Nicolette Kluijver does not agree with the criticism that she has the white savior would hang out. She thinks it is unfair that this is being thrown at her. “It affects me, but I understand.”
It was cringeworthy: Nicolette Kluijver released all kinds of videos last summer showing how she and her lover were cheered by the residents of a poor African village. They built a hotel there and kissed extensively under the watchful eyes of the local residents. Inappropriate, critics thought.
White savior
We are dealing with two here white saviorsit sounded. In other words: Western, often white people who do good things in poor countries, but above all want to be seen as saviors or heroes. “I’m so bad at this kind of: ‘let’s make it about me – white savior philanthropy’,” was the criticism.
Telegraaf journalist Mark Koster joined the criticism. “She had herself filmed crying, surrounded by children running along, whom she picked up and showed off as if she had dug up a treasure,” he wrote.
‘It touches me’
What does Nicolette think of that criticism? “I also read that. It touched me, but I understand the criticism. I do it with the best intentions, the difficult thing about my work is that sometimes bad things are written about you. That’s okay, everyone is allowed to have their opinion,” she says in conversation with the LINDA.
There are obvious doubts about her intentions. “That’s true. I understand that people who saw me cry thought: God, act normal, you look like Mother Teresa. But my emotion was real. The children were very happy with their new uniform: only when they have a uniform can they go to school. That moved me.”
Superior
Why does Nicolette portray all of this in such detail? “I also realize that it sounds quite superior when I say that we train the hotel staff ourselves. Colonial almost. I don’t mean it that way at all. The thing is: it makes me very happy and happy to be able to help people. And I see that they are happy with what is created for them.”
She continues: “The will to do it themselves is there, they can do it too. But if you live in a developing country, it is sometimes useful if someone gives you a push every now and then. And yes, it helps if I post a video, because we could of course use some advertising.”
Gambia
Nicolette continues to post videos about this. “The best part: because of those videos, all kinds of people come to us who also want to contribute to the Gambia project.”
When is the project successful? “If we get enough good reviews and guests next year. Anyone traveling from Senegal to the south will pass through Gambia and visit us. We are aiming for business people passing through or tourists who stay for one or two nights. You should not book with us for a week, that is too long.”
There is nothing to do, except watch birds on a stick. “But the beds are wonderful.”
