Categories: Blog

One year 'To this day' (and now onwards)

Thanks mom. The best thing your parents can give you is their history while they are alive. Pouya That's what my son Pouya said after eagerly reading the manuscript of To this day a few weeks before the launch – exactly one year ago today. That response was a gift. Just like the positive message […]

Hospitality

I'm sitting at home behind my laptop at the kitchen table. I run my hands over the wooden tabletop that my husband repainted in one of the lokdowns. Eight persons, once consciously purchased to receive many guests. This table has many faces, was there when we made memories and exchanged stories. Forty kilometers […]

'Go and live'

Last Saturday I was invited to give a lecture to commemorate those who were sent "by night and mist" in World War II to Natzweiler, the German concentration camp on French soil. The commemoration was at the impressive location Kamp Amersfoort. Artist Armando has started to paint the woods around camp Amersfoort. The trees were […]

Slow accuracy

“Haste slowly was a well-known saying of the ancient Romans. Erasmus also quoted it in his Adagia. In all your activities, the trick is to find a good balance between diligence and carefulness. By hesitating, waiting and considering things carefully, you can save time later on.' While […]

Slow accuracy

“Haste slowly was a well-known saying of the ancient Romans. Erasmus also quoted it in his Adagia. You must find a good balance between diligence and carefulness in all your activities. By hesitating, waiting and considering things carefully, you can save time later on.' As I read these words […]

UAF Director Mardjan Seighali: 'It's all of us'

My book 'Tot de dag' describes my first years in the Netherlands, years in which I discovered how to activate my brain again. I wanted to absorb sunbeams again. For too long I had lain like a fish at the bottom of a dry river. The river was flowing again and I decided to swim, the […]

Connection head & heart

It was a great honor to be interviewed by Frénk van der Linden as a guest at the online conference on Friday, April 16, in the historic building of Felix Meritis. It was a fascinating conversation with the theme Passion, Position and Politics for GZ psychologists. Since the launch of my book “Until the Day” I […]

UAF director Mardjan Seighali: 'To move forward, we need people who want to make it possible'

On Monday, three lawyers presented the Ongehoord collection; Injustice in Immigration Law to the House of Representatives. The document describes 48 harrowing examples from their practice, immigration law. Scientists from the Center for Migration Law published a similar report last week. The four main conclusions of the two publications according to de Volkskrant: there is distrust towards 'foreigners', the legislation […]

Leendert de Bell (lecturer): 'What is striking is the amount and diversity of initiatives'

On September 1, 2019, I was appointed by the UAF and Hogeschool Utrecht as a special lecturer for the promotion of sustainable labor participation of refugees. An honorable appointment and a meaningful challenge that gives me a lot of energy every day. Almost a year ago, I forced my public class into a large, empty lecture hall via a […]

Letter to Nico van Tellingen

Last week I received a letter from Nico van Tellingen from Rhenen. Mr Van Tellingen is a donor to the UAF, we do not know each other personally. In his letter he thanks me for sharing my story. 'A firm plea not to push your traumas away, but to overcome a pain through all the effort […]