Bisola (28) from Woensel fled Nigeria and is a single mother on welfare with three children. Thanks to the Buurtgezinnen project, she has babysitting help from the neighbourhood that feels just as familiar as family.
Toddler Amalia comes jumping out of the door of a terraced house in Woensel. She is going for a walk with her babysitters Elles and Eva. That is reason for a very good mood. The women were linked to Amalia’s family by Buurtgezinnen, a national organisation that has also been active in Eindhoven for four years. For a few months now, they have been coming by once a week to take the children for an afternoon and help the mother.
Pleased
“My children are very happy with them. It is so familiar that it feels like family,” says Bisola. She is a single mother on welfare with three young children – the father(s) are not in the picture. She fled Nigeria six years ago and has no family nearby. Because of her daughters – the eldest of whom is in school – she is always short of time. That is why she is happy with the help of the organisation.
Buurtgezinnen deliberately works outside the official aid organisations. Eva Blaauw, who coordinates the Eindhoven branch of the organisation together with her colleague Christel Colleij, says: “There is enough help. Sometimes the aid workers fall over each other, but they also leave again. The great thing about Buurtgezinnen is that you build a structural network around the people. Moreover, it is actually nice for people not to have an aid worker in their home. Sometimes that only makes them anxious.”
Future
Bisola, Elles and Eva walk with the children to a playground. Amalia climbs onto the slide with Eva’s help and slides down on her belly. She laughs enthusiastically and infectiously. “I hope my children will have a good life and a good future,” says Bisola as she watches the scene. “And that they don’t have to go through what I’ve been through.”
Buurtgezinnen is still looking for stable families in all of Eindhoven who want to do something for someone else. They can register on the website. After an interview and submitting an OVG declaration, they are then linked to a family in the neighbourhood.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
