Part 1 of a series
Each week in the coming months, our blog team will share an interview with the Coordinators of the various departments that make up the Delft MaMa organization. These coordinators, all of whom are volunteers, are the people who keep Delft MaMa such an active, vibrant community that helps so many parents in the Delft area.
This week, meet the 2022 Chairperson of Delft MaMa, Renée Tentori.
Tell us about yourself.
Hello out there! I’m Renée, a dual national Dutch Australian. Originally born in Australia, I moved to Delft way back in 2002, and my first baby was born here in 2007! That “baby” is now 15 and taller than me. Her sister was born in 2009 in Australia, where I grew up, but we moved back to the Netherlands again when the girls were 3 and 5, and have been here since. I now live in Ypenburg, right on the border of Delft and The Hague. Perfect, because I work in both locations, which are amazing in their own way. I work 3 days a week at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, teaching in the International Business programme, and the rest of the week I run my own business, Zestee, do volunteer work, and spend time with friends and my teenagers.
What is your role within the Delft MaMa organization?
Since March 2022, I am the Chairperson. I’ve actually been involved with Delft MaMa since the very beginning, 15 years ago! My roles have included being one of the original board members, social media coordinator, and blogger.
How has Delft MaMa contributed to your adaptation to life in The Netherlands?
The majority of my friends when my girls were young were via Delft MaMa, and many of those are still friends today. It’s wonderful to watch our children grow and help each other out when needed. There are so many things I’m grateful for, but one fabulous example of how amazing this community is – when I was in the middle of a divorce, during COVID lockdown, and asked for tips in the Delft MaMa Facebook group – another member offered me an amazing apartment for a few weeks for free. That made such an incredible impact. Though this is, of course, not an everyday occurrence, it’s an excellent example of how powerful this community is.
What’s your favorite place in Delft?
Such a difficult question, there are so many wonderful places. If I have to choose, I think it would be the Prinsenhof Museum. I did some volunteer work there in the past, so I had the privilege of seeing parts of this incredible building that are not usually open to the public.
What do you do for fun?
My Saturday morning ritual for some time now has been to go to a boxing class at the gym, then wander around the large thrift store next door looking for bargains afterwards!
Share a secret with us!
Ha, a secret for the internet? How about I share something that’s not very secret but quite new for me to share publicly. Last year, I was diagnosed with ADHD, thus joining the “neurodivergence club”. It’s quite strange in some ways to discover this about myself so late in life, but also very interesting to learn more about how my brain works. I would argue though that this, and so many other diagnoses should not be called a “disorder” but a “difference”. Whether you or your children have a label or not, we all have talents, gifts and purpose, and it’s up to us to find them and use them!
Volunteer at Delft Mama
Delft MaMa is run by a team of talented and dedicated volunteers, eager to participate in projects and give a little bit (or a lot) of our time and expertise – and then go the extra mile too! We organize different activities with a wide range of purposes: give workshops, coordinate playgroups, and other social and business meetings, all with the common goal of connecting international families in Delft and its surrounds.