Aki Herlyn - social worker Deutsche Hilfsverein (DHV), from 1978 at AMOC. She retired in 2021.
For more than forty years, Aki Herlyn was a social worker for heavy drug addicts. In the turbulent 1970s and 1980s, she went out in the middle of the night to find German heroin prostitutes.
Pioneering on 'the dike'
The Zeedijk was a no-go-area in the 1970s. Herlyn: "Police officers didn't often see you going there alone. They preferred to go in threes or with a police dog. Ordinary people didn't walk there." Herlyn, as young as she was, trekked to the dike. "Our clients were there, in drug hotels and squats. We went there to talk to them and make contacts. It was pioneering work. I was combative and went for it. We defied our fear. Later, when the users got to know me, I felt safer in that neighborhood. Our goal was not to get them to rehab. We helped them return to Germany and made contacts with relatives." The group of German addicts included mostly syringes, Herlyn continued. "They got diseases like hepatitis and pneumonia and many infections from using each other's syringes. The degradation was increasing. We tried to build a relationship of trust with them." That often succeeded, with a lot of patience.
Seedijk 1978 | Photographer Bert Verhoeff
.Lone funeral
German Anja Joos came to AMOC early on. She lived in a squat, like most users, and sold drugs on the "pill bridge. She hustled to get money and used everything there was to use, said Herlyn, who knew Joos well. "Anja was a strong woman with a solid addiction." In 2003, Joos was trampled to death in the street and Amsterdam was upside down. A silent march was even held. Unfortunately, Joos is not the only death in Herlyn's long career, she says. Especially in the early days of her career, many users died of AIDS or overdose. Often the family dropped out or there had been no contact for a very long time. "I can still remember during a client's cremation, I walked alone behind the coffin. There was no one else."
The power of people
Herlyn is now retired, and looks back on her work with satisfaction. In 2021, she received an email from Germany from a former addict, Thomas, now around 50. He had spent six years in prison, he wrote. But he also told her he was entering his sixth clean year and had been living on supervised independence for two years. "Thomas wanted to tell me that because I had always believed in him," he emailed. That makes me care. It still makes me emotional. I picture him like that. A big man with a skinny face. In the mid-1990s I drove him in my own car to a German clinic. I like to look for people's strength, give them respect and trust. I believe that every small step can change a person's life."
Aki has written down her memories of AMOC's early years. Read them here