How it all started.

In the school year 2004-2005 I was one of the first teachers to receive a performance

review... exciting.... The last question the deputy director asked me was: "What would you

like to do in your life?" My answer was that I really wanted to work abroad once. To which he

responded with: "I hate people who say at every birthday party that they want to work

abroad, but every birthday they are still in the Netherlands... they just don't go!"

Conclusion: Now I have to take steps! 

Coincidentally (does coincidence exist?) I came across a stand of the V.S.O. (Volunteer

Services Overseas) at festival Mundial that year. I talked to the people there for a long time.

A few weeks later there was an advertisement in the newspaper that the V.S.O. was looking

for volunteers to teach teachers. One of the countries was Ghana. I decided to implement my

plan to work abroad. Encountering the V.S.O. twice in a row, so shortly after each other, that

could no longer be a coincidence! 

In August 2006 I left for Ghana with my motorcycle helmet (driver's license obtained at the

age of 47) and 2 well-filled suitcases. I ended up in Sandema in the Upper-East Region, a

poor region in the far north of Ghana, about 25 kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso.

There I met Chief Afulang of Siniensi. We worked closely together and when I left for the

Netherlands after 3 years, he asked me to come back and set up a school for children with

intellectual disabilities. 



I was immediately enthusiastic, although it took another 11 years before I left for the second

time!