A word from Achmea employees
The EVE Foundation supports young people between the ages of 14 and 24 who have lost one or both parents.
Just imagine. One of your parents dies. Then you lose your close mate you could always ask your questions. Who had answers and helped you find your own direction in life. Every year, over six thousand minors lose one or both parents. Approximately 65,000 young people grow up without a father and about 38,000 young people without a mother. The loss of a parent should not happen, but it does happen, including within Achmea!
Nina lost her father
It all started very well. Heleen and Jan met at Achmea and worked happily together in the same team for 14 years. Just after she started working for Zilveren Kruis seven years ago, she received a worrying phone call from the hospital, asking if she could come straight away. Her husband had become unwell and was still unconscious. The seriousness of it all did not dawn on her and she told the caller that it would take her an hour to get there from Zwolle. “There were doctors and nurses in the ICU, but no one was doing anything. I saw Jan lying there hooked up to all kinds of equipment. I literally asked: ‘What exactly am I looking at?’ To answer that question, they took us to the family room... Jan died the following day from the effects of an aneurysm in his head.
For Heleen and her children, this was an immense loss and a very poignant experience. Daughter Nina can still remember the day her father died. She thinks about it every day. “I was 12 years old and in the 8th grade in primary school. It was a sunny April day and the weekend was about to begin. My primary school teacher asked if I could stay for a while after class. I had no idea what was going on and was even convinced that I was being punished. Until the bell finally rang at three o'clock, all I could do was try to think of things I might have done wrong. When my little brother and his teacher joined us, it soon became clear to me that this was not about punishment after all. We were told that Papa was in hospital. I don't know how long we waited there, in the hospital, in that little room. It felt like an eternity, not knowing whether the doctor, who could walk in at any moment, was coming with good or bad news. Finally, that time came — the time when they delivered the bad news.
Mum wanted to tell me and my little brother herself. There we were, sitting on a large stone in front of the hospital. Papa would never wake up. And when I had said goodbye to him that morning before school, it had become a good-bye forever.” Heleen, who describes herself as perhaps a down-to-earth Frisian, says that she did not think support was necessary at the time. However, she would have liked to be in contact with other women who, like her (she was 38), had been widowed at a young age. She did not know anyone with the same experience. The same was also true for the children. She often felt like ‘that widow’. “Everyone knew our story, and although we are the main characters, we are not our story. We are so much more than that!”
Anne lost het father
Anne Buijsrogge is the eldest daughter of Marc Buijsrogge, who worked as a heart surgeon at Utrecht University Medical Centre. Anne also talks about it. "Over a year and a half ago, when I was 15, my father passed away at the age of 48. It came very unexpectedly. I found him lifeless on the sofa when I came home from school one Wednesday afternoon. One of the people you love most in the world is suddenly ripped from your life without notice. That terrible event is something I have carried with me all my life. It’s like a backpack full of bricks that I would rather take off. I feel like I have grown up so fast these past 18 months. Much faster than other people my age.
I am now much more selective in who I do and do not want to associate with than I was before. My inner circle has become much smaller, because I find it harder to connect with people my own age. Young people who have not experienced this do not know how to behave. This has made me feel lonely a lot.”
The EvE Foundation has been important for Anne to talk about her loss. When asked what EvE has done for her, Anne answers resolutely. “The loneliness I felt, because I felt different, was softened by EvE. That was because there were children my age there who had gone through the same thing as me. But everyone has their own way. No one judges each other, everyone listens and tries to learn from other people’s stories. If you cried it was okay, if you didn’t cry it was okay. The group really gave me wisdom. For example, I used to get very pissed off when someone would compare the grief over their dead cat to the grief over my father, until I learned from someone at EvE that you should not compare grief. That is an unwinnable battle, which is better avoided."
William van Gerwen
And then you are diagnosed with ALS...
William van Gerwen says: “One of my best friends, Dragan Thijssens, was diagnosed with ALS last year. Dragan, 47, a former professional footballer for FC Eindhoven, is married to Renate and father of Julius (16), Roos (12) and Bibi (5). What started with some loss of strength in his right arm due to what was then thought to be a pinched nerve, resulted after tests in November 2020 in the terrible diagnosis of ALS – a progressive, incurable muscle disease.
The average life expectancy is 3 to 5 years, depending on various factors. Unfortunately, he had already had experience with muscular disease. When Dragan was 18 years old, he lost his brother to another incurable muscle disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Despite all the suffering, Dragan is a very positive, strong and social person, driven to make the most of life.
With the help of friends and relations, one of Dragan’s biggest dreams recently became a reality: setting up a foundation. The name of the foundation is: ‘ALS we er voor gaan’. The name was chosen in honour of Dragan’s mission to raise as much money as possible for children with a muscular disease. The money will be used, for example, to buy modified playground equipment or support devices. The foundation wants to raise as much money as possible through sponsorship, donations and events.
Every donation helps the foundation in its mission to purchase as many toys and as much equipment as possible for children with a muscular disease. The Achmea Foundation has donated an amount of €4,000 to the ALS we er voor gaan Foundation. Half of this amount was raised from Achmea colleagues through crowdfunding on the Voor Elkaar platform. The other half comes from the Achmea Foundation.
Timo van Voorden
Directievoorzitter Achmea Corporate Relations & Partnerships
What is Timo doing in Rwanda?
Timo van Voorden, CEO of Achmea Corporate Relations & Partnerships, will use his so-called vitality leave to evaluate an Achmea Foundation project, a EUCORD irrigation project.
EUCORD is a non-profit organisation that aims to improve the livelihoods of farmers. The Uhira Wunguke (‘Irrigate to win’) project aims to enable approximately 2,000 farmers in eastern Rwanda to cultivate their fields during the dry season by providing funding and irrigation technology. The Achmea Foundation has been supporting this project since 2018.
Rwanda’s climate has become less and less predictable in recent years. Small farmers are more likely to experience lower crop yields and crop failures due to irregular rainfall. Since 2016, EUCORD has been introducing new, more efficient irrigation methods to help farmers cope with the effects of climate change. The project promotes market-oriented agriculture during both the wet and dry seasons. EUCORD’s experience in Rwanda shows that irrigation can generate an additional profit of between €700 and €900 per hectare.
EUCORD has also learned that wide acceptance of new irrigation methods is hindered by a number of factors, and therefore proposes expanding its activities in Rwanda. The aim of the project is to test sustainable financing solutions to improve access to irrigation technology. The grant from the Achmea Foundation will be used to support 19 farmer cooperatives in Eastern Rwanda.
Karen Willemsen
Achmea Internationaal
Variety – that’s what an assignment brings to the Achmea Foundation and partner Solidaridad
In 2018, the Achmea Foundation decided to invest in a project in Tanzania to increase milk production and thus the income of Tanzanian farmers. A project that fits perfectly within the objectives of the Achmea Foundation. “Because the foundation wanted to implement the improvements with a (local) partner and with a fixed time investment being asked of Achmea employees, I decided to do my bit,” says Karen Willemsen, Achmea International. “In about 80 hours, I made a contribution by conducting over 20 qualitative interviews and producing a report.
Helping Tanzanian farmers improve milk production and thus their income and well-being “The results of my assignment for the Dairy 2025 project from the foundation consist of five concrete recommendations for follow-up steps. This comes from the qualitative analysis on about 10 different stakeholders,” Karen continues. “The recommendations range from greater focus in the approach on farmers and communities to providing the opportunities to make more use of the digital resources that are also available in Tanzania. This is intended to reinforce current expectations of doubling the income of over 6,000 farmers.” Solidaridad, partner of the Achmea Foundation, is very pleased with the outcome of this assignment and will follow up with their stakeholders to turn the recommendations into actions.
A remote assignment for the Achmea Foundation brings variety to working from home Karen: “In my current role as PIP / SPOC for Achmea’s international business units, I deal with other cultures and ways of working on a daily basis. However, and by no means with African culture, for a better cause. In addition, I felt the need to dive into a new project myself, without a team or a manager. As a former data analyst, an assignment as a business analyst seemed ideal to me. In addition, the possibility of remote deployment was perfect for me. This allowed me to deliver as much value as possible to partner Soldaridad and the Dairy 2025 project with good preparation and a clear time frame.”
When asked what the (remote) assignment has brought Karen, she immediately knows the answer “Of course, the Dutch directness, the hierarchy that prevails in African communities and the image of NGOs are reflected in my learning moments. This was also easy to do from behind a screen. And it offers you and the partner time to make the right interventions at the right time. I can therefore recommend a (remote) assignment for the foundation to anyone: it is instructive, rewarding, but above all fun and varied!”