The Neighborhood Platform by Aukje de Vries

The Hague, which is the third largest city in the Netherlands, has a number of organizations, which have a contract with the municipality to perform community work. Some of them are supposed to work in the neighborhood where I live.

My neighborhood is a residential area, where most inhabitants own their house or their apartment. There are few rented houses. There are several so called “service flats” which are suitable for older persons who need some assistance but still can cope independently. They are privately run and fairly expensive. The inhabitants of the neighborhood are mostly well educated and, when working, have relatively high incomes, but in spite of that no less than 18% of its inhabitants have been found to be poor. The capital of this category is in their house, but their income is low. My neighborhood has the largest percentage of old people in the entire city, but because the average income of the people in this area is relatively high, the City of The Hague does not think it necessary to give many social facilities to this area. In fact, as for accommodation, staff for social activities, and public transport, it is an underprivileged area, although the city government does not think so.

Some time ago, the community organizations tried to set up a forum or platform to hear what the citizens should like to see happen in this neighborhood. Right from the beginning there were very few ordinary citizens present, most of the participants in the meeting were representatives of organizations such as: the Neighborhood Association, some volunteer organizations, some private care homes, home care organizations, secondary schools, a sports club, etc.

Today there is another meeting of the platform and although I have no specific function in the neighborhood, I will attend, hoping to hear interesting news or to help getting some social activities started. As it turns out the city has discovered that many older people are lonely and the community organizations have been asked to do something about it.

As usual there are new participants so we all introduce ourselves briefly and then the floor is given to the social worker of the hospital, who is new in our midst.

The hospital has decided to pay extra attention to older people. This is good news. It has established a special out-patient department for older people. The social worker tells us he has come into contact with some older people in a rather desperate situation, who have no contacts, are not known by any agency and therefore have not had any help in an earlier stage, before their situation had become so bad. He regrets that the hospital processes patients without paying any attention to their social circumstances. As soon as the medical treatment has been finished, they are discharged.

Today there are two representatives of secondary schools in the meeting. Their students have to do a social internship and the teachers are trying to find placements for them, which is not easy because there are so many of them. The care homes can use some. In the previous months a group of high school students had given computer lessons to seniors and this worked out very well. Most seniors were quite pleased and the students did well, even though they were sometimes amazed that a few seniors were exclusively interested in one particular kind of information, e.g. about a certain type of car, without any further interest about working with the internet. It was also disappointing for the students that some of the seniors did not turn up any more after a few lessons. The school thinks this is an interesting project. They want to give a follow-up course to the first group, start with a new group and write a manual for seniors.

There is also some discussion about getting seniors in the neighborhood to take their evening meal in one of the care homes and making some of the facilities of the home available to a wider circle of users. The staff member of this particular home tells us this is not her competency. There is one person in the group who obviously is involved somehow with this home. She tells she has made suggestions to the management and tried to get in touch with the responsible person, but she hasn’t been able to reach anyone. She has finally given up. The staff member who is present again is not very helpful to her. This is a clear example of bureaucracy at work.

Finally the chair of the meeting, a staff member of the agency for community organization, brings up the issue of loneliness among older people. It is known that many of the older people, living alone, are very lonesome but it is characteristic for the people of this neighborhood that they don’t reach out, nor ask for help and so they remain lonesome.

This issue has been discussed in earlier meetings, but we end up with the same useless conclusion as before: organizations cannot do anything as long as the lonesome people don’t ask for help. Ways to reach out to them, such as information about what the organizations can offer, does not help. The so-called contact which is called club 55+ has many members but their activities do not succeed in reaching the lonesome or forging new contacts between members. I have suggested for the community organizations to call on older persons personally by paying a visit to them at home and inviting them to form a small group with others who have similar interests. They could go and eat together in one of the care homes. I think it is the anonymity of the offer that organizations make, which keeps people from using it. When I myself consider going to a nearby care home to use the restaurant, but I have to go there by myself, I prefer to stay home and do my own cooking. I think the organizations will have to find a more personal method to approach the older inhabitants and help them to form contacts with friends of similar ages and who have similar interests.

People in this area may be well educated, but that does not necessarily mean they have great social skills.

Do you have the opportunity to interact with your neighbours? How can you get younger residents to interact with older persons in your community? Should students be obliged to fulfill a school requirement to spend time visiting nursing home residents? If so, how can more schools adopt this policy?

A Day in Leiden by Aukje de Vries

My friend Cora, who lives in Amsterdam, and I decided to meet in Leiden, halfway between Amsterdam and The Hague. We are going to spend the day there and make plans for a trip towards the end of the summer. Just after having left the station we noticed a brand new tourist office. Because it may have useful information we decide on a short stop there. We have questions: Are there any good expositions or interesting walks to places visitors do not usually get to see? The staff gave us extensive information about Leiden, some nice brochures and an explanation, as if we had never visited the city before. The tourist office also sells products that might interest tourists. We resist this temptation. Outside we look at each other. Neither of us dared to tell the lady in the tourist office that we know Leiden quite well. Both of us studied there in the late fifties and lived there for at least six years.

It is a nice day, although quite fresh. The best option seems to be to go to the botanical gardens. Leiden has, right behind the main university building, a beautiful botanical garden with many plants from tropical regions. On the way Cora showed me an almshouse. Leiden has no less than 35 of them, all advertised as places that tourists can visit. Churches or rich people started these house hundreds of years ago to house poor elderly women.

In most cases you enter them through an outer building admitting you to courtyard around which small houses are built. Usually they are not only very pretty with a well kept garden, but also very quiet and secluded. We look around and try to figure out how large the houses are. We look into one and see that it is really tiny. Its inhabitant obviously is not at home. A young man, leaving one of the other houses, asks us if we need information. He tells us this is one of the smallest apartments; the others are about double this size. He has lived here for a number of years as both students and young workers are now living in these houses. As a young person, he expects to leave in a few years. At that point, he then will be able to afford a larger house. Someone else move into his little house.

When we reach the botanical gardens it is time for coffee. We take our time to catch up with each other. In the botanical gardens there are leftovers of an orchid exhibition. There are orchids everywhere of all sizes and colours. I regret not having brought my camera, they are so beautiful. Having marveled at the beautiful, exotic plants in the hothouses, we walk through the garden and enjoy the pretty blossoms and the flowers that are already in bloom. Cora points out where she lived while studying at Leiden University. We can see it from where we are standing. She lived in Leiden for a few years before I arrived. We got to know each other later when both of us lived in Amsterdam. When we leave the gardens it is high time for a lunch in a nearby café. It is too cold to sit outside. During lunch we discuss whether we can go on another vacation together in the late summer or early fall. Last year we went to St. Petersburg and it worked out fine. What can we do this year? Cora forgot to bring her diary so she does not know exactly which dates she has available. Both of us have already have commitments for that period so it will be not be easy to find a time that suits both of us. There are four alternative destinations, all of them in Southern Europe, that we might like to visit. But first the dates must be settled.

Upon leaving the café we see another almshouse. This one has a plaque with information. It was established in 1650 by Eva van Hoogeveen. It was meant for chaste, elderly women. They were obliged to wash themselves at least once a month. Difficult to imagine!!

The afternoon is half gone when we leave this almshouse and walk slowly in the direction of the station. We pass the Frisian baker that was in place in the fifties. They still bake bread on the spot, including specialties from Friesland, a Northern province of The Netherlands.

We end our day at Leiden with a walk through another historic are that was less accessible in the period when we lived in Leiden. On our way we read some more facts about Leiden’s history from the plaques placed on some buildings. We feel very satisfied with our lovely day in Leiden, but our holiday plans for the future still remain to be made.

Questions: Do you sometimes travel with a friend? What are some problems you’ve encountered on an excursion such as the one Aujke took? What were the successes? Is it always better to travel with someone? If so, why?

Les amis de mes amis by Aukje de Vries

I have a friend, Jean-Marc, in Paris. We got to know each other in the sixties. Both of us followed a summer course on American Politics in Nice. It was an interesting course in a nice setting with quite a bit of free time. Jean-Marc and I spent our free time going to concerts and participating in excursions. We have kept in touch since then. He became a diplomat and went on missions abroad. During this time we lost touch with each other, but later when he had settled in Paris, we resumed our friendship. His life had taken a nasty turn. In a car accident he had lost his eyesight. In the meantime his widowed mother, moved to Paris to take care of him and run the household. Fortunately he kept a job with the Foreign Ministry until his recent retirement. A few years ago his mother died. However, while still living, she had recruited a number of helpers and managed to make new arrangements so that he would get all the help he needed. He is living independently and completely in command of his situation which, I think, is an enormous achievement. Remarkably, he has kept up many friendships dating from the different phases in his life including many contacts with other diplomats he had met abroad. His circle of friends is extensive and varied and he keeps in touch. From time to time I go to Paris to see him. So this spring I also planned a brief visit to Paris.

I found him well and we had a good visit. He always tells me a lot about French politics and the world situation, Since I have to think hard before I have formulated a decent phrase in French, he talks a lot more than I do.

It was just the right time of year to visit Paris. Splendid weather, a clear blue sky, many trees in bloom and tulips and other flowers all over the place. I never realized how many smaller and larger parks Paris has. The city is beautifully laid out and it was an absolute joy to be there and to walk and visit familiar places, that bring back memories of earlier times.

But there was an extra bonus this year. Shortly before my departure I wrote to an Australian friend mentioning that I would spend a few days in Paris. I received an immediate reply from her telling me that she was in France and would be in Paris with her sister at the same time I would be there. Could we meet? Yes, of course we could. We arranged to meet at a museum.

Jean-Marc had told me that he had planned to invite some friends for dinner for one of the evenings I would be there. However, his friends were out of town and could not come. Then he suggested that he invite my friend Jane and her sister Nancy instead; they agreed to come.

As planned we met at the museum in the early afternoon. Jane and I wanted to talk. We spent quite some time over coffee, chatting and catching up, while Nancy visited the museum. It was great to exchange all the news and discuss some common concerns.

The visit with Jean-Marc turned out to be a great success. Jean-Marc and Nancy had quite a lot in common and talked very easily.

There is a saying in French: “Les amis de mes amis sont mes amis.” That is to say, the friends of my friends are my friends. Jean-Marc certainly practiced it and we all had a wonderful evening.

Do you have old friends that you look up to visit when you travel ? Have they changed ? If so, how ? How has life treated them ? How are they approaching their own old age ?

A day in Leiden by Aukje de Vries

My friend Cora, who lives in Amsterdam, and I have decided to meet in Leiden, halfway between Amsterdam and The Hague. We will spend the day there and try to make some plans for a trip at the end of the summer. Just after having left the station, we see a brand new tourist office. It may have useful information so we decide on a short stop there. Are there any good expositions or interesting walks to places visitors do not usually get to see? We get extensive information about Leiden, some nice brochures and an explanation as if we never visited the city before. The tourist office also sells products but we resist this temptation. Once outside we look at each other. Neither of us dared to say to the lady in the office that we know Leiden quite well. Both of us studied there in the late fifties and lived there for at least six years. It is a nice day, although quite fresh. The best option seems to be to go to the botanical gardens. Leiden has, right behind the main university building, a beautiful botanical garden with many plants from tropical regions. On the way Cora shows me an almshouse. Leiden has no less than 35 of them, which are now advertised as places that tourists can visit. Rich people or churches founded them hundreds of years ago to house poor elderly women.In most cases you enter them through a building and then you reach a courtyard around which small houses are built. Usually they are not only very pretty with a well kept garden, but also very quiet and secluded. We look around and try to figure out how large the houses are. We look into one and see it is really tiny. Its inhabitant obviously is not home. A young man, leaving one of the other houses, asks us if we need information. He tells us this is one of the smallest apartments; the others are about double this size. He has now lived here for a number of years. The inhabitants are both students and young workers. He came in as a young worker and expects to leave in a few years. He then will be able to afford a larger house so it will be time to let someone else have his little house.

When we reach the botanical gardens it is time for coffee; we take our time to catch up with each other. In the botanical gardens there are leftovers of an orchid exhibition. There are orchids everywhere of all sizes and colours. I regret not having brought my camera, they are so beautiful. Having marveled at the beautiful, exotic plants in the hothouses we walk through the garden and enjoy the pretty blossoms and the flowers that are already in bloom. Cora points out where she lived while studying at Leiden University.

We can see it from where we are. She lived in Leiden a few years before me. We got to know each other later when both of us lived in Amsterdam . When we leave the gardens it is high time for a lunch in a nearby café. It is too cold to sit outside, unfortunately. During lunch we try to decide if we can go on another vacation together in the late summer or early fall. Last year we went to St Petersburg together and this worked out fine. What can we do this year? Cora forgot to bring her diary so she does not know exactly which dates she has available. Both of us have already quite a few commitments for that period. It will be not be easy to find a time that suits both of us. There are four alternative destinations, all of them in Southern Europe that we might like to visit. But first the dates should be settled. Upon leaving the café we see another almshouse. This one has a plaque with information. It was established in 1650 by Eva van Hoogeveen. It was meant for chaste, elderly women and while living there they were obliged to wash themselves at least once a month. Difficult to imagine!!

It is already halfway the afternoon when we leave this almshouse and slowly walk in the direction of the station. We pass the Frisian baker that was already there in the fifties. They still bake the bread on the spot, including specialties from Friesland (a Northern province of The Netherlands ). We end our day at Leiden with a walk through another historic area that was less accessible in the period when we lived in Leiden. On our way we learn some more facts about the history of Leiden from the plaques that are on some of the buildings. We are very satisfied with a lovely day in Leiden, but our holiday plans still remain to be made.

Many older persons, like Marja and Cora, find themselves living alone. Do you team up with a friend to travel or enjoy the local sights? Tell us about it.

What is our neighborhood magazine for? by Aukje de Vries

The neighborhood where I live has a neighborhood association which is open to all inhabitants. The association also has a magazine, which appears 6 times a year.

According to the statutes of the association the final responsibility for this magazine rests with the board of the association. There is an editorial committee and there are also internal rules which regulate the rights and responsibilities of the editors of the magazine. Now the statutes are a little different than the internal rules, the latter giving the editors slightly more rights. But in the end it is clear that the board has the final say about the magazine. A few months ago we learned there had been a conflict between the board and the editorial committee. The editors had resigned and the board had taken over the magazine.

The first issue with the board as editors was a great improvement in my eyes. The magazine as it used to be was printed on glossy paper, had lots of advertisements of local shop keepers and other independent agents such as lawyers, therapists, real estate brokers and the like. The magazine usually contained very little news of any importance, it was mostly filled with articles about a local shopkeeper whose shop celebrated its 25th anniversary, new trees planted in a street, the problems with sea gulls, which come into the city in the summer and make lots of noise, the history of a building somewhere in the neighborhood, an inhabitant who had written a book about a historic figure, but hardly any news worth knowing. The best read were the few pages filled by the board, where board members informed us of their activities regarding municipal decisions concerning traffic and construction and their negotiations with the city government on these issues.

In recent years the municipalities have taken on considerably more responsibilities for social services and community development. I should like to read about this in our magazine as well as about the many social and cultural organizations which must be active here, but about which I know next to nothing. But none of it. I found the magazine extremely dull and hardly worth reading. In previous meetings of the neighborhood association I had heard some criticism of the magazine, but there were always other members who immediately came to the fore saying it was an excellent production. I never understood why. Now the editorial committee has resigned, but a group of members has requested a special meeting of the neighborhood association to discuss the conflict.

I went to the meeting because I want to support the board and ask for more news in the magazine on social issues.

I don’t think I have ever attended a meeting of the association with so many persons present. There are barely enough seats. The President of the association tells us that the meeting will be chaired by an independent lawyer, if the meeting agrees. The situation is explained. The conflict is a classical conflict between the board of the association and the editors where the board has disagreed with some of the articles of the editors. The editors claimed independence and the maintenance of journalistic standards. The conflict has already existed for quite a while and at a certain stage help has been asked from an independent mediator. Without success.

The chair suggests that we do not go into all the details of the conflict; the positions are clear, it is important that the conflict be solved and the magazine can be continued.

Most of the persons who want the floor nonetheless ask for ever more details about the conflict and the mediation. Although the mediation was supposed to be strictly confidential, we are even informed of what has been going on in that process. When I try to take the floor and want to say that as a reader I am not very pleased with the contents of the magazine, others got a chance to speak first. They praised the editorial committee saying it did such a fine job, we have such a wonderful magazine, possibly the best of the entire city. Applause.

When I finally get the floor the speaker before me has again spoken very positively about the magazine, so I react maybe a bit too directly saying I do not think at all the quality of the magazine is good. I told them that I think it is rather poor and does not reflect what is going on in the neighborhood. I want to read about social issues and about the consequences for our neighborhood of the Act on Social Development. What plans does the local government have for our neighborhood and what do the citizens want? Murmurs but no applause. Someone says: “At least a clear opinion”. It is evident that the majority of the people don’t share my opinion. The meeting continues and closing time of the hall (10.00 p.m.) approaches.

The chair proposes to adjourn the meeting to give both parties, the board and the editorial committee, time to decide how to end the conflict. They get five minutes. They leave the hall and come back 15 minutes later. The outcome of the deliberations is thatthe editorial committee, which has already resigned, will get a big thank you in the next meeting of the association. I am surprised they reached this conclusion so quickly, but agree with the solution.

Next day I get a phone call from Geraldine, a highly qualified and active senior, who is, like me, interested in social issues. She says: I am glad you brought up the Act on Social Development. Geraldine too, feels that our neighborhood magazine was not at all informative. She tells me some stories about the editorial committee. Their policy was to represent the neighborhood as healthy, wealthy and happy in order to make the local shop keepers and entrepreneurs advertise, thinking the inhabitants are their ideal clientele. Therefore the editors did not want to publish any articles on poverty, loneliness, lack of care or other social problems. In the mean time the committee has built up considerable reserves out of the advertisements. According to Geraldine the committee had brought all its friends and relations to the meeting to speak favourably about them; that is why most people made such positive remarks.

Why don’t you write an article for the magazine, Geraldine asks. Because I do not know what is going on socially in this neighborhood, that is precisely what I want the magazine for.

Just wait, I’ll come back to you, Geraldine says. And, knowing Geraldine, I am sure she will. We’ll see.

Clairy by Aukje de Vries

Clairy Polak, a woman in her mid fifties anchors a News show called Nova, which is on public TV six evenings a week after the 10 o’clock news bulletin. A very nice woman with wavy grey hair (hurrah for someone who does not dye her hair!), she’s an excellent interviewer. Interviewees cannot get away leaving her questions unanswered. She knows her subjects; she asks very informed questions about any issue under discussion, however complicated, such as the economic situation. With a charming smile on her face, she keeps probing.

I won’t explain to you how public broadcasting works in The Netherlands, it is too complicated. Let it suffice to tell you that it will be reorganized. Another show, News Hour, will replace Nova. Clairy will not be in this programme.I hate to see her go. It will be a loss to public TV and Clairy does not deserve this. Is it because she is an older woman? There are far too few older women on Dutch TV. I Googled her name and read many comments that label her a leftist and therefore want to see her go. I don’t agree; I think her interviews are fair and objective and meet high journalistic standards.

What can we do? I ask my Older Women’s Group: shall we start an e-mail action? All of us want Clairy to stay. I am advised to first find out if Clairy herself would agree with our action. The broadcasting organisation which employs her, says we need not bother, she will be happy if we do so.

So I prepared a message for organisations responsible for the new programme, saying “Clairy must stay.” We sent copies to most everyone we knew and who might be interested in the issue. A nice result is that some people from whom I have not heard in a long time not only forward our message to the broadcasting organisations, but also come back to me with greetings. Others tell me they will ask other organisations to take action as well.

It is not possible to trace how many e-mails have resulted from our action. However, soon we hear the news comes that Clairy will be an interviewer on the new programme. This new assignment is really more along her line than being the anchor woman. In the media it is said this is because of the reactions of the public and of a TV show. Do they mean us? Did the pay attention to our reactions? We will never know, but Clairy, an older woman and an excellent role model, will stay. And that is what we want.

Have you tried to influence public opinion in a similar way? What were your results?

Travels to the South by Aukje De Vries

A Short Break

March can be nice, but it often is still quite cold; warm spring days usually come later. This time of year I need new energy and I like to go to a sunny place. I asked Martje, my friend from Rotterdam with whom I often travel, whether she might like to join me for a trip to a Southern country. But she only had a few days during which she had no commitments, so it was not worthwhile to go all the way to Italy or Spain. We decided to spend three days in Sluis, a small town in the southwest of the country only a mile from the Belgian border.

The hotel I had booked looked quite impressive and it had a Casino!

We arrived late and went out to discover Sluis by night. It looked like a nice town. It is said to have many “coffee shops” for drug users from Belgium and France, but if they were there, they must be well hidden.

We spent one of the two full days we had in Sluis visiting some small towns in the region. Aardenburg turned out to be a town with some lovely old buildings like a gate and gabled houses but so small…We, big city dwellers are no longer used to houses built on this scale; it looked almost unreal. There was also a large church, which had been restored after WWII.

The next town we visited was a new town. We asked some people in the local bookstore why it was new: they told us the town had been completely devastated towards the end of WWII.

No need to spend much time there, like many new towns it lacked character. We then went into the direction of the beach, had a walk in the dunes and saw a nature reserve, which was a bit disappointing. It had a bird sanctuary and we gazed at the many storks that were there. After a visit to a Belgian sea side resort where we had tea and were offered several goodies, unlike what we are used to in The Netherlands. In the process, I lost - bad luck - the filling of a tooth. We returned to Sluis.

In the evening we had a very tasty dinner at the hotel. We were amazed by one of our fellow-guests, a young man, sitting at the table behind us. Cell phone in hand, lap top on the table and all through the dinner he was making calls and using the computer. It is funny, but people, when using the telephone, speak more loudly than normal. We couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but noticed that he hardly took any time to enjoy his dinner.

The next morning “Mr. Office” was at breakfast as well and working as hard as the night before. This time he also used the hotel’s fax. He ran in and out of the breakfast room with sheets of paper and telephoned quite loudly again. Why? Is work really so important that it never stops? Can any (public) place be used as an office, these days?

Our second day we mostly spent in Belgium visiting several coastal towns (we noticed they differed quite a bit in character) and then we had our last day to take a leisurely trip back home and see several more small towns, among them one that had been especially recommended to us. This town, Groede, was well preserved and had a nice circle of old and not so old houses around a very large church. We wanted to see the inside of the church, but it turned out to be under reconstruction. It looked awful and the workmen who were busy inside told us to get out of there fast. We had had unusually nice weather during our days in Sluis, but on the way home it started to rain. We had been lucky. The trip had been a nice break.

Men’s Emancipation by Aukje de Vries

The Dutch political landscape has changed considerably this week because of three surprising events. We just have had our local elections and in less than 3 months time there will be national elections.

The national elections became necessary because the cabinet fell due to the fact that the two largest parties in the cabinet: the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the Labour Party (PvdA) had had many disagreements over the past three years and disagreed again about keeping the Dutch army in Uruzgan. The PvdA had always said that 2010 was the final year of the Dutch presence in Uruzgan and they did not want to break that promise, whereas the CDA Minister of Foreign Affairs had informed NATO that the Dutch were willing to stay longer. This was unacceptable to the PvdA and they left the Coalition. Over the years it had become clear that the two leaders did not get along very well and had difficulties making compromises time and again.

The Board of the CDA immediately after the fall of the cabinet appointed the Prime Minister of the fallen cabinet as their number one for the coming elections. If the CDA would again become the largest party after the elections, the CDA could form the new cabinet and it would only be logical that this man would again become the Prime Minister.

There were no signs that the leader of the Labour Party intended to give up his position and his party wanted him to stay as well. If both of them remained their party’s leader, it would be virtually impossible for the CDA and the PvdA to collaborate in the next cabinet. Without their collaboration it might become inevitable that the anti-Islam party of Mr. Wilders would become part of the governing coalition, a situation which is likely to be very bad for our country, in the opinion of a majority including me.

The first surprise of the past week was that the Minister of Transport, one of the most promising members of the CDA and a possible successor of the Prime Minister, declared to leave politics. At age 36 he wanted to have more time for his private life and he said that he couldn’t bear the thought of finding himself alone and lonesome at the age of 45 or 50. He and his partner wanted to have more time to start a family.

The second surprise was of a different nature. The founder of the LibDems (D66) passed away at the age of 78. He was a visionary politician and an extremely talented speaker. He was someone who changed the Dutch political landscape. The present D66 leader told on TV he had had until quite recently frequent contacts with him. Alas, D66 and Dutch politics will have to do without him.

The third surprise was the most amazing. Wouter Bos, the leader of the Labour Party called a press conference and announced that he had decided to resign for family reasons. He has three very young children and he wanted to have more time to see them grow up. This came totally unexpected. I heard it while I was at a meeting with my older women’s group and we were shocked by the news. All of us had a very high opinion of Wouter Bos. But what was more surprising still was that he had found a man who was ready to succeed him as a party leader if the party would elect him. This man, Job Cohen, until that moment the burgomaster of Amsterdam, is held in high esteem all over the country (except by Mr. Wilders, who thinks he is too soft on migrants). Mr. Cohen has shown in Amsterdam that he can bring people together instead of driving them apart. I think this has been an incredibly wise move of Wouter Bos, by which he has done a great service to our country. The future of this divided country now looks better than it did before.

But isn’t it incredible that two top male politicians decided to give up their position for family reasons? Have we ever heard this before? Finally men’s emancipation?

Local Elections (2) by Aukje de Vries

The Day of the Elections

Today it is finally the day of our local elections at the Hague. This year they are exceptionally interesting for two reasons. One reason is that on the national level, the cabinet fell two weeks ago and in June there are going to be national elections. The local elections, in which local chapters of most national parties participate, are considered as a predictor of the outcomes nationally. Especially during the last week we have seen quite a lot of our national politicians in the media. The second reason is that the PVV (Party for Liberty) is taking part in two municipalities, one of them being The Hague, where I live. The PVV is the party led by Mr. Geert Wilders, who once was a member of the conservative party but who broke away and began a new party, the PVV. The major issue of this party is to combat Islam. At present he has 9 seats out of 150 in the National Parliament, but according to recent opinion polls he is good for 24 to 27 seats if elections were held now.

What will happen in The Hague? The two policy measures the PVV candidates in The Hague have proposed is to forbid headscarves (worn by many Muslim women) in all public buildings and in any organizations or agencies that receive a subsidy from the municipal government.

The second proposal is to drastically cut back or stop municipal subsidies to social and cultural organizations such as the Symphony Orchestra of The Hague. In this country we have less commercial sponsoring and more government participation in the financing of social and cultural institutions than in, for instance, the USA. Taking away the subsidies from the orchestra and other cultural institutions would probably mean the end of them and that would be a serious loss to the city.

Mr. Wilders is very good at making sweeping statements and attracting a lot of attention from the media, so we have seen and heard much more of him and about him than is justified. It is believed that one of the reasons why he gets such high scores is that those citizens who feel dissatisfied with the government and the traditional political parties vote for the PVV. The way the national government has operated over the past months has been severely criticized by many citizens and this has worked out well for Mr. Wilders and his party. His ideas and his successes are regretted strongly by the traditional parties and by many other citizens, but how to stop him…?. Again tonight, when the results of the elections will be presented on national TV, one of the issues will be how well the PVV has done in The Hague and Almere, the other city where the PVV participates.

I have invited Esther to come and watch the voting outcome with me. It will be a long wait before the results are known of all 391 municipalities and at times it will be quite boring.

I’ll tell you later about the results!

Two Days After Elections

Indeed, the results are about as bad as expected, although most parties say they have done relatively well. There has been a national poll the same day among a representative sample of the Dutch population and local results are continually compared with the outcomes of the national poll. In the Hague, the PVV has become the second largest party with 8 seats out of 4; in Almere the PVV is now the largest party. Will we never be able to wear a headscarf anymore? By way of protest some Dutch women wore headscarves on the day of elections.

Good for them!

Both the parties, which were in the cabinet that fell two weeks ago, have lost seats. However, the Labour Party has done better than in earlier national polls, so they are optimistic about the June elections, but the Christian Democrats have lost, both in the national poll and locally.

The real tragedy has occurred in the Socialist Party, the SP. This party has had for many years a very talented and charismatic politician as a leader. Two years ago he was succeeded by a woman, Agnes Kant, who is a very alert politician and has had a great impact on the care policies in The Netherlands. In my opinion she really had excellent ideas about how to organize care. But now that she has become the party leader it is obvious she does not have her predecessor’s charisma. In fact in her presentations she seems to overact, to be always angry and even though she may have good arguments, she does not always manage to get them across, because of her presentation. The results of her party are not good locally and in the national poll her party loses more than half of its seats.

The day after the elections Agnes Kant resigns. I have never seen her with such a pale face and such a timid presentation. She says she has made this decision in the interest of her party. It is her own initiative. Nobody has asked her to go. From the other party members we hear they all like and support Agnes and regret her resignation. I have seldom seen so many warm feelings being expressed about a political leader. But Agnes has decided to go. Her predecessor cannot keep back his tears while talking about her. Agnes has not deserved this, because she has worked day and night for her party.

It is called leadership that she has recognized her shortcomings. This cannot be said of some of our other national leaders. I will miss Agnes.

In the municipalities the negotiations about the local government have started. The PVV leader for the Hague has literally promised to drive the political establishment crazy. We will have rough times in The Hague.

Questions: Do you face similar issues in your country? A party that focuses on a minority issue or group to win votes? A politician’s personality that overcomes the valuable contribution she or he has made? A candidate who has a difficult time debating in a public forum?

Friends from Long Ago by Aukje de Vries

I usually send a Christmas card with a circular letter to friends and relations whom I have known for a long time but whom I don’t see regularly. Some of my friends call it my annual report. Whatever it is, I try to give a brief overview of major events during the past year. I have noticed that obviously many highlights have to do with travel.

Some friends send me their circular letter; others just send a card or give me a phone call.

In 2009 this exercise had an unexpected but much welcomed effect.

A cousin of mine, who has moved to England and whom I haven’t seen for at least 20 years suggested in her message to exchange news by telephone. I had the feeling we had more or less lost contact. Our lives had taken a very different course, but when her card arrived (the privatized postal services hadn’t worked very well: her card reached me by the end of January) I immediately let her know that I was delighted to speak to her on the phone and gave her my number. Had I had hers, I would have called her immediately, but I could not find it in the British Directory.

The other surprise was a phone call from a friend I had known while I was in University, but with whom I had had more contact when we both lived in Amsterdam. During that period she got married and moved with her husband to the eastern part of the country. She raised her family, but due to distances – even though they are small in The Netherlands – we didn’t do more than exchange cards for Christmas and birthdays and have a – fairly rare- telephone conversation. She called me and suggested for us to get together.

This week was special because I first had the phone conversation with my cousin and the day after I met with my friend with whom I had dinner in a restaurant not far from where she lives. It happened to be very convenient becauset I had to go to a conference in the region where she lives.

In both cases there was a lot of information to exchange, but the fact that we had known each other a long time ago, obviously had created a bond and it was easy to pick up where we had left off, years ago. We renewed our friendship.

I have come to realize how important such long time friendships are. It seems to me that it is more difficult to make new friends now, because I get to meet not as many new people as before. I also notice that already quite a few of my good friends have passed away, so the circle of friends gets smaller. Right now I have more time to spend with friends and it is nice to make plans to do things together. I believe my friends have the same experience because I notice that many of them also invest (awful business term!) more in keeping up their social contacts.

Question: Have you also resumed contact with friends from long ago? What are your experiences with them?

Briefing for the CSW by Aukje de Vries

Preparations for the meeting of the CSW are taking place in many countries and The Netherlands are no exception. My older women’s group, which is a member of the Dutch Women’s Council is invited to a meeting in which members of the Dutch Delegation to the CSW will inform the NGOs about their input into the official meeting and side events.

Our country is a member of the European Union (EU) and since Spain has the Presidency of the EU during the first half of 2010, Spain will speak on behalf of the EU. It is not always easy to reach consensus in Europe and we are told that Malta may want to present its own views. Sexual and reproductive health seems to be a contentious issue.

In the Dutch government the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences (OCW) is responsible for emancipation and therefore has the lead in the preparations for the CSW. They coordinate the input from other Ministries.

Several members of the delegation tell us what they want to bring forward in New York.

Reconciliation of work and family life is an important issue. One of our national policy aims is that women are economically independent. Many Dutch women work part time, which means that their husbands are the main breadwinners. It is considered a step forward that many more women than before are active on the labor market, but with part time jobs they are usually not economically independent. There will be more redundancy due to the economic crisis and families with two breadwinners will be less vulnerable.

The Ministry of Health is trying to combat circumcision of women (some migrant girls are prone to being subjected to it, but it is forbidden) and will focus on this. Another issue that the Dutch representatives want to press is that the UN women’s entity be established soon.

Women’s issues will also be dealt with in ECOSOC (the UN’s Economic and Social Council), and we are also informed about the activities that will take place in the ECOSOC context.

Apart from the official meetings there will be many side events during the CSW. We are told there may be as many as close to 200. The Netherlands will take part in at least three: one on unwanted pregnancy, one on lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and one on financing women’s organizations.

It is a tradition in The Netherlands that the government subsidizes NGOs of various kinds, although, since 1961when I started to work in the NGO sector, I have seen many changes. At present the government is considerably less generous than it used to be in the sixties. I am glad to hear that the official delegation speaks out in favor of continuing to support NGOs.

The Dutch Women’s organizations have prepared a paper with 12 recommendations and their content is the next item on the agenda. The members of the government delegation are ready to support most of them.

These recommendations include one about governments supporting women’s organizations focusing specifically on women’s rights and empowerment. The women’s organizations are in favor of a different attitude towards women: too often they are considered as victims. They ought to be considered as actors, as agents of change. This does not only hold for developed countries but more specifically for developing countries. Gender is a priority in Dutch development policies. Women’s rights should be protected, especially in (post) conflict areas.

At the end of the meeting we heard good news from the Ministry: next year there will be a representative of the NGOs included in the Dutch delegation. This decision represents an official recognition of women’s organizations.

Question: Are NGOs in your country subsidized by the government? Do you think it is a good idea to subsidize them?

Housing by Aukje de Vries

I live in a neighbourhood where most houses were built in the nineteen twenties and thirties, but occasionally new houses or apartments are built. The latest project consists of apartments on the grounds of the nearby hospital. Until recently there was a home there for retired deaconesses, who had worked for the hospital. It was a friendly looking building and it had a small chapel with a green cupola. But as the deaconesses died, one after the other, the home was taken down. The hospital wanted to make more money on its grounds so it had these apartments built. On Saturday there is an open house and we can view one of them. Esther and I go there. Not because we want to rent it, but just because we like to see it. We are not disappointed. It is a spacious 3 bedroom apartment. It is furnished and has an open kitchen with the newest gadgets. The houses on the opposite side of the street are not too close and in the back the view of the hospital and its parking is reasonable. I think I could be happy living there, but it is a good thing we are contented with the house where we live, because these apartments are completely unaffordable for us.

Newly built apartments and condo’s are generally very expensive, as I also hear from friends in other cities. My seniors’ organization is actively trying to influence policy makers to build more suitable housing for seniors. Many older people live in larger houses than they need; they want to move to a smaller house or apartment but can’t find such housing is at affordable prices.

A few years ago, when I realized I had to start remodeling and refurbishing the house where I had lived for 30 years, I looked for an apartment, slightly smaller than the house I have now and where it would be easier to stay, in case I became dependent. But I didn’t find anything suitable and affordable.

In the end I decided to start remodeling my present house. Having made investments in it, I might as well stay here as long as I can. Another consideration keeps me here: I have a neighbor, Esther, who has become a very good friend over the years. Further down the street there are two other friends my age (Liz and Jacqui) who also live alone. We see each other from time to time over a cup of tea. We have the implicit understanding that we can call on each other when we need help. Their presence certainly has influenced my decision to stay in the house where I have lived so long.

Question: Do you want to move as you get older and if so, what kind of housing are you looking for? Or, if you stay where you are, what keeps you there?

Local Elections by Aukje de Vries

In a few weeks we will have local elections in the Netherlands. In the local setting we have chapters of most national parties but usually there are also parties that focus on local issues. The chapters of the national parties are often rate on the basis of what their party is doing nationally. Although our municipalities, over the last few decades, have accumulated many more responsibilities, citizens seem to be less interested in local than in national elections.

The organizations of older people in The Hague usually organize a debate with representatives from the major parties around important senior issues.

To be honest, I know little about what is going on in local politics in The Hague.

Major issues revolve around road construction, new buildings, urban renovation and the like. As long as they do not take place in my neighbourhood, I am not very interested. Wellbeing and some parts of long-term care are also among the responsibilities of the city. But I have not yet taken the time to find out what exactly the municipality is doing. It is fairly recent that new responsibilities were decentralized to local government. Maybe the debate will enlighten me about local politics. I still don’t know for which party I will vote.

I get there a bit late and the room is packed! Fortunately there are still a few chairs available.

It is not what I had expected. The representatives of the parties are not asked to present their programmes. Instead, the four seniors’ organizations, which are active in The Hague, begin with a presentation. They have noticed that the programmes of the various political parties pay very little attention to older persons. The group gives an overview of what older people want and expect that the parties will take their ideas into account.

After this overview each subject is dealt with separately. One representative elaborates on one of the aforementioned issues, The politicians are asked to respond. It is a lively debateand the audience can ask questions.

Politicians are careful. They don’t make many promises, but the event makes clear to them that they cannot forget older people. Seniors are an important part of their electorate.

From the discussion it emerges that there are two issues that especially seem important to the people in the hall. In this country there are many legally established procedures by which citizens have the right to be heard about issues that affect them. It turns out that many of those present have experiences with aldermen presenting a plan and telling the people: this is the plan and we are going to carry it out, regardless of what you say. People strongly dislike this behavior. There are practical suggestions as well. For instance, there is one lady with a handicap who is on a panel that is supposed to test road safety for handicapped people. She says that her panel ought to be heard before a reconstruction project is begun and after is is completed. The group politicians is to listen more to the citizens.

Many people spoke up about safety in the neighbourhood where they live. One lady told how she was robbed, the moment she tried to enter her house. Obviously there are many more people who feel unsafe where they live.The second outcome is that politicians should do more to ensure safety in living quarters and on the streets. I am impressed how well the event has been prepared. It has been nice to hear some of our prospective town council members. But I still do not know which party to vote for.

Question: How important is the issue of safety near your home for you? Should this be high on the political agenda or do you think some other local issue is more important?

Neighbourly Help by Aukje de Vries

A few days ago I came home from a walk and saw on the other side of the street a lady who lives on the nearest crossing street, not far from my house. She has lived in this neigbourhood at least as long as I, but we were never formally introduced. I do not even know her name or her house number, but when we see each other we always say hello.

So she did this time, but she hesitated and then crossed the street. She said: “As I was ironing and looked out of the window the other day, when the street was very slippery, I saw you go out, cross the street halfway and then go back. I wondered whether you needed to do your shopping but did not dare go any further because it was too dangerous. Actually while I was ironing I saw a lot of people fall, maybe as many as 18 in just a brief span of time.”

And I said: “Oh how nice of you to think of that, I really appreciate it. But I remember the occasion: I only went back to get my iron contraptions (sorry, I don’t know the proper word in English and it is one of those words you don’t find in an ordinary dictionary) to put under my shoes so I wouldn’t fall.” I told her that I had done a lot of shopping the day before it got so slippery, because I had heard the bad weather forecast and had wanted to be prepared. I again expressed my appreciation of her thoughtfulness and went into the house.

Later that day Esther and I talked to each other and I told her about the event. Same reaction: Esther, too, said: “How nice of her”. But then I started to think. Suppose I really had needed to do some shopping…. It was nice that my neighbour had the awareness that I might have a problem, but without her actually offering any help, my shopping would not get done. Probably she did not know my name like I didn’t know hers, so she couldn’t look up my phone number but she could have seen from her window which house I went into, so if she had really wanted to help she could have come to my door.

Her awareness of a possible problem was a good first step, but why not the second step: actually offering help?

Next time I see her I’ll properly introduce myself and tell her that I will be glad to get her phone call when the streets are slippery again.

Question: Do you offer help to your neighbours when you think they need it, or, in case you are in a position to receive help, do you want to accept it? What is your reaction to an offer of help?

Questionnaires by Aukje de Vries

At least once a week I receive a questionnaire. It seems as if every agency - both for profit and not for profit - wants its relations to evaluate its products, services or whatever with a questionnaire. The senders always assure us: it will only take two minutes to fill it out! What a lousy questionnaire that must be.

I have noticed over time there is a pattern in my annoyance.

Questionnaires ask questions about topics about which I have no opinion. If it is an electronic questionnaire I have to answer these questions and make a choice out of several possibilities or else I cannot go to the next question. The choices I make in these cases do not represent my opinion.

A second possibility is that the questions relate to items about which I do have an opinion, but what I really think is quite often not among the proposed answers. It occurs only too often that here too I am forced to give an answer, which is not really what I think.

A third annoyance is that quite often there are other factors that have a decisive influence on my opinion about the product or service that are not in the questionnaire at all. Sometimes there is a space for remarks, but I have the impression they are seldom recorded, because the answers are dealt with electronically.

The sender, using my response, may believe that he deals with a true judgment but what he has got, has little to do with it.

Still companies and organizations use such responses as the basis for important decisions.

Conclusion: it is a nuisance to receive and fill out such questionnaires and the answers don’t provide the sender with valid information.

Some time ago I decided to boycott all questionnaires as a matter of principle and to inform senders about my objections. Sometimes I get a nice reaction, especially when I also give a more detailed opinion about the product or service, but more often I hear nothing.

Just recently I received a questionnaire (a real simple one, too simple as a matter of fact) from a European organisation, which receives a subsidy from the European Commission (EC). The EC requires the recipients of subsidies to provide certain data. I realized that not answering the questionnaire would work against this organisation, and because I like the organisation I let go of my principles and gave positive answers about issues that didn’t apply to me.

I wrote an accompanying message stating my objections with a copy to all others who received the questionnaire and I got a lot of positive replies.
The organisation will inform the EC of our objections to questionnaires (but it is doubtful whether the EC will listen).

I believe it is time to stop the hype that such poorly designed questionnaires, providing decision makers with faulty information, are necessary for the management of any self-respecting agency! They are a waste of time and money.

P.S. I was trained as sociologist so I don’t object to good questionnaires, used wisely!

Question: Do you believe that we should take action against the abundance of poorly designed questionnaires?

Snow by Aukje de Vries

Hi, I am back as blogger for Global Action on Aging. Maybe you remember that last year I shared with you my experiences as an active older person, living in The Netherlands. I stopped by the time spring came and I was about to go to some conferences abroad and had quite a few travel plans, so I knew I would not be in a position to keep writing for GAA. I still do not have a laptop and even if I had had one, I would not have taken it with me while travelling or on holidays. But the first few months of 2010 seem fairly quiet so I will be glad to have a go at some more weeks of writing about my life here in The Hague.

It is a cold city, I am writing from. We have had an unusually long cold spell, and right now it continues to be around 0 degrees Centigrade, light frost during the night and sometimes a little bit above zero during the day. There has also been snow and rain and a lot of streets are very slippery, covered with snow or ice. My friend and neighbour Esther and I are determined to try our best not to break our bones while going out. Last Friday, when the streets looked a bit better, we did a lot of food shopping, so we don’t have to go out the coming few days.

Yesterday I stayed inside all day because it was snowing, but today I want to go out. I am used to walking or biking about an hour a day. This is a rule of life, which my mother already taught me and I have experienced that I feel better when I get sufficient exercise. Right now I also want to escape from the very dry air in my house, caused by the central heating.

The street is too slippery to walk on so I use a contraption, which I bought years ago. It consists of broad elastic bands to be put around my shoes with iron spikes under the forefoot. Indeed, this works very well when I walk on snow, but on the bare pavement it feels horrible.

Therefore I decide to go to a small park not far from my house, where I usually do not walk, but this time it is nice to go there, the snow is still on the paths and grounds.

Over the weekend there was an article in the newspaper about older people who live in neigbourhoods where the snow is not removed so that older people do not dare go out and are completely dependent on help from neighbours or others, which can be problematic.

Fortunately Esther and I can still manage, even though our street is not cleaned.

Dear Reader, Do you, like me, turn to old but useful tools or “contraptions” to keep you safe outdoors or help you in the home? Please tell me about them. And I am also wondering if you find yourself snowbound and isolated because the authorities have not cleared the streets or roads? How does this make you feel?

Conclusion of Aukje de Vries' Diary

Global Action on Aging thanks Aukje de Vries for sharing her life with us over the last four months via her blog. Aukje has a strong commitment to social justice and according older women and men the respect and material means that we justly deserve. She gave readers a window into her life at home, in her encounters with authorities, in many aging organizations, among her friends, or at the theater, on her bike and at the beach. Aukje spotted injustice among policymakers and bureaucrats and described the careless ignorance of older persons’ needs she encountered. Most importantly, she shared her joys with us. Many thanks, Aukje. Keep up your good work!

Aukje de Vries' Diary Day 69

In the morning I do my grocery shopping and then do some work on the diary. Late in the afternoon Martje comes over. We have to fill out a form on the computer to book our trip to Japan. After we have had some tea with a delicious piece of cake, which Martje has brought, we go to my study. As usual there are some surprises while we fill out the form, but we run into real problems when we try to book a room in the city where the congress will take place. The travel agency does not have any connections in that town, but I have got the names of three hotels recommended by the congress organisers. We try to find them on the internet. The information is limited, although there are many sites on which we can find the hotels, but when we try to book two single rooms the problems begin. The prices are higher than the congress organisers have indicated, we are told that the hotel has no rooms available (could that be because we want single rooms – that has happened to me before), the website says the price may be raised or lowered, so that we do not know what we sign up for and we notice that on most sites we are not connected directly to the hotel but to a booking agency. No wonder this makes it more expensive. It is already quite late when we decide to give up. I’ll get in touch with the congress organisers. I cook a meal and after we have eaten Martje goes home. It will be a short night: one hour less because tomorrow summer time begins.

Aukje de Vries' Diary Day 68

On Fridays my cleaning lady comes. She starts with my study and I do other chores in the mean time. The rest of the day I do work at the computer, nothing worth mentioning happens.

Aukje de Vries' Diary Day 67

Today, finally the Parliament can give its opinion. The opposition is furious. Why couldn’t they participate in making plans, why are the social partners heard before the Parliament? The one substantial measure that the government had in its plan: raising the age for the state pension is now uncertain because of the actions of the trade union. The decision is delayed by half a year and people do not know what is going to happen. When the leader of the fraction of the Christian Democrats says at the beginning of the debate that the government has made a well balanced proposal and that not much can be changed now that an agreement has been reached, this is more than one of the opposition parties finds acceptable. The whole fraction of 9 MPs leaves the room. It is a very unusual move and draws a lot of attention of the media.
The other opposition fractions stay in the room and they all are of the opinion that it is bad that the plans have been made by just a small group of people. All the other 147 MPs had no influence. Is that democracy? The other opposition parties stay in the room and launch fierce attacks with few results. The debate lasts all day until late in the evening. The opposition parties get two of their ideas adopted, but they are only minor additions to the agreement. There is a lot of criticism that the government has not stood firm on raising the age required for the state pension.
I only see part of the debate. I do not have the patience to sit and watch all day long. I have more to do. I wonder though what will happen to health care. I understand that there will be important cutbacks on the allowances people get to pay for their health care insurance. This is bad news for people with a lower income.