Sunday November 25. And once again from Kapelaan back to the Koster.

Written by Jack van Ommen on November 25th, 2012

I was the guest of Stephen and Maria Boonzaaijer this weekend. It is the 25th anniversary of “De Bondgenoot” (difficult to find the appropriate translation: someone you make a covenant with, The Elect, Ally, Trustee). www.bondgenoot.nl  is a Christian community,  a miniature Kibutz in Barneveld in east central Holland. A rural area known for its concentration of poultry farms and in the Dutch Bible Belt.  The spiritual leader of the community is Stephen Boonzaaijer. I met Stephen and his wife Maria in Papeete in 2005. They sail “Yo Soy”. Their boat is wintering in Portugal. In an earlier blog I reported that Maria www.stemstudiomaria.nl/  has just published her second book “Het Vreemde Meisje”, she has helped me with my “De Mastmakersdochters”.  Maria grew up just a few streets over from where I was born. The community reminds me of the Quaker group who sponsored me into the Unites States in 1957. They lived with about six families in a compound in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, California. I am putting  their names in this blog because I might this way find them back. Just like the 41 year old who found her father on this blog because I had used his name in it. My Quaker sponsors were William and Polly Hare. One other family was headed by Ernie von Seggeren and his wife Miriam.

Ali an about 30 year old Afghan is one of the members of the “Bondgenoot”. His grandfather, father and all his uncles were murdered by the Taliban and he is seeking refugee status in Holland. He gave me a fascinating insight into the ethnic makeup of Afghanistan. He is a Hazara, a minority. who live in West Kabul and in north central Afghanistan. They are mostly Shiite whereas the Taliban are  predominantly Sunni Muslims. Their origins are not clear but believed to have come from Mongolia and Eastern Turkey. I have seen several groups of them this year in Athens and except of the way they were dressed  I could not believe how close they resembled Indo Chinese. I aksed him what we should do to help agianst their persecution by the Taliban. The first thing America needs to do is stop pouring billions into Pakistan’s military who support the Taliban with arms and protection inside their borders.  After reading “The Kite Runner”, “Three Cups of Tea” and “Shantaram” I’ve become very intrigued with Afghanistan and would like to learn more about it’s complex make-up.

Today is the feast of Christ the King. Stephen’s sermon was on Revelations 21: 1 :Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. I had a wonderful weekend with a very special group of people. Next Sunday is the start of the Advent season.

Eucumenical service with Stephen Boonzaaijer

 

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