Abdelhamid fights the inequality of opportunity in his neighborhood on all fronts

“We are now winning because the impact we are making is really visible,” said an enthusiastic Idrissi on the other end of the phone line. “The innovation challenge, the embrace prize, the Hélène de Montigny prize, And so on. But we win all those prizes because we have taken the time from our ‘Study Halls’ foundation to really understand inequality.”

Poverty

“The basis of inequality is real poverty, in the broadest sense of the word. Poverty in finances, poverty in vocabulary, lack of communication skills. The children who come to us have such a great disadvantage and insecurities, and in all We have started experimenting with a different solution for these individual issues, and we have succeeded in doing so.We now have 47 study rooms spread over the most vulnerable districts of Amsterdam and Zaanstad-West with 1,400 children, and another 2,000 children on the waiting list. “

“Over the past ten years, we have needed to understand the dynamics of the issues. What are the dreams and wishes, but also the concerns of the child and the family. To understand that, you have to be in the middle of the families. not from the side. It all starts with getting the trust of the family. We invest in that every day.”

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“I used to be able to use the role model such as study rooms. Not necessarily for homework guidance, but more for the network and all the advice we give to the children. I come from a small family, where my parents, despite the fact that they don’t broad, be there for me. That attention is really the most important thing.”

ahead

“In the difficult moments in my youth I could lean on my parents. This allowed me to flourish, my father was the coach I needed. I try to be the same for the 1400 children with us. I also want to pass on all the life lessons to them that I have received from my environment. For example, how do you say ‘no’ to someone in a nice way or how do you get an internship? That kind of advice is worth gold. This way we give them a head start, instead of a disadvantage.”

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“I went to study architecture, because that’s where the opportunities lay. It was a strategic idea. But I found it terribly difficult, I quickly noticed that I was really behind in terms of vocabulary and network. Thanks to my perseverance I made it. I saw countless guys like me lose weight because they didn’t have a coach like that.”

“Inequality in the neighborhood has really increased over the past ten years. I see that there is much more stress at home. That is why I also want to invest more in the parents and brothers and sisters. The child is central to us, it must flourish. And what is needed for that? The child itself of course, but also rest with the parents and rest in the house. So we have to take a much broader approach. We start with the child, but then help the whole family. The family should no longer stress, but should excel. And then the ball can roll the other way, and they can get out of poverty.”

“In the future, we want to expand our impact even more. By inspiring and advising with all kinds of other organizations and individuals. For example, we now have plans to create a new supermarket ‘Fresh’ to alleviate poverty. All children can You can find countless important products, from bread to shampoo. You can ‘buy’ it all there, because of course we give it away for free. That really works as a daily ‘de-stresser’ for families living in poverty.”

“A family is helped very briefly with only a training or one-time gift. My advice is to continuously think about how to make the other structurally self-reliant. But if you really want to have a chance in life, you are always welcome with us.”