Sonja Groot Obbink

Sonja Groot Obbink - guide at Amsterdam Underground from 2019 to 2024, from 2009 volunteer and since 2024 employee at walk-in centre De Kloof

Sonja Groot Obbink (57) was homeless half her life. After emotional abuse by her mother, she ended up on the streets. She sought refuge in drugs, earned money as a street prostitute and regularly ended up in jail. Sonja talks about her time as a homeless person - in part because she hopes to break a taboo. "It can happen to anyone."

Unwanted Rotten Child
"My mother was a drug addict, my father I don't know. She told me I was an unwanted rotten child, that I should never have been born and blamed me for everything. She was always angry. Such an upbringing made me a pleaser. I wanted everyone to like me - and saying no was not an option for me. When I was seventeen, I fled the house. I worked behind the bar in a night café, and slept on my boss's couch. After closing time, drug dealers gathered here, and so began my years of addiction. I didn't know what hit me when I snorted cocaine for the first time. How good it felt. I was naive, wanted to join in and enjoyed the added attention. Soon I became addicted to both cocaine and heroin. After a police raid, the nightclub was locked down and I ended up in jail for the first time.

Street prostitution and drug smuggling
After four months, I was free. But I was still addicted, and so I lost myself in street prostitution. At the time, my regular client, a Colombian man, offered me a permanent place to sleep in his attic. Before I knew it, I was involved in international drug smuggling, which was easier in the 1990s than it is now. Kilos of cocaine were hidden under my corset, after which a bribed customs officer let me pass. I flew to countries like Colombia and Ecuador and, once home, received a lot of money for this. Until I was caught in France, and ended up in jail again.

Turnabout
Five years later, I was free again. I was about 30 at the time and still homeless. I slept in porches and sometimes, in exchange for money or drugs, with people who were also addicts. I also lay in a boat on occasion. I sought help and soon found myself at De Regenboog Groep, where I was slowly recovering from my addiction. I received good therapy for my traumas, and I also had day care. I am doing well now. I am clean, I have my life together and since 2014 I even live in my own house. In daily life I work - since 2008, right after my recovery - at a walk-in centre for the homeless, De Kloof. I also gave guided tours for the Amsterdam Underground Tour, where I tell my personal story. This work goes through De Regenboog Groep, or the place where my own recovery thus once began.

Breaking taboos
By telling my personal story, I hope to break the stigma surrounding addiction, prostitution and being homeless a bit. In my opinion it really can happen to anyone, especially if you are vulnerable. I want to say to people: don't just walk around homeless people. You may be their last resource. And if you don't want to give money; at least give a smile, and show recognition. Make them feel like they still matter. That is SO important."