Margaret Rijkijkhuizen: “I live in a garden house near Haarlem. I am there three-quarters of the year, because I am often in the United States, where my children and grandchildren live. “It is paradise here. I like living in nature, I enjoy the peace and quiet. But it is a kind of luxury camping, with septic tank and butane gas. For example, my gas bottle is now almost empty. It's a bit alternative.
“I live on my state pension that's it, approximately 15,000 euros per year. But that's enough. I'm 77 and I don't need anything. I also spend very little on food. I buy onions, garlic and some vegetables. That's all I eat, I'm a vegetarian. I think it's fantastic to see how you can live with almost nothing.
Opera singer
“I actually wanted to be an opera singer. That dream didn't come true, but I do sing a lot. I mainly do that in scratches, choirs that are put together for one concert. That suits me well, because I am often abroad.
“When I was 23, I went on holiday to the US. I ended up staying there for 26 years. I got married there and had five children. When I was 44, I went to college. I then did a master's degree in second language education methodology.
“I then gave language and computer courses to companies, both in the US and after my return to the Netherlands in 1995. I have also been teaching language to refugees for thirty years as a volunteer.
“Right now I spend almost all my time on a charity project for Yazidis. From September to December I was in a refugee camp in northern Iraq teaching English to Yazidi girls. I will now continue with my project from the Netherlands and I want to go back to Iraq in April.
“In April last year I attended a screening of Daughters of the Sun in the Filmschuur in Haarlem. That documentary about nine Yazidi girls made a big impression on me. The Yazidis traditionally live in and around the Sinjar Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan. They have their own culture, language, religion. In 2014, there was a major genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State. Many men were killed, girls were taken as sex slaves.
“Since the fall of the IS caliphate in 2016, many of these girls have been in refugee camps around the Iraqi Kurdish city of Duhok, although three thousand girls are still missing.
“After that documentary ended, I spoke to some of the young women featured in it. I asked: what is your biggest challenge now? We can't study, they said. Then I came up with a plan in five minutes. I thought: I want to teach them three things, English, computer skills and music. And I'm going to do that myself. I have the background, the expertise, the time, the health.
“I really wanted to go for at least a year. What I wanted to get off the ground was that English lessons would be given five times a week in all fourteen camps near Duhok, for a longer period of time. Then, together with a few other people, I founded a private organization, the NGO Yazidi@School.
“I left for three months in September. I lived in the camp itself, in a container. There was no curtain. Then, at my request, they nailed a piece of cloth to the window.
Opposition
“My plan was to go another six months after Christmas. But I encountered a lot of resistance from the local foundation that is responsible for all the camps. It didn't work out at all. After a month they had not yet arranged a classroom for me to teach. The chairman of our NGO said at the end of September: come back. I stayed until December to do the most I could.
“It wasn't easy, but I never thought: what have I gotten myself into? I just thought: who am I to dare to complain? These people have been through so much!
“In the end I was able to do quite a lot of good. Since mid-November I have been able to teach in my bedroom. I did what I could. We also delivered five hundred recorders and sixty harmonicas to the camp through a campaign. A fellow teacher brought it with her in a suitcase. And she taught recorder lessons. I have given away clothes, books and a printer and money in envelopes for the poorest of the poor.
Fundraisers
“Since my return, I have continued to be busy working for the Yazidis, including with collection campaigns for old smartphones and tablets and English-language booklets and games. I am also looking for teachers who can teach English online and am trying to convince a larger organization to offer English lessons in the camps. I guide young Yazidi refugees from a kind of motherly role. I encourage them and advise them, for example if they want to study in the Netherlands. And right now I'm busy promoting the upcoming Yazidi Genocide Survivors Conference on January 26 in Amsterdam.
“I'm just an older woman who follows her heart. It's really wonderful to be a parent. I have much fewer insecurities than when I was younger. The body is a bit rickety. When I wake up, it takes a while to warm up… but the mind is young, the heart is young.”
#39It39s #wonderful #parent39
