Mayor Annemarie Penn-te Strake of Maastricht wants to help and offer support to the neighbors of 9-year-old Gino van der Straeten. “If people want to go to the silent march in Kerkrade on Wednesday, we might be able to organize something. Because many people don’t have their own transport.”
According to Penn, neighbors would like to do something in Maastricht. “We’re going to see if the family is okay with that.”
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Countless questionsDozens of local residents gathered at the Mariaberg community center in Maastricht on Monday evening. They talk and ask questions about the death of their neighbor, 9-year-old Gino. Many of them knew the little boy from an early age and let it be known that countless questions were running through their minds. The event was organized by welfare agency Trajekt, and was attended by, among others, Penn, who expressed support for the residents.
Familiar face
Gino often played outside and was a familiar face on the Gildenweg in the old working-class district in the Limburg capital. He lived there alone with his mother. Because of her illness, she was no longer able to care for him, so that the boy went to stay with an older sister of his in Kerkrade about two weeks ago. To never come back to his house in Maastricht.
‘Everyone helped’
The people in his neighborhood miss his familiar face. “He means a lot to the people here,” Penn said. “Everyone helped raise him. This is a very close-knit neighborhood with a great sense of community.”
Don’t just let it disappear
According to her, Gino came to play in the community center every Wednesday. “You also notice that in the people: Gino is from here. They have the feeling that it is happening somewhere else. There is a great need not to just let him disappear. We’ll see if we can help. But you can’t handle the grief just take it away.”
Also read: Grieving among children in the Gino case: ‘Listen carefully’