Yes, we are still alive#
2025 was a hard year for our family. Hard in the decisions we had to make and the choices forced upon us. Discrimination at school, unsafe situations in our living environment — things no family should have to deal with. But the future of our kids matters more than the place where we live. So we made the hard decision to move to our holiday home in Zagorje, where our friend Justus Reid also has his small house on a hillside. A beautiful environment, honest people, and a place where we and our kids can finally find our way.
Ten years living in Croatia#
It’s already ten years since we left Holland. The main reason was the Dutch benefits affair — one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Dutch state, created by their own government. AI automation is not always the way to do your lazy-ass work without debugging, testing and monitoring. The Dutch tax benefits department thought they could run a great automated check, with some extreme right-wing thinkers holding the keys — and in doing so created a group of more than 60,000 victim families, without those families ever knowing it, until the end was near. More than 3,000 children were taken away from their parents because of claims the government forced through. With such overwhelming force that people lost their jobs, their companies, their houses — and ended up on the street.
We got out in time. We ran with our kids behind the Schengen border, inside Europe — and Croatia was the only choice we had.
Still fighting to get our rights back#
Even now, we are still trying to piece everything back together. The losses are real: family, friends, our company, our houses, our income. Four governments have come and gone, and the shit is still there. Mark Rutte walked away into a well-protected new job. The victims are still fighting to get their lives back.
It took me eight years to get my right to vote back.
The injustice that is done to you — day after day — is simply extreme. Staff lawyers at DG Herstel Toeslagen step over the law without batting an eye, with no feeling and no heart. A struggle was forced upon us, and then we faced an even greater struggle just to claim our rights back.
Many groups have emerged on social media — people sharing their stories, people joining forces, people fighting together for what they are owed. And in the first phase of the recovery process there was enormous pressure that left you with no real choice. Paralyzed by stress and trauma, you had to choose between a little — or nothing. And I mean truly nothing. Because if you took one wrong turn, followed the wrong route, did this instead of that — you ended up with nothing at all. Nothing, after everything that was taken from you.
On top of all of that: the stress of a trauma that was inflicted on our daughter.
Now, two years on, there is finally some peace. We left our own home — it is on the market now — and moved to a place where the street is quiet, the surroundings are calm, and the children can walk outside freely. They go to school with pleasure. Real lessons. Real help with their language. Real life.
Would You Like to Support Me?#
❤️❤️❤️ Would You Like to Support Me? ❤️❤️❤️ If you enjoy this content and would like to support my efforts in creating more free prompts and articles, you can do so at My Patreon. Your support is greatly appreciated and will enable me to continue providing valuable content. Thank you!
