Behind Green Steps: Lillah Martien

Green Steps Team is international and diverse. You can meet some of us during our events. Others maybe are working behind the scenes, or even in another continent, but we all play a part to succeed in our mission. This is possible thanks to individuals and their hearts, which is something that goes beyond their job description.
To make you all feel closer to our community, we post a short introduction to one of our Team Members, to celebrate the people behind Green Steps.

Explain to a stranger what do you do for Green Steps?
At Green Steps I am an intern, with 2 tasks. I am a nature guide and I am writing a research paper regarding Green Steps and the municipality of Sankt Pölten.
As a nature guide I assist during outdoor activities with schools. I have translated the ARK in Dutch, my native language. I have helped with new ARK entries etc.
As an intern, I am writing a paper. In the paper I have analyzed, Green Steps and the municipality, which then led to the synergies betweenof the 2 organizations. The goal of the paper was to show the mutual objectives and overlap between the 2 organizations. In order to help the organizations on collaborating more in the future.

What is your daily routine? What is something you like doing and your coworkers maybe don’t know about you?
Since the start of covid I have not had a steady routine, for school or for my student jobs due to online classes and irregular work schedules. Something I enjoy since starting at Ggreen Ssteps is my routine of getting up at the same time everyday in order to be at the office at 9 every day. This has improved by sleep schedule and energy levels. I have also started consciously going outside more during my day to day life. Preferable to the river or the lakes. This is something I have missed a lot since being here, big bodies of water. Growing up on the coast, I would take it for granted, but now that I am so far away from an ocean I miss it.

Use less than 250 words to tell a story about yourself: starting from “where are you from” to the choice of joining Green Steps.
I am born and raised in The Netherlands, The Hague. My mother grew up in south Germany and my father on the Dutch island in the Caribbean, Curaçao. Meaning the whole family grew up in different eco regions. Going outdoors and nature has been a part of my childhood, we had a vegetable garden and would always have active vacations.
I wanted to have another experience abroad during my studies, I study spatial development. I came in contact with Green Steps via the European solidarity corps. The organizations caught my eye due to my upbringing and my study.

Mention a book you read as a teenager that still tells something about you, and that you would still suggest reading.
A fun fact about me is that I hate reading, due to my dyslexia. So growing up I rarely read books, if it was not mandatory from school. I mainly watched movies, that my mother read as books when she was a child, like Das Sams. But a book, turned in to a movie, that I really loved is, Ronia, the Robber's Daughter. I read the book together with my mother, but enjoyed the movie a little more. I think this is a book/ or movie every child should watch, even though it was filmed in 1984. My mother has never given up to recommend me books to read, one of these books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I received this book years ago but read it during my time with Green Steps, as an audiobook. Even though I received the book almost 3 years ago, reading it now was the perfect timing. I therefore recommend everyone to read The Alchemist when every they feel like they are at a crossroad in life.

How do you expect you and Green Steps to have an impact in the next years? 
I wish for Green Steps to be heard and valued on a global scale, but also by the municipality they are located in. I will certainly be more aware on the green spaces around me and not just as a city planner.