As many of you know, Eindhoven News aims to keep internationals living in the city of Eindhoven and surrounding area up to speed on local happenings. We also aim to be the voice of international Eindhoven, as well as a bridge to connect all cultures and nationalities.
EN wants to zoom in on some of the individuals with diverse backgrounds – refugees, expats, students, labour migrants – to find out what brought them here, what role languages play in their lives, and how they perceive differences in interaction that necessarily stem from intercultural exchange. Finally, we would like to find out how their presence has enriched the region and what the region has brought to them. The series is called ” Eindhoven, of all places…”.
Enter: Sandra Kamangar
Sandra lives in Geldrop with her husband and two children, settling down in the Eindhoven region after a spell in Amsterdam, Almere, and Gemert. She was born in Apeldoorn, where her Iranian Kurdish parents had ended up after their flight from Khomeiny’s Iran.
A tale of adventure, fear, romance and chance twists of fate follows when Sandra explains how she is where she is now. Her parents were adolescents when they fled, 17 or 18. They fled as part of a group of people affiliated with the Kurdish Komala party, a secular political party who organised their group flight when life in Iran had changed drastically.
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted and in his place Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became the leader of Iran. The theocracy led to persecution of dissidents: intellectuals, left politicians, Kurds, religious minorities. Many of them fled, among them Sandra’s mother, Hero, and her father, Hadi.
The route across the mountains was hazardous; they were shot at, some of their number died, and Hero at a certain point was so frozen with fear that she did not dare to go on, but was persuaded to persevere. “Whenever I am faced with difficulties”, says Sandra, “I think of what my mother had to go through. Her courage always inspires me”. It was during this flight that Hadi and Hero met and fell in love. They crossed the border into Iraq and from there travelled to Turkey. When the time had come for them to travel to a country where they could seek saylum, the UNHCR took the decision to send them to The Netherlands instead of their initial destination, Canada, because by that time Hero was pregnant with Sandra and a long airflight might not be a good idea for mother and baby.
Asylum centre
They ended up in the Apeldoorn AZC. From Apeldoorn the young family were sent to Eindhoven, of all places, where a house had been found for them in Strijp. That must have been extremely welcome, as was the help given to them by a Dutch couple, the Ritmeesters. These had taken on the task of showing the Iranians what life in The Netherlands was like. The Kamangars were awed by how busy Eindhoven was; seeing the huge crowds crossing to The Bijenkorf when the traffic light turned green they thought it was a demonstration, and they were shocked to see people throwing chewing gum on the ground. The Ritmeesters took to the Kamangar family and continued to be very much involved with them, in what has become a rare friendship spanning two generations.
Long term friendship
The Ritmeester sons, Bob and Tjeerd, also got to know the Kamangar family very well, spending a lot of time with them and learning about eachother’s ways to have a party. In fact, sons Tjeerd and Bob and Sandra are so close that they refer to eachother as brother and sister, having kept in touch all those years. Despite Tjeerd Ritmeester being an Eindhoven PvdA politician, and Sandra’s grandfather being politically active, Sandra is less interested in political parties but she does love a party.
She completed her studies, married a Dutchman, has a job in cybersecurity and feels the Eindhoven area is definitely her home. Of course she is also Iranian, and cherishes Iranian food and customs, for instance celebrating Nowruz, the Iranian new year (March 20th). This festival is believed to date back around 3,000 years ago, with roots in Zoroastrianism. The last evening of the old year has people jumping over a fire.
Sandra emphasises that Iranians know how to make do with scant means: “As long as there is good company and good food, life is good”. When I ask her if she would not like to visit Iran and any family she has there, she says, “I would. Perhaps I will, one day.”
Polyglot
Sandra would have no difficulty communicating in Iran, though. “I speak Kurdish and Farsi. I also teach my children Kurdish, as I want to pass on my Iranian heritage”. Not only fluent in Dutch, English, Kurdish and Farsi, Sandra also speaks Swedish fluently.. When she was twelve, her parents decided to move to Sweden, but returned when they realised that The Netherlands was their home. Having such linguistic ability has stood Sandra in good stead. “It is a definite advantage when you are looking for a job”, she says.
Culture
So Sandra is familiar with a range of cultures. She loves the Iranian dances and the warm hospitality. “When people are on the point of going home but it’s dinner time, guests are invited to share the food”, she says, remembering how when she had playdates as a child she was always expected to return home before dinner. In Sweden she loved the special care given to children. “School children get sufficient rest, school meals with a choice of up to six or seven dishes, a Dutch teacher came to the school especially for me so that I could stay in touch with my background”. Dutch culture for Sandra means every opportunity to develop yourself in any direction you want. “People have the freedom here to make their own choices, as well as make changes. I am happy that, through my parents’ decision to seek asylum in The Netherlands, I have been given the opportunity to be part of a free society. I hope that I am contributing by adding to the number of ways people can interact with one another”.
Interview conducted on 19 February, interviewer Greta
