Otto Ouderkerk can now sit in a wheelchair himself after a serious bicycle accident, but the will to remain involved as a volunteer with the Ukrainian refugees on Bovenmaatweg remains strong. When he has his life back on track, he wants to continue helping the people who have been taken care of. At the same time, people with a disability can teach him how to use the wheelchair better. “We can now be a roller buddy from a walking buddy.”
Just after Otto had given a new direction to his life, things went completely wrong. De Huizer wanted to do more for his fellow man. Giving more social meaning to what he does. That was a clear calling, which he responded to last year.
After consultation with his employer, Otto decided to quit his job last year so that he could devote more time to society. In the meantime, he received compensation from his boss and started a coaching trajectory. At the end of September was his last day with his boss, a week later Otto’s world suddenly looked very different.
In the meantime, the Huizer had also started as a volunteer in the shelter on the Bovenmaatweg. Until this autumn, it is the place where the municipality will accommodate a group of about sixty Ukrainians, many of whom have a disability. He had been walking around there for several months as a member of the handyman team.
Formiliar face
It took a while before Otto was known to the residents. That was also because he was often present in the house, but when he did odd jobs in the rooms, it always happened when the residents were not there. Over time, the residents began to recognize him and the same thing happened the other way around. Slowly but surely, the group embraced him and the refugees had long since crept into his. “You become a familiar face. In the long run you laugh together and you grow up together,” he says about it.
Otto started to do more and more. He also sometimes went out with one of the residents: Iryna Nesterenko. Have fun with this shy Ukrainian, who is in a wheelchair. He enjoyed it, especially because the attention he gave had a visible effect on the woman.
Serious accident
After a few hours on the road with Iryna on October 4, Otto gets on his bike. Quickly get some groceries and then go home. But he never makes it to the supermarket. In a gentle bend on the Schokker he slides away with his mountain bike. Otto falls face down on a pole and breaks his neck. Since then he has a high spinal cord injury, is in a wheelchair and the man who liked to play a guitar has lost his touch.
“It happened in a split second. It was intense. I was lying on the floor and saw blood coming out of my nose. I thought: just stick a plaster. I wanted to pull my left hand out from under me, but I couldn’t. Then I knew I immediately: this is serious,” he remembers from the first moments after the accident.
New reality
He was in intensive care for two weeks. Otto then went to a rehabilitation center in Amsterdam, where he received several treatments every day. He was there until the end of March. He has now been in Theodotion in Laren for some time and is slowly kicking into the realization of his new reality.
Besides having to learn to live in a wheelchair, he is especially concerned about his financial situation and his son. His income changed after he left his employer and the bicycle accident happened four days later. He now has to pay for his place in Laren and his home in Huizen, where his son also lives. He won’t be doing that for much longer. “This is a problem I can’t solve on my own,” he says with concern.
Money box for Otje
Friends of Otto Ouderkerk have started a crowdfunding campaign for him. Under the motto Potje voor Otje, they are trying to raise 10,000 euros for their mate. They can’t take away the spinal cord injury, but with their action they hope to take away some of Otto’s worries.
“His future is still a big question mark. What we do know is that certain things cost a lot of money. If it is soon clear where he can live, we hope that he has a budget, so that things can be realized in the field of care or that there are things can be adjusted,” reads his friends’ message on the Go Fund Me website.
House and hearth
He immediately links his own problem back to that of the Ukrainians. They spent a long time debating whether they could stay in Huizen as a group. They will have to leave the Bovenmaatweg next autumn because care homes really have to be built here. The group wants to stay together and in Huizen.
All this has caused a lot of uncertainty and unrest among the Ukrainians, even though they have already had to leave home and hearth behind in connection with the invasion of Russia. That worries Otto, although the news came out on Thursday that a temporary new place for the group has been found, a little further on the Ellertsveld.
“The first evening I was there again, I cried with tears”
One thing is certain: Otto has not given up. “I want to get my life back on track,” he says firmly. The residents of the Bovenmaatweg give him hope and courage to continue. He sees them as his source of inspiration, because they show him that you can still do anything, even if you have a disability. He wants to learn from that. For example, various residents can show him how to use his wheelchair and then go out together.
Back on the Bovenmaatweg
He himself wants to come back as a volunteer. He still has that social vocation. He has now visited the Bovenmaatweg a few times. That took a while, especially because of the long rehabilitation process that he had to endure.
At the end of April they saw each other again for the first time after that day in October last year. It was an emotional reunion for everyone. Not only did Otto find it difficult, but his accident also had a major impact on the residents. “The first night I was back, I was crying tears.”
It is clear to him that it is friendship for life. In addition to mountains of food, he was showered with love. “It was like coming home.”