Amsterdams Buurvrouwen Contact
During its more than 20 years operation, Amsterdams Buurvrouwen Contact (ABC) has helped 8000 immigrant women overcome their isolation and their way into social life by helping them learn Dutch.
That language proficiency is a major factor of successful social integration might be a truism but it is one to which Amsterdams Buurvrouwen Contact (ABC, literally: Amsterdam Neighbours Contact) pay heed. ABC is a non-profit organization connecting language proficient volunteers and immigrant women who wish to learn Dutch. Most of them also lack any English skills which heightens the barrier to social participation. Their world shrinks to the size of their home. Isolation, loneliness, homesickness are their everyday company. There is a host of factors preventing immigrant women from attending regular Dutch courses: having to care for children or having to deal with physical, psychological, or financial problems. According to Anne Reijnders, the regional coordinator of ABC, the organzation’s aim is to help these women to become more self-reliant and “widen their world”. What she observes in her “clients” is that confidence grows with language improvement. Some women join volunteer groups at the end of the language course, some even get a job.
Nynke de Vries, a volunteer at ABC, mentored a middle aged Eritrean woman two weeks after her arrival in Amsterdam. She remembered her mentee being initially so insecure that she cried for not understanding anything during the first lesson. As the course progressed she slowly became more cheerful and confident. A year and a half on, she began her training at a nursing school and will start an internship in September. For a lot of women, ABC is the first step toward participation in Dutch society.
Stronger Relations
At ABC, mentor-mentee relations are stronger that those of students and teachers. There are cases where the friendship with a mentor helped the mentee to get out of a severe depression. Going to social events together, helping the women to meet other people and make friends is part of the deal. Nynke also told me that she formed a weekly knitting group with her mentees. “When my grandson was born, one of the women knitted some cloths for him”, Nynke says.
Going to social events together, helping the women to meet other people and make friends is part of the deal
Initially, classes taken place at the mentee’s home. After that, they tend to switch to outdoor courses: walking around the neighbourhood, go to a park and let the students talk about what they see, what they are doing, etc. It gives them the opportunity to practice, enrichen their vocabularies while being in the thick of it.
Before the first lessons, mentor and mentee agree on the appropriate learning objectives. They vary from being able to go shopping on one’s own, better connecting with the children’s school teacher, meeting other people, or to pass a civic integration exam. Once a certain level is reached, Nynke tells me, she would then try to push the mentee a bit further by letting them read about issues that interest or concern them.
For a minimal fee of 15€, the mentee will receive the help of an ABC mentor until they’re able to get out of their isolation. Some women have lessons for only one teaching period (6 months), some need up to two years of lessons.
In Need of Volunteers
Currently, ABC has about 300 volunteers. Besides mentoring, volunteers also help with administration, writing and editing newsletters, financial management and so on. They always lack language mentors as ABC’s services are in high demand.
Volunteers come from all walks of life: they can be students, office workers, pensioners and everything in between. Some are children of refugees. They witnessed the struggle of their mothers and wanted to help others to succeed. When asked for the requirements of volunteering at ABC, Anne says: “You only need to be curious, empathetic and speak enough Dutch to teach it”. Nynke who volunteers for ABC as a teacher and newsletter editor, is a retired teacher. She has been volunteering since 2013 and is currently working with her seventh mentee. As she puts it: “I have such a big admiration for these women coming to the Netherlands without speaking any Dutch, it must be difficult to cope! I feel happy when I know that I really help them to find their way in Dutch society”.
First time volunteers are required to attend a training where they are trained in effective teaching methods and how to deal with cultural differences. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer at ABC, please visit below website.
www.abcamsterdam.org