One of the HR teams planning to walk from Rotterdam to The Hague is the ‘CoIA-and-co team’, set up by RBS lecturer Jessica Shinnick. The team includes personnel from the Centre of International Affairs (CoIA) and lecturers from HR.

A meeting with a special student

For Shinnick, a meeting with a special student was the decisive factor in deciding to join the walk. ‘He fled from Syria and after a great deal of difficulty arrived in the Netherlands. He has now graduated from the RBS. He told me about his experiences and it touched me deeply.

‘I realised that I really wanted to do something to alleviate the pain these people suffer, so three years ago I started participating in the sponsored walk. In the first year, I walked on my own, but started putting together a team after that.’

One of the team members is her CoIA colleague Maria James. She feels an urge to help those who could really use support. ‘If I can help just one person by participating in this walk, then those 40,000 footsteps are worth it. If I had to flee from my own country, I hope that somebody would give me a helping hand too.’

Former refugees with cookies and water

She still remembers the moment last year, at four in the morning, that people were standing along the route who had been refugees in the past. James: ‘To encourage us and show their gratitude, they were handing out cookies and water. That gave us further courage to keep on going. If my feet start to hurt on Saturday evening, then I’ll just think of all those people who flee for their lives, and I’ll be able to keep on going.’

‘We have good shoes’

CoIA co-worker Trudy van As-Roest from CoIA-and-co, expresses the same sentiment, and also likes the symbolism behind the Night of the Refugee. ‘You experience just a little taste of what refugees have to go through, day in, day out. But we’re able to train in advance and are lucky to have good shoes.’

As educational advisor to the OeO department, Anka Wagenaar is part of the ‘and-co’ side of the team. She loves to see how the Night of the Refugee brings different types of people together. ‘Joining in this nocturnal walk with such a mixed, diverse group leaves a deep impression.’

The primary education team ‘Meesters & Juffen’

On behalf of HR, the primary education team ‘Meesters en Juffen’ will also be walking throughout the night on Saturday. Student Annet Rademakers (20) set up the team three years ago. She started with just three people, but there are now eleven of them.

‘I love helping others, I mean why else would you become a teacher’, explains Rademakers. ‘And it’s great that the funds we raise go to help teach kids in emergency refugee camps.’

40 kilometres a ‘little something’

Team member Jamey van de Graaf (23) sees the walk as a ‘little something’: ‘It doesn’t cost me that much effort, but refugees benefit hugely.’ Together with his team members, Van de Graaf has completed a number of 25 kilometre walks in preparation.

Van de Graaf: ‘To get a decent pace going with your legs and to break in your shoes. But to be honest, on the night itself it’s all about character. The last five kilometres in particular were very heavy-going last year, but I then just have to remember that some people walk the distance from Greece to the Netherlands. In that sense, our 40 kilometres are of course peanuts.’

Fear of and opposition to refugees

For Jessica Shinnick from the CoIA team, the Night of the Refugee doesn’t just generate funds, but also helps to increase understanding for refugees. ‘There’s a lot of prejudice towards those who flee from their own country, and there is a great deal of fear and opposition to refugees in society. People are so distrustful. And that makes me very sad, especially because in my opinion it’s largely unfounded and unwarranted’, says Jessica.

‘Which is why it’s so important that as many of us as possible stand up together and show that we are for them and that we want to help them’, adds Maria James. ‘It’s so simple: they are human beings and they need our help.’

Text: Zoë Cozijnsen
Photo: Annet Rademakers