Welcome to Utrecht is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month! Normally, we mainly share photos of our activities, but not of ourselves! So it’s high time we introduced ourselves.
Today we’re starting with the Joseph Haydnlaan & Europalaan team: Lara, Elham, Amir, and Marit.

Lara works at the reception center on Europalaan in Kanaleneiland: “I think it’s important that people have a good place where they can be welcomed. And that there are enough people in society who want to help with that and who welcome those people.” Lara knows all about this herself. She was a language buddy for a long time at a Welkom in Utrecht language café and met every week with someone who was learning Dutch. She has now been part of our team as a program assistant for about a year. What’s nice about working at Welkom in Utrecht? “Bringing people together. Both residents of a reception center with Utrecht residents, and vice versa. People learn to understand each other a little better.” Meeting someone from the asylum seekers’ center can make a big impression on someone who has never been to an asylum seekers’ center before. And vice versa, it’s nice for a newcomer to get to know Dutch people. That doesn’t happen very often when you live in an asylum seekers’ center.

Elham, Amir, and Marit work at the oldest and largest asylum seekers’ center in Utrecht, in Oog in Al. Refugees have been housed on Joseph Haydnlaan for 35 years, and nearly 600 people reside there. Elham feels completely at home here: “If I can do something for someone and I see a smile in their eyes, my day is made. Recently, together with the Connected Foundation, we were able to arrange a mobility scooter for a gentleman in the asylum seekers’ center who has difficulty walking. Without a mobility scooter, he was unable to leave the asylum seekers’ center grounds, but now he can go out on his own again, into the city. He was so happy, it really touched me.” Amir agrees: “You get so much in return. I refer people to English lessons at Plan Einstein or help them find volunteer work. That gives me a lot of energy too.” He emphasizes how important it is for people to be able to participate in our activities. “People don’t sit in their rooms all day, but are busy with a language course or going to the vegetable garden. When I used to live in the asylum seekers’ center myself, those opportunities weren’t there.”
And that is the power of Welcome to Utrecht. Marit: “The support we can offer brings a bit of lightheartedness to the asylum seekers’ center. We can take some of the weight off someone’s shoulders for a moment by doing something fun or by helping someone get started.” Keep an eye on our page to get to know our other teams!