Several European forces have joined together to end injustice and unfairness towards labour migrants in the Netherlands. Our mission is to provide transparent, reliable and fair assistance to all (labour) migrants in the Netherlands. Are you curious about the people behind this idea? If so, read on and get to know us.
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Hi, my name is Pamela Maass. I was born in Resko, Poland.
When I was twelve years old, my parents decided to build for us a better life in the Netherlands. We emigrated from Poland as a family in 2003. For the first few years, my parents worked through an employment agency and rented a house through them. We shared the house with a few Polish people, unfortunately, as most of us know, this is not always fun. My sisters and I learned Dutch very quickly. Within two years, I started secondary school (HAVO). After obtaining my HAVO diploma, unfortunately me and my parents could not afford to pay for my studies, so I decided to start working. At the time, the labour market in the Netherlands had a low demand for workers. After working in various employment agencies and being sent from job to job, I found a permanent job in cleaning. I worked there for three years and after some time I realised I didn’t want to clean for the rest of my life. So what did I do? The answer is simple.
I quit my job and went back to part-time school. For my BBL school in Tilburg, I needed an ‘internship’ of at least 16 hours. I quickly found an internship at a temporary work agency. The combination of my Dutch and Polish language skills proved to be a hit! During this period of my life I saw a lot, including the injustice that was often present in the lives of many foreigners. To this day, I am still approached by people I met at that time. They still contact me for help with various issues. I can say with 100% honesty that I have done everything I can to help temporary workers. After graduating, I continued working for the same employment agency for another two years. My main focus is on (labour) migrants from Eastern Europe. I chose this path because of how close it is to me and the experience we already have.
As a young girl I had to go with my parents to all sorts of institutions for translations. This was because my parents did not speak Dutch at the time. The stress and fear I felt at the time was overwhelming. What if I translate badly or what happens if I don’t understand? That’s when I started to wonder: aren’t there organisations that help people in such cases? This was the seed that started The Power of Advice.
Mission and vision