Living Colour in Amsterdam

I’m sitting on the terrace in front of my favourite café in Amsterdam; I’ve ordered a tall glass of mineral water. On any other day it would probably be a koffie verkeerd, (the Dutch equivalent for a milky coffee) or even a glass of hot chocolate topped with a generous portion of whipped cream. (Naughty!) But today mineral water is my preferred choice and with the sun blazing gloriously across the square I anticipate the arrival of Rebecca, Louise and Ebony: three women who live in Amsterdam pursuing careers or family life, or both, or just enjoying the experience of a culture different to their own. The three women arrive in a short while and after a short introduction they order their drinks.

You cannot miss Rebecca (pictured on the left) who, seated between Louise and Ebony, is an irrepressible, vivacious woman who looks much younger than her 49 years. Over a glass of red wine she speaks enthusiastically, clearly relishing life in her adopted country. She is an IT consultant with four university degrees after her name and over 20 years experience in computing behind her. What brought Rebecca to the Netherlands? She had met a Dutch man on-line while back in the States and moved here to be with him. When the relationship ended, she discovered she had grown to enjoy the slower pace of life, the challenge of living in another country and the relatively easy-going culture.

She loved it so much she bought a home and decided to stay.

Rebecca now lives in a small town called Amersfoort, half an hour’s drive from Amsterdam. She’s a rarity in her neighbourhood indeed! She is certainly the only Black in her immediate area, the only foreigner and certainly the only person living alone. That and her warm easy-going personality makes for great adventures, experiences and not to mention conversation starters!

Rebecca works in a city called Den Bosch which is in the ‘heart’ of traditional Dutch society and quite different from Amsterdam where there is a more international feel. She travels regularly to Belgium, Ireland, Germany and various other European countries for business, but her biggest passion is her love of adventure travel (plus an interest in archaeology!). So far she’s visited 36 countries including; the Ivory Coast, Belize, Tunisia, India and Egypt to name just a few.

This year her travels will take her to China. Rebecca cites as a possible influence her mother’s spirit of adventure, ‘I was born in France. At the time she was travelling through Europe – she wanted to experience life outside the US’. Rebecca’s mother worked for NASA as a computer programmer. It was a rarity in those days for a woman; even rarer for a black woman and all the more extraordinary in the pioneering days of the civil rights movement. It was also a turbulent time but whilst growing up Rebecca remembers her mother as a determined and courageous woman. It was this attitude that largely helped her mother stay focused on her goal: to inspire her children to aim higher.

Were there any obstacles encountered while adjusting to life in the Netherlands? The language was not so much an obstacle as a challenge, but Rebecca is determined to be fluent and after four years of living in the Netherlands she feels she’s nearly there. For the most part Rebecca has encountered many difficulties, joys and triumphs of living in a foreign country such as culture, isolation, work pressures, relationship issues and in general a host of concerns in order to build a new life in another country … but she feels it’s been well worth the effort. Her motto: ‘Life is a trip!’

I turn to Ebony. I’m intrigued by her. Her demeanour hides a determined personality and as she speaks I also see an upbeat woman who is not afraid to take risks. Such character led her from her home in Michigan, USA to Germany after answering a small ad for an au- pair on the Internet. ‘I tried various agencies looking for a job as an au-pair,’ she says, ‘I also I searched the Internet. I wanted to cast a wide net and have good choice of places to go. Eventually I found a family in a German village. The village was very small having fewer than 500 people living there and also, every au-pair in the area was from the Czech Republic. So I was the only American there and certainly as far I knew, the only person of any colour.’

After her stint as an au -pair came to a close, Ebony realised one thing; there is a lot of world out there to discover and discover it she did. It was the perfect timing. Following their plans to be together she was finally re-united with her Dutch boyfriend, Arjan, whom she had met three years earlier.

What brought Ebony to the Netherlands? She describes how they first encountered each other via the Web ‘We met on-line in 1996, through IRC’. Numerous phones calls later Arjan came to visit her in her home town of Flint. They soon fell in love, and knew that they wanted to be together. Ebony decided to move, as it was easier for her. Having never really felt comfortable in the US she did not find it too difficult to uproot to the Netherlands.

At 24, Ebony, is studying Communication Design Management at a leading Dutch University and finances her studies by part-time cleaning.

What obstacles did you encounter along the way? ‘Paper work and more paper work! What slows you down in your plans here is the paper work.’ She says, ‘They have a form for every little thing, even a paper saying you are not married!’ Learning the language did not present any real problem. ‘Soon after I arrived I was put forward for an “inburgeringscursus”, which is a sort of program designed to make integration into Dutch culture easier. There, I was taught the language for four hours a day five days a week. With that sort of intensity I was fluent within six months of arriving here.’

What’s your impression of the Netherlands, then? ‘I love it here! This is my home; yes it has its downsides, but overall I feel great. They have more social programs for people; everybody is on an equal level, I feel. It is great to live in a country which gives you a real choice between political parties, good schools, and clean, safe streets.’

And race relations? ‘I can only speak for myself; as for me, I have had no problems. The only time I have had a problem was when looking for make up for my skin tone in major stores. Other than that, I do not feel as if I have to represent my race. I am not put out as a black person. Most of the time I do not even think of it.’

Louise speaks next. Louise is softly spoken; born and raised in Birmingham, northern England to parents of West Indian heritage. She is currently an events controller for a well known electronics giant. Louise feels blessed to be in Amsterdam, ‘It’s a great starting point to seeing Europe and its various cultures’. Prior to her move to Amsterdam Louise spent two years in France absorbing French culture wanting to know as much about France as she could. She explains that she really only began to know herself travelling and living among different people in various countries.

What brought you to the Netherlands? ‘My husband Derek was offered a job at the European headquarters of his company based here in the Netherlands. The decision entailed me giving up my position in corporate events and moving to Holland not knowing what I was moving onto next. I had lived and studied abroad before in France; hence was used to the upheaval and integrating into a new culture. I was excited by the opportunity to try something new. This made it easier to make the decision to move to the Netherlands.’ Knowing exactly what to do, Louise started job-hunting before their move, eventually obtaining a position as a Project manager in an imaging solutions company in the Netherlands.

Obstacles, if any, you overcame to get there? ‘This is in no way seen as an obstacle,’ Louise maintains, ‘but it is a fact: having moved in many social circles within my profession I meet very few people of colour in the same or similar role. I am often faced, with proving my worth, ensuring that people realise that I know what I am talking about when it comes to my job and will be honest in those instances when I do not.’

Other questions Louise frequently encounters are to do with her background. Is she a refugee? Or might she be an asylum seeker? Such attitudes rarely bother her now as she realises they more often come from limited experience or frank curiosity on the part of others.

So what’s Louise’s impression of the Netherlands? ‘Some Dutch I have met know very little about black people (though they would be the last to admit this).’ She smiles at the recollection. ‘To the Dutch all black people come from either Africa or America and cannot comprehend that a black person can also come from other parts of the world such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France, etc. This is incomprehensible to your average Dutch person.

On the plus side the Netherlands adopts a more open attitude to homosexuality and prostitution I like and admire that. I also admire the fact that the Dutch women I have met are strong and assertive. I like the emphasis on working to live as opposed to living to work and it’s great that (almost) everyone rides bikes. On the whole I like it here and I’m growing to like it more the longer I stay here.’

We finish our drinks and enjoy the rest of the unusually warm evening on the terrace. A crowd has gathered on the square to watch a young man juggle with lighted sticks – the usual free evening’s entertainment set up for the benefit of tourists and passers-by and an example of the freedom of artistic expression that the girls have also come to admire while living in the Netherlands.

This is the first in a series of articles by contributing writer, Noye McComas (pictured), detailing the lives of professional women who have moved from their countries of origin to live in the Netherlands either as independent professional women or with their families.