Missing Pieces

By Jack Profijt, Canada After  their  immigration  to  the  USA  and  Canada,  the  task  of  integrating  into  a  completely  unknown  culture  began.  Finding  employment,  housing  and  other  services  was,  at  times, very  difficult,  as  the  USA  was  going  through  its  own  problems  with  racial  tensions  in  the  southern  states  and  its  past  actions  in  Korea.  It  was…

Grocery Stores

By Bianca Dias-Halpert, Washington, USA The Power of a Grocery Store A new environment, new food, new customs and everything familiar left behind.  We usually do not think of a grocery store as being significant in our daily routine.  But when you find one that has the ingredients of the country you left behind it’s…

Troops 1947

Excerpt Translated by Jan Krancher, California, USA After WWII, in an effort to re-establish control of its colony from 1947-1949 the Dutch instigated a “Politionele Acties” (police action) by sending  troops back to Indonesia.  To ease the transition for the troops and prepare them, a guidebook was published titled “Scheepspraet”. It is interesting to note the actual…

Roy van Broekhuizen.

By Bianca Dias-Halpert, Washington, USA This is a remarkable family story of altruism, survival and faith based values. From immigrant to international entrepeunuer, meet Roy van Broekhuizen Chairman and CEO of Laga Designs International, Inc. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia he left with his family at the age of 9 to The Netherlands. Four years later the…

Why Go to the Tropics in the 1920’s

[Featured photo: Opa, Oma, Mother, Aunt the night before departing Holland 1927] by Tim O’Callaghan, Chicago, Illinois, USA Even though the East Indies had been dominated by the Dutch, for its access to spices, since 1602. It wasn’t until 1796 when the VOC filed for bankruptcy that the Dutch administration took over and the Dutch…

Song: May of 1961

[Featured photo: 1961 Natick, Massachusetts, USA –  The Vanderwaall Family, father Charles, mother Trudy, Jerry, Grace, Eddy, Robert and baby Hans] by Robert Vanderwaall of Massachusetts, USA “May of 1961” It was May of 1961 We arrived by boat from Amsterdam. A voyage that my mind refuse to leave behind. The voyage that changed the…