Carl (75) helps someone with money worries: ""It took three weeks before she dared to tell me what she was afraid of."
."I've always been a lawyer and litigated a lot against the government. Some clients brought tight records. Others came walking in with a big bag full of papers. So I gradually gained a lot of experience in sifting through documents. In the process, I also came across other things in the mountain of mail that I could help people with. After I retired, I served on a few more boards, but when that work ended as well, I thought, "I'm sure there are people I can help with something."
So I started helping people who made a mess of their mail and got into trouble as a result. At some point, the mountain gets so big - with the mounting amounts growing along with it - that people can't see it anymore. For me, this is not so difficult, so then I can create order.
Seven Locks
My first buddy from De Regenboog Groep ...I was in contact with that for a year. That man is back on his feet and that's just great anyway. He's a forty-something who walked in seven locks at once. I was able to rescue him from three of those ditches and partly because of that he was able to get himself out of the rest of them. I was talking to him the other day and asked if he needed another buddy. He thought for a moment and thoughtfully said, "no, I can manage now. That's nice to hear then.
Fear of debt relief
It is important to be clear. People often don't oversee what will happen if they don't take action. I had to be very clear with her: either you go into debt assistance, or you lose your house. That's quite a shock. It took several weeks before she told me why she didn't want debt assistance. She had heard things about this from her friends that weren't true. When I was able to allay those fears, we were able to move forward.
All on a bike
If I see the vacancies on the site of the Vrijwilligers Centrale Amsterdam, there is still more than enough work to do in this area. Because, it turns out, if you speak the Dutch language poorly or aren't good with the Internet, it's damn hard to engage in conversation with agencies. So many people get into trouble because of this. I think this is a worrying development in the Netherlands. In any case, I will continue this voluntary work.
Text: Sander Kersten and Jola Gosen | Image: Tessa Posthuma de Boer
Do like Carl and become a volunteer.