August• 2017 | 87“If it doesn’t work, I’ll kick the
student out myself,” Gea promised.
It did work – and the programme
has been going strong ever since. No
more than six students live in Hu-
manitas at a time with the 160 elderly
residents. New ones are screened
first by their peers and then by Gea.
These young people gain more than
just free accommodation, according
to Sores Duman, 27, a communica-
tions student at the HAN University
of Applied Sciences in Arnhem. He
has been at Humanitas since March
2016, in a studio apartment next door
to 92-year-old Marty Weulink.“We’re all friends on an equal basis
with something to offer each other, be
it the wisdom of experience or how to
do something technical,” Sores says.
Marty is at once practical and
sentimental. “Sores helps me navigate
on my iPad so I can contact my
family,” she says. “When he stops
by we talk, eat and drink and tell lots
of stories. I’m not sure if I’ve taught
him anything but I do consider him
my grandson!”
Sores laughs. “Marty has taught me
how she experienced World War II,”
he says. “What living here has taught
me is how to be more patient becauseStudent Anneloes Olthof shares lunch with other residents
at Humanitas in the NetherlandsPHOTO: GOFFE STRUIKSMA