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Guest Blogger

A spoonful of sugar… in memory of Karen Heijman

On Friday, 8 March, Karen Heijman passed away suddenly. She has been a valuable part of Delft Mama and has touched the lives of many of our members. Read on as Delft Mama Julia Candy shares a sweet memorial in honor of her close friend Karen. Tarja Van Veldhoven also wrote a lovely Delft Mama of the Week blog post about Karen in 2016, which you can find here. Elizabeth Newcamp prepared a video for Karen’s funeral service, which you can view here.

Karen, you and your loved ones are in our thoughts and hearts.

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Chanukah: connecting with my cultural-religious identity

As we transport ourselves to new places, it can be easy for us to lose sight of our roots. In this story, however, Delft MaMa Maya Levi, originally from Israel, shares with us her journey of reconnecting with her Jewish cultural-religious identity as she settled in the Netherlands. In parallel, Maya describes the Jewish festival of Chanukah as a powerful festival of conscious reconnection with religious roots.

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Sinterklaas traditions and expat observations

As most children in the Netherlands prepare to celebrate the period of Sinterklaas, some of us expats can be left overwhelmed with this uniquely Dutch tradition, without understanding the history behind it. Some aspects might be shocking (blackface), others might be endearing (leaving carrots in shoes for Sint’s horse). Join us as Delft MaMa Anitha Raj, hailing from India, shares a little background on Sinterklaas followed by her observations of this annual tradition.

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Refugees in Delft: Getting to know our neighbors

by Julia Candy

Delft, like most cities across the Netherlands, plays its part in settling an increasing number of refugees seeking asylum from dangerous situations.  To learn how the Delft MaMa community might better reach this group of families, I spoke to Delft-based refugees and a volunteer for the refugee-focused charity DelftseBuur to better understand the story of asylum seekers in Delft.Read More »Refugees in Delft: Getting to know our neighbors

Welcome to Delft: Finding a home as an expat family

“Moving to a new country is always an adventure. Choosing the right home for a family makes it even more exciting, but sometimes also more complicated.” Delft MaMa Xenia Gabriel starts off our new blog series with some tips based on her family’s experiences finding their home in Delft.