Warming up for something new

“Don’t think: ‘I’m going to do this kind of volunteer work because I want to keep that kind of paid work.’ Just do what you enjoy! And the people you meet are at least as important.” That’s the advice from Erhan, who changed direction in his life thanks to volunteering. At a crossroads in his working life, he accidentally found himself in a volunteer position at a small welfare organization. There, he found his way to a new career. Not through the work he did, but through the coffees he drank there.

Erhan’s search for something new began after he had worked for sixteen years at the FNV. For the union, he traveled all over the country to organize people in the cleaning sector and the food industry on the shop floor. Important work, but not forever. “You are always in conflict, it’s tough. I had experienced enough of that.” He took a mediation course and started on his own, but that didn’t feel like the place where he belonged.

Coffee with an old pro

Erhan became curious about the welfare sector. He sent an email to about three hundred organizations with his offer for mediation. It did not result in any assignments, but there were organizations that said, “Hey, I find your profile interesting. Would you like to become a volunteer with me?” He decided to say ‘yes’ to the small Turkish foundation STOC in Amsterdam-West. He helped set up a consultation hour for people with questions or problems regarding their work. Initially, it didn’t attract much attention. As a result, he spent a lot of time with the man who had brought him in. “He was really one of those old hands in the welfare world who knew everyone and everything. We drank a lot of coffee and talked about the sector.”

From Turkish breakfast to chess club

So he slowly warmed up to the idea that he would like to work as a welfare worker himself. Not long after, the man from STOC pointed him to a vacancy at Dynamo in Amsterdam East. It was for a community worker who speaks Turkish. Erhan: “I don’t speak perfect Turkish, but I speak it reasonably well. Enough to talk to people.” He was hired and now supports residents, particularly in the Transvaal neighborhood and the Turkish community throughout Old East, in setting up neighborhood initiatives and activities from community center De Kraaipan. “My predecessor was a woman of Turkish descent who may have done this work for about thirty years. She managed to engage the Turkish community in East quite well.” Now it’s up to Erhan to continue her good work.

The activities that Erhan supports range from, for example, a Turkish breakfast at the Dapperhuis to a women’s chess club. And he also tries to connect those groups to broader neighborhood activities. “A new foundation, Zacht Beton, wanted to organize a neighborhood picnic and involve the Turkish community. They had contact with artists from Istanbul. They established contact with the chess club through me. They interviewed Turkish women about life in the neighborhood, and those stories were brought to the neighborhood picnic. The women were very enthusiastic.”

“They are always there”

Erhan is enthusiastic about the new world he has entered through his work. “I am surprised by all the activity there is, just in the East. I have lived here for eight years and had no idea. And it is all supported by volunteers.” These volunteers work with an enormous sense of duty and responsibility. “They are always there. If they can’t make it, they arrange their own replacement. It just works. I don’t feel any lack of commitment from their side.”
His own volunteer work has brought him more than he expected. “I have gained a new profession from it, but just as beautiful are the people I have met along the way.”

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Interview: Winnie van Heesch
Photos: Kitty de Jong