Eva Agustin has just graduated in Indonesia in 2021 when she gets the chance to go to the Netherlands to work as a nurse. Once here it is disappointing. Her diploma turns out to be invalid and so she has to study again. She is doing an internship at Zorggroep Drenthe in Assen. As a caregiver, not as a nurse.
According to Eva, she studies for two days and does an internship for two days. She also works two days a week at the care group to provide for her maintenance. The last day of the week she often has other obligations for work or study, such as getting a driver’s license. “I thought, I have no life,” Eva told NOS. “Other people are still free on the weekend, but I’m just working.”
Eva Agustin is one of a group of fifteen Indonesian nurses who have been brought to the Netherlands. They would also receive a relocation allowance of 7,750 euros for this. That won’t happen. The college is also said to have made financial decisions for them, resulting in them receiving an additional tax assessment. “It’s just a very intense experience. I never expected that, but I still had to experience it.”
Eva is now married to a Dutchman, who has nothing good to say about the school and the mediation agency involved. “This is literally just exploitation,” says Michael Zijstra. “You bring them here with promises and what do they get? Nothing.”
Agustin and fourteen fellow students will face the university tomorrow in the court in Breda. “The fact is that so many things were promised. They just have to keep that promise,” says Eva.