Wassan from Baghdad has ‘a mother in Alkmaar’ with volunteer Tineke: “She is smiling again”

In a terraced house somewhere in Alkmaar-Noord, children aged almost two and five play with cars and Lego. “Shall we clean up?” asks Mother Wassan. But then a woman appears outside the window. “Tineke”, coos the boy. He runs to the front door with his sister.

For a year now, Tineke (69) has been coming home to the family once a week, by bike from Oudorp. The Alkmaar woman has thirty years of experience in childcare, is a mother of three herself and is now a volunteer at Humanitas. “I retired and my daughter told me about the Home-Start project. This helps young or inexperienced mothers and families. Because finding your way here is quite difficult. Especially for a woman from abroad.”

‘School works differently in Iraq’

Wassan was born in Baghdad. By chance she comes into contact with her husband, who has been working and living in the Netherlands for years. “His mother saw me in the dental practice where I worked, with my sister in Kirkuk. She thought I was suitable for her son. I only spoke to him online at first and my heart started beating faster. I had never experienced that before,” she beams in everything she says.

The two meet, fall madly in love and get married in Iraq, but later also in the Alkmaar Langestraat, on the famous stairs. “When I moved to the Netherlands I was expecting our son. Soon he was born. I immediately noticed that things work a bit differently here.”

Especially the language is a barrier. And with a man who works constantly, making contacts is difficult. Fortunately, through the consultation office, she gets someone to help her learn to read. “And he called us in again when a second child was born,” says Tineke.

We are sitting at the table in Wassan’s kitchen. The volunteer sees how some women struggle to connect in the Netherlands. “In Iraq, for example, children do not go to school until they are six or seven years old and parents do not get involved. Here everyone is in an app group and there is a lot of contact with the teacher. I helped her with that. “

Below is an example of such a ‘Dutch mistake’ that Tineke helped with: feeding the ducks.

“She helps me with the language, we go to the store together, drink coffee and when I want to apply she is in the background. If I don’t dare, Tineke says: no, help, just ask,” says Wassan.

Finding work here is more difficult than expected. “I am a very positive woman and during the first year I thought: I am going to apply. They said that my completed biology studies and work experience as a teacher and in a dental practice were good, but my Dutch was too bad. It made me insecure.”

View the report here. “I’ve seen her blossom.” Text continues

“You can achieve a lot with very small tips,” explains Tineke. She not only guides families with someone who has emigrated from another country. “Even mothers who have had three children in a short space of time, with a man who offshore works. Another has moved from Groningen to North Holland.”

These young families are often fed with opinions of ‘you’re not doing it right’, people at a distance who think something about how you approach it, she says. “As a result, a mother can feel very insecure. A little attention can already help. I myself am now learning a lot about other cultures. I feel useful during my retirement. I fully participate in society and immerse myself in all kinds of new things.”