She is at peace with the fact that her 8-year-old daughter did not want to come. “She said: no thanks mom, I don’t like sitting on a plane for 10 hours, I find turtles and snorkeling scary, I don’t like mosquitoes and I don’t like the food. So I’ll stay with dad.”
The condition was that her mother brought items for the orphanage she was planning to visit. “The crew and supporters have collected all kinds of useful items such as clothing, toys, flour, rice and toiletries that they can use there,” says Marloes.
Will she stay home next year? “No way! I’m going to request a tropical destination again. This was the most special Christmas ever for me with my mother, one I will never forget. Working during Christmas is really wonderful.”
Rimalda also consciously chose to go to Paramaribo during Christmas this year, to celebrate the holidays with her ‘second family’, whom she met thirty years ago while working for KLM.
“While I was still working as a ground stewardess, I met Michel and Cynthia at the check-in desk. A seemingly small detail formed the beginning of a special bond: the ring I wore. Michel immediately recognized it and asked if it was from Lebanon. That turned out to be true. They lived half the year in Suriname and Lebanon,” says the stewardess, who herself has roots in Lebanon. “I’ve spoken to them every day since that first meeting.”
“He invited me, if I ever went to Lebanon, to discover the country with them. For me that was special: I was adopted and until then I had hardly met people who knew my country of origin.”
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