“I meet beautifully beautiful people and it keeps me young!”

Hein Hoefnagels (76) is still very active in society: He plays squash, bridge, volunteers as a bus driver for nursing homes, goes on bike rides with blind people, and much, much more. “My secret? Living as carefree as possible!”

“When I was still working in classical music, a colleague enthusiastically introduced me to volunteering. He was teaching Dutch to non-Dutch speakers. That sounded interesting to me too! Twenty years ago, I got my first student, a Japanese man. We practiced words and sentences, and a friendship developed. Through him, I even went on two cycling holidays in Japan.

Currently, I teach a Spaniard, a Russian Greek, and an Indonesian. Besides finding it incredibly enjoyable content-wise, I also gain a lot from it. They are all young people, and thanks to them, I can at least somewhat keep up with the rapidly evolving digital world!”To the Keukenhof“In addition, I am also a voluntary bus driver for various nursing homes. Several times a week, I drive groups of residents to their excursion destination. From the Keukenhof to the beach, and from eating pancakes in the Amsterdamse Bos to visiting a beekeeping farm. Very grateful work. Recently, a man who had been a driver his whole life said: ‘After five minutes, I could already see that you are a good driver. I could completely relax and let go!'”Beautiful conversations“At first, I found it quite a step to start doing volunteer work. What can I do? How can I make a difference for someone else? But there is such a diversity of volunteer vacancies! And it’s also incredibly fun. I meet beautifully wonderful people, have valuable conversations, participate in the most enjoyable activities, and I feel useful.”

“I hope the gods see my activities. And that, when I am not feeling well, there is also someone who helps me.”