After a military flight via Curaçao, nanny Jeanne van Beek was finally back on safe and familiar ground. Hurricane Irma had caused moments of terror on the tropical island of Sint Maarten, where Jeanne had travelled for an internship. But this terrible hurricane threw a spanner in the works. The planned three months on Sint-Maarten ended up being only one. But Jeanne is not satisfied and has started a fundraising campaign for the National Institute of Arts.
The hurricane
‘I was staying at a friend’s house during the storm because my own apartment was on the beach,’ Jeanne says. ‘I was terrified and really in survival mode. We were in the living room, but if it became unlivable, we would go behind the shower in the bathroom. The sturdiest part of the house’. The first part of the storm, before the windless eye of Irma was over the island, lasted about two hours. But the second, three-hour part only caused the most damage. The next day, Jeanne was glad to be with her friend: “My apartment was completely flat. If I had been there, I probably wouldn’t have been able to recount it.’
Charity event
Jeanne did an internship at the National Institute of Arts in St. Maarten to prepare young people for dance auditions in Amsterdam and also taught dance at several high schools. ‘Hurricane or not, there was actually not enough money at the National Institute of Arts already.’ That’s why, after Hurricane Irma, she and her supervisor Percy Kruythoff of the Amsterdam School of the Arts decided to start an action to get as many children as possible dancing after the reconstruction. The young people on Sint Maarten are so enthusiastic that I could easily give dance lessons for hours on end,’ Jeanne continues. ‘That also gave me tremendous energy’.
Setting up a dance school in St. Martin is obviously not a priority right now, but after reconstruction, Jeanne wants to use the money raised to ensure that the National Institute of Arts can be repaired and teachers can be hired again. ‘The concrete of the building is still standing, but the windows are broken and there is water damage. We want to raise as much money as possible to get kids dancing again.’ A day of action will be organized on October 14 with different workshops, but you can already do your part. Not only to the physical but also to the mental reconstruction of St. Maarten by making sure that the young people enjoy taking dance classes again and hopefully forget a little about this terrible hurricane.
Through this link you can find more information about the action and the account number of the organization. We are obviously very proud of our nanny and therefore call on as many people as possible to support this action!
