The dream of Robert Martens is located on the Tilburg Hill. With fifteen enthusiastic volunteers he has built a skating rink: ‘Tilburgs Winterparadijs’. Fun for everyone, but especially for children of parents with a tight budget. Robert allows them for free: “Because every child should be able to enjoy.”
The entrance is seven euros. But through organizations such as the Food Bank, homeless shelter Traverse and the foundation Het Vergeten Kind, Robert has distributed ‘somewhere between five hundred and one thousand’ tickets to children of parents with a tight budget.
With such a ticket, the children can choose skates for free, get on the ice and grab a drink in the café next door. There it is warm and après-ski music blares from the speakers.
Robert worked as a janitor at the school and saw how it was difficult for some children to join fun activities: “I heard it in the corridors and saw it at youth work in the area. The fair, for example. Many people couldn’t go there because they don’t have enough money. Then you have to do something, don’t you?”
“They should not withdraw from society, then things will go wrong.”
So Robert started a budget fair for families with a tight budget in his district of Broekhoven. “I thought of my own children and grandchildren who can do that a little easier. But a child is a child, right? Can’t we do something together? They should not become lonely and withdraw from society, because then things will go wrong.”
Along the ice rink, Robert catches his eye on a man with a group of children. “They come from Eritrea. I saw them sitting there and they thought it was such a great thing. But financially it was not possible. So I gave them all a ticket so they can skate and enjoy themselves.”
The children are all members of the Tilburg hockey team Panda, the only hockey team consisting of refugee children. They have skated together with the whole team once before, but enjoyed it so much that they can now come back again.
“I’ve skated twice before, I don’t think it’s cold.”
Terhas (11) in particular enjoys it: “I’ve skated twice before. And no, I don’t think it’s cold.” She goes on the ice with her friend and teammate Ksaet (12). When asked if they can do it a bit, they nod confidently yes.
When the children drive away hand in hand, Robert looks after them endearingly: “These children come from a very warm country and I don’t think they have ever seen ice cream”.
The skating rink is now there for the second time. And Robert hopes to be able to do it again next year: “We hope that the municipality will sign a contract with us for more years. Then we have a basis and we can move forward.”
The Tilburg Winter Paradise is still there until Sunday.
