BRO. JOS STRAATES
Returning from Ghana in 1955 I got concerned in projects for Africans. First in Amsterdam, at the moment in Rotterdam. One of the activities I got into contact with was giving Dutch lessons to small groups. I joined these. Much time I have given guidance to young people in their efforts to learn Dutch. This will increase their chances to build up a new life here. In my encounters with African youngsters it strikes me how serious they are in learning Dutch. Their interest and effort stimulate me to go on with this work.
| What is learnt early is learnt well |  |
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The seriousness in learning Dutch stimulates me to go on with this work. |
| Increasing their chances to build up a new life here. |  |
BRO. ALOYSIO VAN DEN BROEK
More and more elderly people are getting isolated. With increasing age their mobility may decrease. Physical ailments may make people more and more dependent. Social contacts are getting scarce. Then you are lucky when there are people who make time for you, keep you company.
Twice a week you can find Aloysio in the nursing home in town, to listen attentively to people there, to distribute Holy Communion, to have a chat, or just to be there. Or he visits people in hospital.
Many years of work in Africa has taught Aloysio how to bridge language differences. You do not easily appeal to him in vain.
Why do you do this volunteer work?
Because people need you. And all those contacts make you richer yourself too.
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Just having a chat: it makes you richer yourself. |
| Making time for one another: it costs nothing and yields much. |  |
| Knowing how to understand each other. |  |
BRO. LUCIANUS TIELEMAN
Brother Lucianus=s activities are especially in the financial administrative sphere. During his active life in the Congregation he has mainly been employed for tasks in the field of financial administration, accounting, taxes. That was his training; that too is his strength.
This expertise is now made available in doing volunteer work: as a financial adviser, a treasurer, an executive of organisations in the field of work with refugees, of education, of religious groups. Or by helping individual persons in taking care of their tax declaration. And not only institutions and persons in the Netherlands. Also educational projects in Surinam avail themselves of his experience and expertise.
What moves Lucianus in doing this?
I am familiar with this kind of work. It gives me satisfaction. I help people who otherwise would get into difficulties, and I remain active and up to date myself.
I also learn a lot from the contacts I have. You learn what is going on in society in the way of cares, joys and sorrow. Moreover, I find it a good thing and think it important that I can still do something for our Congregation. .
| From behind your desk you may also be of service to others. |  |
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Educational projects get on well with expert financial advice like here at Kankantrie school in Surinam. |
| Volunteer work gives satisfaction, not only in a figurative sense. |  |
BRO. KEES BUITENHOF
Three afternoons a week I work in a nursing home in Schiedam. I take care then of the activities in a living room with twelve demented persons. My task consists in making coffee and passing this round, accompanying people to the gym or the music room or outside, reading from the paper, getting conversations going, doing games.
There is often a deathly silence in the living room, when there are no supervisors. Livening things up there is a challenge for me. Sometimes I am quite an >entertainer=.
I like doing this work. I find it an enriching experience. You are not only the party that gives, but you also get a lot in return in the way of gratitude and sympathy. Contact with demented people also sets you thinking. You start rather seeing the relativity of everything. Dementia may also affect me, and what will you do then?
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Livening things up a bit. |
| You get a lot in return in the way of gratitude. |  |
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Accompanying residents in making a walk in the surroundings. |
BRO. LEO DAENEN
Brother Leo Daenen is a teacher to the core. When the foundation Wereldvenster [Window on the world] made an appeal to him, this did not fall on deaf ears. Consequently Leo travels twice a week to The Hague to give Dutch lessons to asylum seekers. In this case people that are still waiting for a possible residence permit or for taking part in a course for Dutch citizenship. Besides Dutch, Wereldvenster also provides vocation-oriented courses. Moreover, secondary activities are taking place there, targeted on information about society and towards understanding living together in society.
What is the motive of your activities for Wereldvenster?
What motivates you in this work is that you can make a contribution, however modest this may be, to the strengthening of the perspectives of asylum seekers. Of people from a diversity of cultures who find themselves in an uncertain phase of their existence. If we manage to keep those people on their feet as human beings, it will give satisfaction. Through the contacts with these people your own window on the world too will offer you a wider view.
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Written command of the language is important. |
| Working at a computer, working at a new future. |  |