Arnhemian Martine donated her late love's clothes to the homeless in Amsterdam
."I was self-employed and not a big fan of administration shall I say. To avoid thinking about what was going wrong, I started working very hard. And drink very hard. So I learned that the road to addiction is a short one and the road back can be long. I became homeless and lived on the streets. In the homeless shelter I met Anita. It turned out that we had been sleeping on the street near each other for ages but had never seen each other! We fell in love. By now I was ready to ask for help and I got it. A whole course of addiction treatment, therapy and debt counseling followed, and I got a house. I haven't touched a drop since.
From Arnhem to Amsterdam
.In October 2021, Anita died. I wanted to donate her clothes to homeless people, but I didn't want to encounter her clothes on the streets. So I started looking for a destination in a city other than Arnhem. This became De Regenboog Groep in Amsterdam. Through Facebook I had been following De Regenboog for a while and collected stuff to bring to Amsterdam every so often with my good friend Pascal. Because of my experience on the streets, I know very well what homeless people need. I also donated sometimes for the Christmas dinner for homeless people in the walk-in centre Blaka Watra. You know, I don't have much, I'm still on welfare, but what I can spare, I like to give.
Bedding
When Anita was in the hospital, a friend gave me fifty euros to buy pajamas from. But even before I bought them, she died. I then bought socks and underpants for the homeless in Amsterdam for that amount. That is so important; I had to live without underpants at times during my time on the streets and that is really nasty, I would call it degrading. But those days are over. Now, when I walk my dog in the rain and cold, and see the park, I am so grateful to feel the key to my own little house in my pocket. Even though I may not be an Amsterdammer, my thoughts are with all those homeless people, because I know what they go through. That's why I also wanted to take a picture with the ash charm, so Anita is also there a little bit."
Text: Sander Kersten and Jola Gosen | Image: Tessa Posthuma de Boer
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