Yesterday, I drove around San Nicolas with Willem and Arnold to get to know the Village better. We hoped to meet a few people we could talk to. Actually, our goal was to just be in the neighborhood and see what God had in store for us. This may not be the most desirable way of working for results-oriented Dutch people, but over here other ways of working will not get you anywhere. Everything is based on relationships. If you know someone who trusts you, who knows someone else who can help you, then you can come in. And otherwise you cannot. So being present in the neighborhood is the best thing we can do. Meeting people, show our faces, have a chat and we’ll do that again next week. In this way, the local residents get to know us little by little and we get to know them better as well. Today Willem had a conversation with a lady who was sitting on a bench in the middle of the Village, smoking crack. Arnold managed to connect with various residents in a very accessible way to hear more about the neighborhood from them. And I met my addicted Jamaican friend. He has lived in the Village for fifteen years and he promised to ask around and come up with more information about the basketball court in the middle of the neighborhood. Today we also met Lina[1] again. This woman is a point of contact in the Village and regularly takes care of groups of children by organizing activities for them. It was the third time I spoke to her and this time she offered to drive around the neighborhood with us soon. I gratefully accepted the invitation and immediately made an appointment for next week. For now, we mainly work with a view to the front door. We can’t get any further yet. But by being faithful and coming back, we gently knock on every front door we see. Who knows, God may give us the opportunity to make a difference for the people in this neighborhood.
[1] Fictitious name