Eindhoven’s Meerhoven district is home to a large number of expats. This number is increasing due to the growth of the city. A group of residents in the area have long wanted a neighbourhood meeting place, but this has been a long time coming.
Six months ago, Chaitali Sengupta and Diana Angelova started a petition for a neighbourhood meeting place, preferably in the form of a library or café, where internationals and locals could meet. The community is still in the research phase, but the number of expats is growing.
If nothing is done to professionalise the integration of expats in, say, 10 years’ time, you’ll only hear the words ‘loneliness’, ‘polarisation’ and ‘isolation’ more and more,” says Diana Angelova.
Residents have seen the neighbourhood change in recent years. I have lived here for 20 years and it has changed a lot,’ says one resident. Most of the people Studio040 spoke to did not see any problems in the neighbourhood due to the diversity of backgrounds, but they did notice that there was little cohesion. It is also quite natural that people with their own background and culture look for each other,’ says one woman.
The language
According to the initiators, a library would bring the groups together more and help the internationals to learn the Dutch language better. One Indian man has reservations. For example, when I try to speak Dutch to the people in the shop and they notice that I have problems with the language, they immediately start speaking English to me,’ he explains*.
But he has a good relationship with his neighbours. Another also has a good relationship with his foreign neighbour. Sometimes he asks me things about how things work here, so the contact is good. But if you’re an expat and you don’t have good contact with your neighbours, it could be nice to have a neighbourhood meeting place.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Anitha Sevugan
Addition by editor: There is a button you can buy to ask people to speak Dutch: Speak Dutch to me
