From time pass to activation
The vision and design of walk-in centres change dramatically over the years. In the early days, visitors mainly find safety and protection there. Visitors can remain anonymous and are accepted as they are. Activities, if they are offered at all, are focused on time passages and not on social participation. This changes in the late 1990s. In April 1998, the first day activity starts in Blaka Watra for long-term addicted clients of the Social Services who do not succeed in following a path to work or schooling. In cooperation with the Stadsreiniging, they clean the streets and sidewalks around Amsterdam Central Station.
More and more opportunities
The sweeping teams in action in 1999 from Oud West and later from Princehof are also a success. Regular visitors get the chance to help out in "their" walk-in centre. The results are so good that more and more opportunities are added. In all walk-in centres, visitors help with cooking, washing up and cleaning. Several positions are also filled by people who know addiction and homelessness from their own experience. Traditionally, visitors at walk-in centres are offered creative activities. Makom, founded in 1995 as a walk-in centre for the homeless, has a studio for visitors: the Art Suite. Painting, drawing, making music, textiles, making a newspaper: all can be done there.
Activering inloophuizen