On November 15 and 16, Tsead Bruinja, musician Zea and photographer Rosa van Ederen visited Fidesta Stienzerhiem in Stiens with guest writer Hein Jaap Hilarides. They made personal portraits with and for the ladies Vis-Visser, Brouwer-Stamhuis and Roorda-Bruinsma and the gentlemen Idsardi and Hoveijn (a bonus portrait).
Tsead: “After our previous visits to larger nursing homes in Lemmer, Buitenpost, Akkrum and St. Annaparochie, the small-scale Stienzerhiem offered a new and more intimate experience. The staff, the residents who did not participate in the project and the artists had to get used to each other, but we soon became part of the pleasant homely atmosphere that care entrepreneur Petra Dol and her colleagues provide. The residents who walked around the living room, instead of a large canteen, chatted just a little faster. As a result, I wrote an extra poem about the retired air force sergeant and former amateur boxer Frits Hoveijn. After his retirement, Hoveijn devoted himself to the fate of refugees. Many things have been revised through his efforts. Impressive. In addition, there were the stories of Mrs. Vis-Visser, who used to tell the pastor that there was nothing sinful about dancing, and Mrs. Roorda-Bruinsma, who told a lot about all the old tresures in the display cabinet, which she and Rosa started dusting. The wayward Mrs. Brouwer-Stamhuis spoke to Hein Jaap Hilarides in her room, after which she went through his text with a red pen on the second day. Two mornings I sat in the easy chair with Mr. Idsardi, who at ninety-two years old was still an caregiver for his wife. He told how he made it from a baker’s assistant in Kollum with only primary school to a detective at the police in Leeuwarden. And how he’d lived for forty-two years in a house that people initially said he couldn’t afford. Stienzerhiem taught us a lot about independence and about work and life after retirement. We won’t soon forget that!”
Listen to the song ‘In famke op ‘e dyk by Longerhou’, written and composed by Zea for resident Ali Vis-Visser:
Take a look at the selection of photo’s made by Rosa during the workshops (of Tsead, Zea and Hein Jaap with the residents) and the presentation:
Read the texts made by Tsead and Hein Jaap about the residents:
Take a look at the selection of photo’s made by Rosa as a portrait of mrs. Neeltje Roorda-Bruinsma:
Rosa: “Mrs. Neeltje Roorda-Bruinsma moved from Britsum to a pleasant square in Stiens, near the former municipality hall. She couldn’t live there for a very long time, because her husband died and it became increasingly difficult alone. That is why she came to live in Stienzerhiem, which made her a little angry at the time: ‘I used words that I will not repeat now’. What she took from her old house was a display case full of memories; a cupboard that is not always kept up to date when it comes to dusting. This is how the idea was born to dust off this cupboard with all its memories together. A plate from grandma, a souvenir from a grandson, a painting that she and her husband bought in France: everything passed through our hands. And in the meantime we chatted about life, she confessed her doubts about her faith, she wondered whether she had been a good person to others and whether she would soon forget… The cup of Bernard and Julia (‘Bernard has Julia hurt a lot, that’s not right’), her parents’ list on their wedding day, still there hand in hand (her father eventually settled with the neighbor, that’s not right either). They were very nice conversations and the cupboard was dusted extra well because Mrs. Roorda had forgotten that I had already done the top shelf.”