Churches throughout the Netherlands will ring their bells for five minutes this afternoon at 4:20 p.m. The chimes can also be heard in Drenthe for rooted children.
This action draws attention to the position of the 420 children who grew up in the Netherlands, go to school here and are rooted in the area, but for whom it is not certain whether they will be allowed to stay in the Netherlands.
The time of 4:20 pm was deliberately chosen and refers to the 420 (also read as twenty past four) rooted children.
The whistleblowing is an initiative of the organization of Kerkasiel Kampen. The Babayants family lives in the church in the Overijssel city. Parents Alexandr and Karina and their children Aram, Ariana, Amelia and Alexa have been in the Netherlands for more than ten years and lived in the asylum seeker center in Emmen for eight years.
They went through the procedure for a residence permit, but did not receive one. The Uzbek family has been receiving church asylum in Kampen since November 2024. Because there is a continuous church service, the family cannot be deported.
With this bell campaign, the organization not only wants to shed light on the situation of the Babayants family. But in particular, also strengthen the voice of all 420 rooted children in the country who are in a similar situation.
770 churches and faith communities have registered to make a joint sound. “We didn’t think it would be so big,” says Joshua Prins of the organization. The goal was to have a bell tolled for every rooted child in the Netherlands, that number has more than doubled.
Prins says that the Uzbek family is happy with the action. “A lot of people come to see them at church, but it is very difficult for them to make their voice public.”
Dozens of church bells are rung in Drenthe, including in Odoorn and Emmen. The people of the churches feel closely connected to the Babayants family and regularly go to Kampen to offer support.
Joke Brederveld from the Grote Kerk in Emmen says it is important to ring the bells because the uncertainty for the children continues to persist. “For all those children unknown to us for whom life has come to a standstill.”
