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Background information from Evert van den Akker.

School and work.

Learning and working are the thread running through my life.
Ever since I was a child, I wanted to become a confectioner. This started with the summer holidays that we, as a family, usually spent in Egmond aan Zee. Every morning, I went to the local bakery as a 6 year old boy, which made a big impression on me. I was happy when they made Tompouce (a Dutch pastry), because then I would get the little pieces that were cut off. I also always came home with a bag full of cookie crumbs. At home I was often allowed to make desserts for dinner on Sundays. Saroma pudding with Klop Klop (cheap version of whipped cream) was my specialty. Around the age of nine, I already helped making salads and snacks for parties, and on birthdays I was usually to be found in the kitchen. As a child, I earned my pocket money by sorting bottles at the grocery store and helping out the milkman, who went around the doors with a steel cart (a predecessor of the grocery store on wheels), which is where I learned to smoke strong tobacco at the age of 10. At the end of the sixth grade, a choice had to be made for my future education, which for me was clear: confectionary school. My parents had other ideas, they thought the MULO (advanced elementary education) was better for my future, because a life as a baker didn't really appeal to their imagination. My mother used to be a nurse and a mayor's daughter. My father grew up in Hillegersberg, a neighborhood of elite in Rotterdam. He had his own business for years, where he would buy grains from all over the world and then sold them to large flour mills in the Netherlands. It was an office job and he regularly went to the fairs in Rotterdam and Utrecht.
When it comes to school, unfortunately, I didn’t have much of a choice: my father was on the school board of the MULO, so I had to go there. The first year I had to do over, the following year I was allowed to move up to second grade. When I had to do the second grade over as well, it seemed a better option for my parents that I would go to confectionary school. Two years full-time in school and then two years in apprenticeship. That meant five days of work and three evenings at school. The school was next to the stadium ‘’Het Kasteel’’, in Spangen (Potgieterstraat), where I had the time of my life. After two years I went to work at bakery Ammerlaan in Schiebroek, and three evenings a week on the moped to school. At the age of 18, I was rejected as a pastry chef, because I was experiencing back problems (Scheuermann's disease). After rehabilitation in the Adrianastichting (plastered bed and support corset) I started working as a telephone salesman at Van der Meer and Schoep (bread and pastry factory with 1000 employees). After two years I was "promoted" to labor analyst and quality controller and went from office to bakery (factory). I received status because I belonged to the "White coats", different from office clerks and the bakers. That status gave me a double feeling, because I didn't feel the need to be "above" other people.
In addition to my work, I was a member of football club Unicum and because I couldn't play football anymore due to my back I had become a youth trainer. One time, I filled in for someone and took over a group where some "difficult boys" were in (so I was told). It appeared that those boys were living in a boarding school (August Hermann Francke-Huis in Schiebroek) and they invited me to come and do a cup of coffee. The atmosphere appealed to me very much and eventually I went to work there, to the great sadness (later not anymore) of my father. For this job, I had to give up all of my spare time because I had to be in the group 24/7, but you didn't need to have any school diplomas. We worked according to the Browndale method, which meant that you entered into a relationship with the children. In the years that I worked there (1975-1979), I learned a lot (also on how things shouldn't be done). It was a special world that was cut off from the rest, where I met an intern whom I later married. I loved working/living with the young people and it went well for me too: my boss advised me to go to school alongside my work. On my first entrance exam for the MBO I failed by just two points and at the re-sit I was one point short. End of the road, I thought, but after I had written a very emotional motivation letter I was accepted (1979) at the Social Academy in Rotterdam. In the last year of my education I switched jobs and started working at the Stichting Jeugdbegeleiding in Delft (living group with eight young people from 15 to 20 years old who were placed by Dpt. of Justice). At the time, jobs, to me, were for the taking because of my four and a half years of experience in the Francke house, which opened a lot of doors for me. While working in Delft, I got my diploma (1982) and in the early eighties I moved to Hoogeveen with my girlfriend Ria and married there together. I started working as a team leader at De Eik in Slagharen, this was a form of living for young people with a mild intellectual disability. After two and a half years, De Eik moved to Oldenzaal, and because I had the feeling that I could not evolve there, I switched to children’s psychiatric hospital ‘’de Ruyterstee’’ in Smilde. In terms of job description, it seemed to be a step backwards because I would give up team leadership. I saw it as an opportunity to develop myself because working (fulltime) at the group was at a vocational level. I received the prospect that after a year's work, I could do the vocational training. We now had a daughter and moved from Hoogeveen to Oosterwolde, in Friesland. During my vocational training at the Rijkshogeschool Groningen and working in the group, I gained a lot of knowledge on, for instance psychiatric diseases. The last two years, I worked in crisis/closed groups. At the age of 39 I received my vocational degree and together with my work experience I had learned a lot.
In the meantime, we had a family with three children and we grew somewhat out of Oosterwolde, since the village offered too few opportunities for our children.
In 1994, I worked at 't Wezeveld in Twello for about a year. This turned out not realIy to be the place for me, so I decided to quit. When I resigned, I was able to receive extra pay to do a study, because when I applied for a job, the situation was described differently from what it actually was. One of the reasons for this, was a takeover of 't Wezeveld by the Hoenderloo group. After my resignation, I started a training course for teaching, and I also worked as a professional substitute. This meant that I filled in at different workplaces throughout the country. In child care, criminal mental units, adult psychiatry and other types of work, where I gained a lot of experience in just a few months. Thanks to this job, I received a permanent position at ‘’Groot Emaus’’ in Ermelo. Here, I worked in an outdoor unit with young people aged 17 to 23 years old with behavioral problems and a mild mental disability. The young people were guided in different phases towards independent living. Meanwhile, three evenings a week I went to the Pedagogical College in Leeuwarden and did my first internship at Friesland College. I received my diploma in 1995 as a qualified teacher for secondary vocational education. Besides working in the living group, I was able to cut down in hours so I could gain experience as a (subject) teacher. I noticed that students (prospective home supervisors) liked to be taught by someone who also works in the group. I could put my experience to good use and train myself in teaching. In 2001, the Randmeer College (now Landstede) gave me a permanent position as a teacher and after 27 years I was able to say goodbye to irregular work.
This was a perfect solution for me, because in the meantime, I had joint custody (divorced in 2001) of our three children.
Until my retirement in 2018, I taught various courses at Landstede: social work, youth care and the entrance course (level 1). I also became an internationalization coordinator in 2006 and started a relationship with Finland, which is described separately on the site. In 2013, through a workshop at Landstede, I came into contact with one of the founders of the IMMI foundation in Kampen. IMMI supports and helps people where necessary and does this in their own special way, namely by "being there for the other". He invited me to join the "family" when I was ready. Since 2018, I have accepted this invitation and now I work/live full of passion and fun as a residential counsellor at IMMI.

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