Daytime activities Kwekerij Osdorp threatens to disappear: “Only place where I feel at home”

Employees of the Amsterdam nursery Osdorp are concerned about the continued existence of daytime activities. The daytime activities of Landzijde, the organization to which the nursery falls, threatens to be cut by more than half due to the new tendering round. “It really feels like a nightmare.”

“I really enjoy working here,” says Chas Cooman while picking tomatoes. “If I don’t feel like talking to people for a while, I go to the back to pick tomatoes and keep myself aloof. And if I do feel like talking to people, you have plenty of opportunity here. It’s nice to talk to people.” are those who have experienced a bit of the same.”

The daytime activities of Kwekerij Osdorp work for people who do not easily keep up with the regular labor market, for example due to addiction or psychological problems. In the new tender round, it has been provisionally decided that Landzijde’s daytime activities should be reduced by more than half. That would mean that this location will have to disappear.

Neighborhood teams

According to Hillie Faber of Landzijde, this would mean that about seventy to ninety people a day would have to look for a new place. “People who come to us are often homeless or have addiction problems, for example. Here we look at what people can do and they can work in peace and space. It is very important that such a place exists in the city,” she says.

It is not yet known where the employees who now work in the nursery will have to go. The municipality of Amsterdam does say that it will focus more on daytime activities in neighborhoods and districts, in which the neighborhood teams will play an important role.

Chas doesn’t like that. “I can say in any case that I will not be working in the area. People do not need to know where you come from and what you have experienced. Many people here have a backpack and then it is nice to be able to be a little further away here in peace If we really have to get out of here it would be a nightmare.”

The council emphasizes that no final decision has been made yet. Landzijde can lodge an objection until at least 7 October.

ttn-55