PROBLEM?
Poverty: more people live in poverty in Amsterdam than average in the Netherlands or other cities [CBS].
WHAT DOES THE REgenboog?
With many money questions, Amsterdam residents can visit our walk-in financial clinics. Those who need extra guidance can get help from a financial buddy.
WAT CAN YOU DO?
Like Sarah, become a buddy to someone with money worries. Sign up at the bottom of this article.
"ONLY IF I HAD NOT READ IT"
Sarah (44) is a financial buddy at De Regenboog. She came into the life of Nora* (44) to help put her records in order.
Nora cares for her four children living at home who require a lot of attention from her. She also does the administration for her husband who works in construction. Until he becomes disabled after a car accident. Being self-employed, there is zero income. The children start asking questions: 'Why is Daddy home so often?' And, "Why is there suddenly no money for new pants? Nora becomes stressed and ends up in burnout.
Nora: "At one point I had two full trash bags of unopened mail"
.
Nobody knew about it
"The bills piled up," Nora recounts, "so I didn't dare open any more letters. I had no energy for it. At one point I had two full garbage bags of unopened mail. Nobody knew about it, neither did my husband. I didn't want to bother him with it and I didn't dare knock on my family's door. Once I borrowed money from my sister. I didn't talk to anyone else about it until I couldn't take it anymore and I called the municipality. "I need help," I said, "I can't manage on my own. They told me to call De Regenboog. 'That's where they have financial buddies,' they told me, 'who can help sort out the administration.'"
Clean slate
Sarah is calm and chooses her words carefully. Her goal was to chart for Nora how much debt was outstanding and who the creditors were. As cautiously as she talks, she set to work decisively. "The first thing I did was throw those bags upside down on the table. Together we sorted the letters. We put everything in a black folder and started working with the creditors. We are now a year on and the debt restructuring has been called in. My job is done and to celebrate that, we are going to burn the black folder together soon. We have a new folder for the new administration. A clean slate, I am confident. Nora is a strong woman and very smart, but she was in a burnout. That was a phase and she needed to be helped out of that."
Difficult Calls
Nora makes no bones about it: she wouldn't have made it on her own. "I couldn't get my head to calm down. I needed Sarah for that. She also helped me with other things. If something bothered me, for example, I could discuss it with her. And she helped with making difficult phone calls." With moist eyes, Nora recounts the studies of one of her sons. "He was so proud to be allowed to go to ROC, but at the beginning of the school year he was expelled from class a few times because he had once again 'forgotten' his books. The reality was that there was no money for books at home, but he didn't dare say so. Sarah then called the school and was able to arrange books, and through De Regenboog a laptop, because my son also needed that for school." Nora wipes away her tears and sighs, "No money for school books, when I think of that again. Fortunately, those days are behind us now."
* Nora is a pseudonym and did not want to be identified in the picture
.Want to read more?
Want to know more about being a financial buddy and our other help for people with money worries? Read the interview with Marisca Jones and Suzanne Löwik. Together they run De Regenboog's finance project.