Western Europe

Beveland is a region in the southwestern corner of The Netherlands. Beveland is part of a peninsula and bridges and dikes are a major part of the landscape. This is the home region of Atlantic Bridge, in particular the town of Kruiningen. The region around Kruiningen is known for potatoes, onions and mussels. If you are interested in digging into the culture and history check out:

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Regional Support Team

Although we have had many youth activities in the region over the twenty years we have been here, only two years ago we made new efforts to start Bridgebuilders again. Mirjam van Langevelde, Diane Bruijn, Nicky Watson and Ko Jonker were interested in starting to build up youth work. Together with our four EVS interns (Bogdan, Minta, Anna and Rachida), team leader Lu Walker from NY City, and Heather Graber as project coordinator, Sara and Lino Alberto as guides, the Europe Week was planned in Kruiningen and Kapelle. The week  brought together youth from 6 other countries and inspired many local youth to be involved. 

For Heather Graber, who has been the office manager for 7 years, this was her last project locally.

Since the summer, a new Regional support Team has emerged with new members especially from Kapelle. You see them in the photo below:

Together they hope to continue to build the mission of building bridges in the region. Their first task is to start a Bridgebuilders Club from the interest this summer. Finding a youth leader is the most challenging part of this!

AB history:

Tholen is one of our Netherlands regions. Tholen is a town located on the island of Tholen in the province of Zeeland in southwest Netherlands. Atlantic Bridge has been active in Tholen since 1989 when we organised an exchange week with a youth group from Cleveland OH who then hosted a Tholen group a year later.

Since then we have had some groups come to our International Youth Festivals but most of the initiatives have been taken by churches. However, after the Nubian Gents and Angels of Harmony had performances in 2001 and 2004 things in Tholen started up again.

In 2005 and 2006 Nel Ottema, now Regional Coordinator, opened up her house to become a hosting place for European volunteers. Since then efforts were made to start a Regional Support Team and gradually activities increased. This led to the hosting of Czech students from Jicin and an American church youth group from Lansdale, PA in June 2007. In July 2007, the Dutch and American groups travelled to the Czech Republic for a tri-laterial exchange. These three groups form a Tri-lateral Partnership.

The Bridgebuilders Club is based in the Calvijn College in Tholen and the students come from several villages across the whole island.

Present situation:

In this region, the emphasis is twofold: inspire a missions vision for youth work in the Tholen region and stimulate the development of youth work in Jicin. In the wake of this mission we hope that various church youth groups will be motivated to discover the inspiration of a Regional Youth Contact. The connection with the schools is crucial in both regions. In Tholen Atlantic Bridge is working primarily with the Calvin high school. We are also planning to involve a bigger city in this region, Bergen op Zoom, where we are still searching for a partner school / group. In the summer of 2009, some members of the BB Club from Tholen went to Slovenia and Summercamp in Koszeg, Hungary.

People:

Regional Support Team

Regional Coordinator is Nel Ottema.