When Zinzi Niesen from Gemert was only four years old, she already had one big wish: to donate her hair to a child who is bald due to cancer. But they can’t make a wig from a mini ponytail, so Zinzi had to let her hair grow until it was long enough. On Tuesday the time finally came and the scissors went into her long locks. “I want to help sick children,” says Zinzi firmly.
Zinzi is now 9 years old and on Tuesday she walked into class at her primary school De Samenstroom with wobbly knees. That’s where it was going to happen, under the watchful eye of the entire group 5. Zinzi’s hair was now seventy centimeters long and was cut to her shoulders. “I find it a bit exciting,” she says. “But it’s also nice that it’s coming off, because it’s going to be quite heavy.”
For four years, Zinzi has been thinking about donating her hair. “I want to help sick children,” she says shyly. “When I was four years old I saw a child with cancer on TV. I wanted to help them.” Zinzi really wanted to give her hair to that child, because it would grow back anyway. But she was still too young and only had a very small tail.
Zinzi didn’t go to the hairdresser for four years so her hair could grow long enough. One day after her ninth birthday, the moment arrived. The teacher first made two braids. Then it was up to Zinzi’s sister Djill (7) to cut the braids. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”, the children in the classroom counted down. And then the scissors really went in.
Zinzi donates her braids, which are over forty centimeters long, to the Haarwensen foundation, which will turn them into a wig for a sick child. In addition, Zinzi also raised more than 2,850 euros, which the foundation can use to make even more children happy with a wig.
Zinzi still has to get used to her new haircut, but her mother is very proud. “Long, short, it doesn’t matter. I think they’re both super cool,” says Karin Niesen. In any case, Zinzi has already infected her parents. “I can’t say when yet, but another haircut moment is coming for me,” her mother laughs.