‘Power of Pendrecht’ was shown at successful workshop in Rotterdam (October 20-22)

For two days, the residents of Pendrecht were the host of the international workshop in Rotterdam. The meeting started in an informal manner at the restaurant De Zuiderkroon, where old friends met again and where new relationships were born. For over 50 residents from London, Birmingham, Dortmund, Antwerp, The Hague, Vlaardingen and of course Rotterdam had come to Pendrecht to talk about Resident led Neighbourhoods and to exchange experiences and new ideas.

The workshop started on Friday 21st of October. Residents from Antwerp, Pendrecht and Birmingham talked about their networks, their successes and failures. Bien (Pendrecht) showed the visitors that integration is a manner of recognizing skills. Their ‘vrouwenstudio’ is a perfect example of how woman can develop their talents and skills. Rakhyia (Birmingham) talked about the extensive network of volunteers (and professionals) that work in the  Balsall Heath area om different subject: to do sports with young girls, to educate children, to maintain parks and gardens, to keep an eye on the neighbourhood, to collect garbage, to promote the integration of new immigrants and so forth. Jan (Antwerp) talked about their work to help the poorest people of the town and their fight against slumlords.

After the interesting discussion, Arnold Reijndorp and Susan Goedknegt presented the essay ‘Residents make a world of difference’. This essay was written after the resident university 2004 in the Hague and tries to explain why residents can make a difference. Is it their passion, their network, their anger or their skills? Or is it a combination? The essay was given to all the participants of the workshop. (Readers of this website can download this essay here or can send an email to info@r4r.nl.)