Last Friday (March 28th) Our HERmitage was at a dialogue meeting of the Insinger FoundationOh, yeah. The Insinger Foundation (founded in 1913) is committed to the promotion of religious and charitable institutions that are active in the Netherlands and its former colonies. It has a 'Protestant Christian denomination'.
The research showed that the foundation's assets (upon founding) arose from the exploitation of to-slave masters in Suriname (the Insinger family also had people in slavery on their plantations and at the time made profits from them). The foundation now wants to contribute to projects that contribute to rehabilitation, construction, healing, and a future.
The event took place in Victory Outreach Church in Rotterdam. During the meeting, various organisations discussed with each other the effect of the (transatlantic) slavery past in Dutch society. It was an instructive afternoon.
A pastor of Victory Outreach Church and board member Insinger Foundation programme addressing the participants.
Susi Mosis and Simba Mosis, Our Heritage participants.
There was a lot of talk about all the gaps in the system in terms of projects and subsidies, but also solutions. There has been a discussion about the future and healing, but also about the excuses and what that means for society.
Another interesting point made at the meeting was that rehabilitation is important not only for the descendants of enslaved couples, but also for the descendants of the colonisers; colonial violence has affected everyone.
The meeting indicated that much can still be done in Dutch society to heal the 'wounds of the past'. And with practical solutions!
We went to the drinks for a while, and we also met participants of Our Heritage before we sprinkled again.
Later that day, Our Heritage-reps Fausia S. Abdul and Rashid Dossett attended another event in Rotterdam. Namely. a discussion night at Enterprise Ambassadors Network Suriname where Fausia S. Abdul held a presentation on the hybrid identities of Caribbean women. The discussion revealed a range of views and viewpoints on how identity comes about and that it is not a 'one size fits all' situation for Caribbean women.
The remarkable thing was that many of the attendees, during the quiz, did not know how many areas of the Caribbean used to be under Dutch authority (even if only for a brief period). It also shows that more knowledge and insight about the region and its history as part of Dutch history is needed in society.
During the drinks of EAN Suriname, researcher Rashid Dossett encountered a family member from whom he initially did not know of existence. They discovered that more members of the 'Dossett clan' (which has branches in both the Caribbean and the United States) live in Rotterdam.
It turns out that the world is quite a small place...
Fausia S. Abdul during her presentation at EAN.
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