by Peter DeWit
I had the recent privilege of visiting the beautiful city of Maastricht and the Serve the City team there. When I arrived it was your typical dutch-January-weather, cold, wet and windy. Thankfully I was greeted warmly at the train station by our Director Ingeborg Dijkstra, who has been leading STCM for the last year and a half. It didn’t take me long to see her passion for the city of Maastricht. Curious, I wanted to know when it all started, and found out that this year will mark ten years of serving in incredible ways. It began like many of our chapters, by a group of three churches wanting to do more than just do activities in a church building. Pastor Matthew Lunders led for many years. Today there are volunteers from all walks of life, religions, ages and genders. I came specifically to be part of their monthly Big Volunteer Day.
Our first happy task was to walk the city, luckily I packed my umbrella. We started at the Social Hub where Serve the City has their working space. “Since we moved here to the inner city, we have had greater participation and made more important connections than ever with other leaders in our city.” I loved the vibe immediately, there was a coffee and sandwich bar, students from all around the world were chatting and working at their laptops, a small gym here and a cool meeting space there. It was a perfect spot. Later I would meet the manager, Luc, a handsome young father with a heart for the city. He explained how happy he was to have Serve the City involved with The Social Hub. Once a month STC hosts a Community Dinner and Luc said he never misses one. “It has opened my eyes to see how much good can be done for those who feel lonely in society.” Indeed the Community Dinner revolves around the NOAH program that pairs volunteers with people feeling a need for more connection.
I asked Ingeborg about the NOAH program and she told me there were approximately 200 people involved in some way and form. “Our volunteers are known as NOAH buddies,” she laughed. “So you are a matchmaking organization,” I quipped. “Absolutely, we match people with the same interests in order to strengthen community connection. When we asked the Town Council what the greatest need was in Maastricht, they told us, ‘loneliness.’ And we got to work thinking how to meet that need. That’s been our greatest focus for the past few years.” When I heard her describe to me the NOAH Program, I immediately thought of how massive this problem of isolation and loneliness is in all of our cities. What a beautiful way to involve our volunteers. We can be ‘loneliness busters’ chasing away loneliness blues!
Saturday: Big Volunteer Day
On Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of the rain hitting the sun roof of my top floor room. I almost cursed, “Aagh, this dutch weather again!” I knew our day would be full of visiting projects and I was ready to learn how to run a Big Volunteer Day. As I got out of the car, I kissed my umbrella and quickly opened it, I walked down the wet muddy path to join the volunteers at the community garden project. Ingeborg wasn’t sure how many would come in this Dutch weather, but slowly the troops came, three, four, seven, eight… to be joined by some of the locals. These locals petitioned the town council to use this vacant lot as a place for their community to connect in a beautiful green space. Not long ago Serve the City Maastricht helped raise 1,500 euros to plant trees, place benches to sit on, picnic tables to eat together, and help to straighten paths, and so much more. The partnership is strong. Today our volunteers coming from places like Japan, Canada, Israel, and Britain, together with the Dutch would start digging a pond. When I got back to the car I heard Ingeborg sigh aloud, “I am so impressed, they came.” She repeated that to me a few more times as we drove to the next project. It was impressive.
When we arrived at the Senior’s complex, the handful of volunteers were already sitting around two large tables with the seniors, most in their 80’s. It was a beautiful complex, more akin to a hotel, and I liked being out of the rain. There I met the project leader, Xander, who had moved to Maastricht from Amsterdam. I asked how he found out about STCM. His reply was beautiful, “I came and found myself a little lonely and wanting connection. I found out online there was a program called NOAH and signed up. Then I attended the Community Dinners and found out that STC also helps people. That excited me, helping others. And today, I lead this program with the seniors. I love it.” With a huge smile he told me to look behind me, and I saw a stately senior lady teaching dance steps to two younger volunteers. “This is why I love this. You see the connections? She’s from Indonesia, “ Xander said, “She used to dance in a special troop.” “Wow, I could use some dance lessons myself,” I thought.
Afterwards, we drove back to the Social Hub to meet our next team of volunteers, the trash-picking team. Ingeborg wondered out loud how many would actually come? Upon arrival we debriefed with Berke, a young man of about 25 years of age originally from Turkey. This was his first time to lead this project and Ingeborg was there to help him feel comfortable in his new role. Soon we were joined by a baker’s dozen of volunteers from Vietnam, India, America, Estonia, and the Netherlands, to name a few. I took a few group photos and watched them file out in twos with trash pickers and dark green bags. “That’s dedication”, I said to myself. Ingeborg proudly said that all the projects had been filled in advance with volunteers. More really wanted to join, this was the reason they added the trash picking project.
When we got back into the car to cross the city, the rain had finally slowed down and we knew the garden team must have said a prayer of thanks. I know I did. “Nothing stops the Dutch,” Ingeborg reminded me. “Well, I was born Dutch, ” I reminded her, “But I think I might have called in a rain check,” I added. Arriving at the destination I found out that this home for the lightly handicapped had about 18 souls living there. I met the leader of this project, her name suited her personality, Joy. This project could only accommodate about four volunteers because of space. Together we created masks for the carnival. I was asked three times to make a mustache for their masks, which I gladly did. One of the inhabitants didn’t want to participate, but asked a lot of questions about who I was. With a beautiful smile etched across his face, he would ask about this and that. He was disappointed that I didn’t like Formula One or other motorsports. When we finally left, it already felt like a burgeoning friendship had begun.
Our last project was what I looked forward to most, refugee children. Having worked with refugees of all ages, I hadn’t had much occasion to see the children. “You will see the nicest refugee center maybe in all of Europe, Peter, but this is not the norm,” Ingeborg warned me. And she was correct, this facility was beautiful, it housed 600 refugees from all around the globe, including a Colombian family that was throwing a special party for their daughter who just turned 15 years old, an important event for a Colombian family. She was becoming a woman. But what I loved the most was meeting the children, this time about twenty or so, with a half dozen volunteers from Serve the City. They were just finishing their masks for the carnival, many wearing them proudly. I chatted with a young volunteer named Parween, from Afghanistan. She had won a scholarship to study in Maastricht. Her English was impeccable. And her spirit was so positive and kind. “She’s going places,” I told Ingeborg afterwards. Our project leader, Petra, was a woman from the Czech Republic. She explained that today was quieter than most times because the boys didn’t show up in their usual numbers. However, she was used to seeing about 40 kids during this special hour together. I was happy for the quieter girls at that moment. And as we were leaving, a young child brought a beautiful picture of a perfectly coloured red heart to give to her. This deeply touched Petra. And I knew that this artful heart made by the hands of a child would probably find its way on the fridge door. But even more important, tonight all of our own hearts, each recipient, each volunteer, and each project leader, our fragile red hearts would be beating proudly into the evening. Thank you Serve the City Maastricht for organizing a monthly Big Volunteer Day.
