All-round volunteer at the Repair Café

Who are you?“I am Joep Scholder, 64 years old and have been living in Noord for 15 years. I moved here because of the space; before this, I lived in almost all other districts.”What do you do in your daily life?“Surviving on benefits; life is getting more expensive. Besides, I am an avid collector of all sorts of things: copper, trains, furniture to refurbish. My colleagues call me a woodworm. I am also a movie lover, I enjoy buying second-hand DVDs at thrift stores, and collecting information about World War II is a major hobby.”What do you do as a volunteer?“I am an all-round volunteer at the Repair Café of Combiwel on Meeuwenlaan, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Customers come with broken electrical appliances, I welcome them with a chat and a cup of coffee or tea. The appliances are entered into the administration and when they are ready, customers receive a phone call that they can pick up their repaired appliances. Or, very occasionally, the message that the appliance – unfortunately – cannot be repaired. I also do the preparatory work for our volunteer electrician, I open the appliances and put them back together after the repair.”The most enjoyable thing I have experienced here is…“An elderly Pakistani gentleman came in with a completely broken radio, the wires were hanging out. This radio was beyond repair, so we gave the gentleman another working radio. He was pleasantly surprised and then returned with an old 78 RPM gramophone and two old worn-out long-playing records with Pakistani music. We were able to get these working; the man was so grateful!”What is your tip for people who want to start doing volunteer work?“Go for it! I ended up at my volunteer work through a connection, a trainee from Combiwel gave me the tip about the Repair Cafe and I was warmly welcomed right away!”Photo: Rob BeenseDo you want to do volunteer work as well? Make an appointment with the Volunteer Center Amsterdam North Branch, at 020-6365228. Every Tuesday morning there is a drop-in consultation from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Community Center Waterlandplein.