It is a small place on the edge of Borger. Two caravans, a crooked terrace, stones that have to be shifted every season, trees that are close to the cars. And yet: this is at home, for Witte Fem and her husband this place means everything. But the love they feel for their culture and way of life does not seem appreciated by everyone. “Not from the municipality, not from the rules and that hurts,” says Fem.
“We have been living in Borger since 2017, before that at the caravan camp in Emmen,” says Fem. “When we came here, there was room. There were five caravans and there was no waiting list. And now? Now there are ten people on the waiting list, half of which are not a caravan dweller, and there are only two caravans left.”
The pain of not being taken seriously by the municipality is deep. “It seems like we don’t matter,” she says. “As if we are a remnant of the past, something that should disappear slowly.” While culture was recognized in 2014 as an intangible cultural heritage. “That should mean something.”