Verhuizen uit de Faradaystraat

Antwoord aan Anneke Koehof

I am the eldest daughter of Co Brouwer en Arend Streutker

My parents went to the same school growing up. My dad then studied Engineering at the Agricultural College, while my mom was a bookkeeper at the Christian radio station. They started dating while he was still a student and became engaged when he finished his studies in 1958. The plan was to get married after his two years military service, but when housing became available they decided to get married in the summer of 1959. (I was born in September, 9 months after his Christmas leave!)

Because my dad had trouble securing a job in The Netherlands, he made a connection through some South African PhD students from College that lead to us emigrating in February 1961. My mom was aware of that possibility when she married him, but it was still a major adjustment to move so far away from family and friends. The culture shock was real.

I have immigrated twice: The first time I was only four months old when my parents left The Netherlands and we immigrated to South Africa. The second time I made the choice in 1994 to move to Canada with my husband and our two children.

When I was growing up it was just us. There were no family get-together at Easter or Christmas, but I did not know any different. There were no weddings or funerals to attend and no cousins to play with. My grandparents would come and visit, but after six weeks they would go back home and we had to be content with letters, photographs and the occasional phone call.

We spoke Dutch at home, so I grew up with Dutch children’s stories and nursery rhymes. When I went to the local nursery school at four years old, the other children spoke Afrikaans and could not understand me. I remember an incident when I was really impressed with a sandcastle somebody built, but when I asked her how she did it I got a handful of sand thrown into my eyes! The teacher didn’t even realize it was because of the language barrier when she suggested my mom take me to a child psychologist…

We moved away to a different city and a wonderful Afrikaans lady went out of her way to befriend us. She had experienced being the outsider while living in Davis, California for about two years. Her second child was born there. Her children’s ages matched ours perfectly and before long I had a bosom buddy. I learned to speak Afrikaans, eat South African food and became acquainted with their habits. I went to the new nursery school six months later as a five year old and there were no issues at all!

When I went to grade school a boy from down the street insisted on taunting me almost every day by calling out “Cheese Head, Cheese Head!” while walking home from school. One day when he did this during break-time at school, I had enough: I brought down a full Tupperware tumbler onto his head – the lid popped off and milk was streaming down his hair and all over his clothes.

Needless to say I was thinking of myself as the Dutch girl by then. For years, when somebody would point out that I must be South African since I basically lived there all my life it would just not feel right.

Seven years before we left South Africa, my husband and I both made a list of potential countries we would like to move to. Canada topped both our lists, even though neither of us had ever been there! We applied to three different countries and Australia almost accepted us – were it not for one more year’s work experience needed for the necessary amount of points. We decided to stay in South Africa, bought a house and had children. Many people were starting to leave the country or were thinking about it. One day, visiting a friend, she told me that they were considering going to Canada. We reconsidered and applied again. Six months later the Canadian Embassy accepted us as potential immigrants and a year later we sold our house and our car and used our pensions to move. We had theoretically enough money left to last us three months. We had no other contact here in Canada than my father’s brother and they had not seen each other in 36 years.

My mom and her parents used to write letters every Sunday. It took a week for those letters to be exchanged and you had to wait two weeks to get an answer to any question! By the time we immigrated, we continued this tradition. It still took a few years to convince my parents to get a computer and go online when the internet became available. Over time our e-mails became shorter and more infrequent. We used the telephone for birthdays. When Skype was introduced, we could talk much longer and even see each other. I used to Skype my parents very irregularly over the years, but since Covid we Skype/WhatsApp once a week for an hour.

A Dutch-Canadian asked me once in exasperation “What are you exactly?” I joked that I am “mixed up:”

We have assimilated our three cultures. We now have real snow outside decorating the garden instead of the cotton balls we used for the Christmas tree when we lived in South Africa. We enjoy chocolate initials, taai-taai and speculaas from the local Dutch store and we get South African biltong and boerewors from a butcher in Oakville. Our sausage rolls and mince tarts come from Sweet Molly’s in town. My son loves making the turkey every year complete with filling and cranberry sauce. We start the festive season by giving gifts through-out December and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. Poinsettias decorate the living room and the lights and the tree go up the day before Christmas and only come down twelve days after that!

Christmas 2020...

In hindsight, I think if I had been raised as a Dutch person in the Netherlands I would not have had such a rich and varied life. I think I would have turned out to be a totally different person than I am today, since I am more aware of lonely and isolated people around me. My life didn’t change much since we moved to Canada; I was already used to having relatives living overseas. I will say I am multicultural and my opinion might not always perfectly align with yours. I accept that not everybody has the same background and you cannot judge a book by its cover. I will listen to what you have to say and get to know you for who you are. I see you as a unique person and I would love to receive the same acceptance from you. Since I have been at the receiving end of bullying based on my culture or my accent, it has made me more aware of people that are trying to overcome obstacles due to their circumstances.

Ons Huis deel 1 en 2

Wat een prachtige verhalen, dit afscheid van een huis,  geschreven door CO Streutker-Brouwer. Ik ben er helemaal door ontroerd. 

Het maakt ook nieuwsgierig, waar is de familie na Bennekom uiteindelijk terecht gekomen?

Onder deel 1 staat een reactie in het Engels, zijn ze misschien geëmigreerd?

Deze verhalen schreeuwen om een vervolg.

Groeten van Anneke Koehof