Adèle
Oil on linen, 50 cm x 70 cm, 2026
Adèle can sit wonderfully still, but in the rest of her life she’s not one for taking breaks. She does a great deal of volunteering, in several jobs. Among other things at the drugs pastoral care service (“pouring coffee and having a good natter — I’m good at that”), teaching children for their First Communion, working in the shop at the Begijnhof, and three days a week here at the Buurtkamer. When I ask what it is she actually does, she says I’d do better to ask what she doesn’t do. She works closely with Anneke — “if she ever left, I’d really miss her.”
Adèle was the only one who worked out how to reach me in Diemen by public transport. She strikes me as imperturbable and practical, and deeply caring towards others.
She lives at the Begijnhof. Not long ago there was a girl sitting on a bench in the blazing sun, who seemed not to be moving at all. Adèle went over to her with a glass of water. Turned out nothing was wrong — she was simply absorbed in a drawing. And she was delighted that someone had cared enough to check on her.
I suspect there are a great many people in Amsterdam who are happy that Adèle cares about them.
