Jan
Through a chance meeting with Sandra in the second month of the war, my wife Paulien and I became involved in collecting bicycles and other items for our new fellow villagers from the Ukraine. And one thing led to another.
For example, I and others ensured that - when there was no large hall available in Nescio - everyone in Erasmusheem could see the Eurovision Song Contest together, where Ukraine was going to win. And I wrote a quick note with suggestions for (language) education for Ukrainian children and adults based on my professional knowledge, and in the spring – when there was no ISK education – I accompanied the 12+ students to the Praedinius in the city, where they could continue working on their own Ukrainian digital educational material on school laptops, accompanied by a few mothers, a very involved Russian teacher, who also introduced her own students to the Ukrainians, plus an amanuensis with Ukrainian family ties. But I was also able to do odd jobs here and there, for example at the Human Library events in Groningen, at the reception of the Ter Apel refugees in the autumn, at the Sinterklaas celebration, at the skating event in the winter and at setting up and fill in this website. And occasionally I assisted some people who ran into problems with regard to residence status in contacts with the legal department of Refugee Work and an Asylum lawyer in the city. All in all, many beautiful and enriching experiences, both in the cooperation with the Ukrainians and in that with the involved and enthusiastic volunteers!
