And Belgium

Remi is chairman of BIA South Africa. He also plays liaison between BIA Belgium and South Africa and together with his wife Lieve, they are both play integral roles in fundraising for our organisation. When they are in South Africa they work as volunteers for BIA.

 

Christine Lernout

Accounting and membership administration

She manages BIA bookkeeping department and additional administration tasks.

Nele Schroyen

Administrative Support

Nele assists the BIA organization by translating many articles and our newsletters and supports the administration by taking care of the minutes at each meeting.

Lotte Van Buyten

Director

Lotte has volunteered at BIA three times and now supports the organization by her natural talent to organize and with her enthusiastic input.

Paul Delva

Paul wants to support Born in Africa in as many ways as possible and is co- responsible for organizing activities. His personalism makes the difference in building towards a durable organisation!

Arlette Van Heule

Administrative Support

She offers her assistance as administration support.

Robbin Huijers

Volunteer selection

Being a volunteer twice before herself at Born in Africa in South Africa, Robbin is the perfect person to inform future volunteers and interns before their departure to South Africa. Robbin joined our Belgian board in 2024 and is a great addition to the team!

Amber Wittouck

Volunteer selection (volunteer)

Amber spent time as an intern and as a volunteer herself at Born in Africa in South Africa. That made her the perfect support person to aid Robbin in the volunteer selections.

Lieve Platteau

Administrative Support (Volunteer)

As co-founder she is partly responsible for administration at BIA and she was on the board for many years.

Lieve De Backer

Volunteer

Remi De Backer is a board member and the former chairman of BIA South Africa. Remi and his wife Lieve are both godparents and used to spend 5 months in South Africa and 7 months in Belgium every year. They both help with fundraising and PR.

Lilianne Van Acker

Volunteer

Liliane has been coming to South Africa to volunteer for a couple of weeks since 2017. She helps out with different projects at the school and is a huge administrative help at our office. Since 2018 she is also managing and updating the SA database of all children while she is in Belgium.