"My host family has become my Dutch family"
After living in a reception centre for six months, a young Uyghur woman stayed with Thea and Fred’s host family. She recently got her own house. Reason for us to ask her how she is doing and how she looks back on her time with the host family.
Text: Sandra Looren de Jong
How are you doing now that you have your own house?
“I’m doing well. I got my house from the municipality of Utrecht at the end of September.”
Do you still keep in touch with your host family?
“Yes, definitely. I still keep in touch with my host family. I haven’t heard from my own family in more than five years. But my host family has become my Dutch family. Every Sunday evening, I have dinner with the family and we celebrate Sinterklaas together. And every Saturday, I go to my ‘grandma’ (Fred’s mom) to practice Dutch. My host family also visits me.”
How do you look back on your time with the host family?
“It was a really pleasant, fun, exciting period. We have done many fun activities together, joked with each other, learned a lot from each other. They helped me for ten months, until I got a house. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for that: thank you very much, Thea and Fred!”
What did you find most helpful during your stay with the host family?
“Before I registered with Takecarebnb, I was in a reception centre and the situation was bad. We had problems with the internet, the kitchen... I could do almost nothing in that reception centre. I am a student and I love learning, but I couldn’t learn there.
Because of Takecarebnb’s help, I got a cosy but spacious room from my host family. I wrote my Master Thesis there and afterwards I learned Dutch. Until September, I studied Dutch myself up to B1 level. My host family has really helped me to learn Dutch quicker and improve my pronunciation. I gained insight into the life of a Dutch family and the Dutch culture, and I taught my host family about my culture. I thought it was pleasant, fun and exciting to live with a host family.”
“I think that the work of Takecarebnb is very good for the guest and the host family. By living together, we can learn together; the guest can learn the Dutch language and culture, the family also learns about a different culture. I hope you will continue this work.”
