English Information

DAK-foundation (Stichting DAK)

Introduction

Since March 2000 Koos and Diny Rozeboom have been working for "The Hiding place"-institution in Gjirokastër, Albania.

This institution was founded in 1986 by Marijan Nijhof from the Netherlands. Right now Koos and Diny Rozeboom take care of 9 Albanian children, born between 1998 and 2001. They are fulltime foster-parents of these children, because the biological parents are unable to take care of their own children.

Koos and Diny are living on donations: relatives, acquaintances, friends and the church support them regularly and every now and then they receive a donation from a school or some other organisation. The DAK (= Diny-Albania-Koos)-foundation supports them with word and deed.

Below you can read more about the work of Koos and Diny in Albania and the way the DAK-foundation is supporting them.

Koos and Diny Rozeboom and their work in Albania

Koos and Diny Rozeboom take care of 9 children. Each child has its own history and therefore there are also 9 different reasons why the children stay with Koos and Diny, like: poverty, relations who are not allowed to know that the child is alive, most of all the mother's inability to look after the children. As much as possible opportunities are created for the children to be in touch with their biological mothers. Naturally, because it is the intention that the children eventually return to their mothers.

Taking care of so many different children, all with their own specific backgrounds, is not easy. Fortunately they get help from the Albanian population. Some local ladies assist with the care of the children, and besides they do jobs in the housekeeping, such as: cooking, ironing, cleaning and the like.

Marijan Nijhof lives in the neighbouring house. She takes care of the contacts with the authorities and gives advice on the Albanian culture.

How the refuge came into existence

In the early seventies Marijan Nijhof read in a newspaper that Albania was the first and only country in the world where it was against the law to worship God. She could not imagine that there was a country where the government dictated what people were allowed to believe or not and accordingly what people were allowed to think. She was very much intrigued by this country and in the eighties she visited the country a few times as a tourist. From 1994 she has lived here permanently.

In consultation with the Albanian government

Soon after she began to live in Gjirokastër, she discovered that quite regularly babies were left behind in the maternity home. Some of these babies had to wait 6 months or even longer till there was room for them in a nursery home. During this time their world was as small as the bed in which they were lying. She was deeply touched by this and she consulted the doctors about her plans to start a children's home in Gjirokastër. They immediately were enthusiastic about the idea.

In december 1996 the "Schuilplaats/Hiding Place/Vatër e Ngrohtë" -institution was founded in the Netherlands. With referenence to Psalm 91 vs 1 where is written "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (the only really safe place).

The Albanian government has always been very cooperative and still is.

Taking care of the children

All children need a safe, trustworthy, loving environment to grow up, but among their own people and in their own culture. In due time all the activities will be handed over to the Albanians, but for the time being this is not yet possible.

Ten years ago Koos and Diny were also in Albania for the Dorcas-institution to assist with the start of a bakery. Through this experience they were already informed about what's going on in Albania. Koos and Diny found out that God called upon them to carry out this task.

How children get into the family of "Vatër e Ngrohtë"

Nearly all the children Koos and Diny give shelter to, come to them via the maternity home in Gjirokastër. The mother is unable to take care of the baby and therefore the child is left behind in the hospital. When there are no relations who can look after the child, the hospital gets in touch with Marijan.Together with Koos and Diny she examines the child's circumstances and together they try to find a solution. When there are no other options, Marijan takes care of the paper-work and after that the child can be admitted to "Vatër e Ngrohtë". Which means "house of warmth"and it expresses what the house can mean to the children.

Contact with the mother

In principle Koos and Diny try to keep in touch with the (biological) mothers of the children regularly. With the majority of the mothers this is successful. With some of the mothers it is impossible to make contact because of the circumstances they are in.

Koos and Diny want to pay special attention to each child individually, so that they feel at home and safe. They try to keep the Albanian customs as much as possible, after all the children are of Albanian origin. But sometimes western customs are introduced, like bodily care and playing with the children. The reason this is not often done by the Albanians themselves has obviously to do with the poor circumstances. A greater part of the day Albanian adults are just busy to survive: they have to earn their bread. There's little energy left to have fun with the children.

More information

For more, detailed, information on a special subject, you can always contact the "DAK"-institution or directly get in touch with Koos and Diny.