Text: Eugene van Meteren. My first column appeared in Resource on 5 September 2019: the story of a lady who rang me up in a terrible state to say there was hair growing on her living room wall. It turned out to be fungus, growing there because the heating was always on full blast without any ventilation.
Now, exactly two years later, I’m writing my last column. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to write all sorts of lovely, sweet, moving, funny and extraordinary tales.
The one that has stayed with me the most is the story of a woman from Rwanda. As a child, she lost both her parents in the genocide. I found her early one morning outside, in a state of shock. ‘My parents were killed in front of my eyes. I survived together with my sisters. I am very happy to be alive but being an orphan at a young age is horrifying.’ Those heart-rending words still echo in my head sometimes.
Those heart-rending words still echo in my head sometimes
The Covid period was a strange and surreal time for caretakers. We were always around for the residents who were still in Wageningen, even during the first lockdown when Wageningen was deserted, and the streets were silent. Many residents had given up their tenancies and it was awfully quiet in the office. Totally unlike the past month or so, in which students from all around the world have returned to Wageningen. All our rooms are occupied again. Thanks to the easing of Covid measures, there are plenty of parties going on again. Here and there you still see students wearing face masks but the atmosphere in the town is back to what it was before Covid. Wageningen is bustling, friendly and lively again.
I still experience lovely, moving, funny and extraordinary things on a daily basis. As I have written before, there is another world behind every door. Really, I get to travel the globe in Wageningen.
For the past two years, Eugene van Meteren has written for Resource about his experiences as an Idealis caretaker. On behalf of all the editors, we would like to thank him for his stories about weed-growing students, romantic women, carefree parents and more.
