A Look Into the Life of a WWII Resistance Fighter and Local Red Cross Volunteer

A few months back, we wrote about how our office received a surprise visitor in the person of Diet Eman, a local WWII concentration camp survivor and former member of the Dutch Resistance. Diet stopped by again yesterday for a Lifesavers Tour, and we thought that you might all enjoy hearing more of her story.

This story was published in fall 2009 newsletter, but here it is, in full, just for you to read! (You know that phrase, “Read it and weep?” Yeah, that might just be true for this…Diet has an incredible story!)

“If we don’t meet each other on Earth again, we will meet in Heaven. We will never be sorry for what we did.”

This farewell note, written to Kentwood resident Diet Eman and carefully inscribed on toilet paper from a Red Cross package, was folded inside of a piece of brown paper, and thrown off a train in the Netherlands by her fiancée, Hein Sietsma, on the way to his death at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany in 1944. Miraculously, though this small note should have been destroyed by the heavy October rains, it made it to Diet months later, and today, at 89 years old, she still carries a copy of it around in her wallet.

Portraits of Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma.

Diet was born just outside of the Hague, in the Netherlands, in 1920 and two weeks before she turned 20, World War II broke out. For the next five years, she was a dedicated member of the Dutch Resistance, helping secure ration cards for Jews, rescuing shot-down Allied soldiers, and risking her life again and again in Nazi-occupied territory.

On May 8, 1944, Diet was arrested under a false name and sent to the Scheveningen prison, which was called “the Orange Hotel” by the Germans, for its high concentration of Dutch resistance fighters whose royal family’s color was orange. Her only reminder of a world not ravaged by war was the Red Cross package she received once a month.

“It was precious,” Diet says. “All we had to keep clean in the camp was a pipe with cold water. The Red Cross would send us toilet paper and a sandwich. It was wonderful. I never complain because everything now is better than it was there.”

She was soon moved to Vught, a nearby concentration camp. Living in a place where she fell asleep to machine gun fire at night and heard children taken from their parents to be lead away to gas chambers, Diet would secretly needlepoint on her handkerchief under her blankets at night as a way of escape, using a needle that had been smuggled in inside a woman’s sock.

Today, she points out the symbolism of each date, letter, and picture on the needlepoint, and finally, points to a line of Dutch and a red cross.

A Dutch Red Cross bag that says "Help Us Help" and a copy of the needlepoint Diet made in the Vught concentration camp.

“This says ‘Long live the Red Cross,’” says Diet with a smile.

In August 1944, Diet was released from Vught and alongside her continued efforts with the Dutch Resistance, she began volunteering with the Dutch Red Cross. Fluent in seven languages and holding a degree in nursing, Diet was sent all over the world with Red Cross to help after disasters.

“It was really hard to see people who often had lost everything,” she recounts. “We began the day with a psychiatrist. 3 weeks is all most people can take. I learned how to take distance, working as a nurse, but it was still so hard to see.”

While working at a hospital in Venezuela, she met and married an American. They moved to the States in 1969, and Diet ended up in Grand Rapids, wanting to be close to a cousin who worked for Zondervan. She became involved with what was then the Kent County Red Cross, taking every class she could, and volunteering to go on disasters during her vacations.

After she retired, she continued to travel both with Red Cross and other organizations well into her 70s and 80s to places all over South and Central America, Mexico, and Puetro Rico.

“You would sleep on the floor, wake up, and have to shake scorpions out of your shoes,” she says, with a glint in her eyes, laughing. “I loved it.”

She mischievously recounts her last Red Cross assignment in Mexico, following a hurricane. She traveled around as a Spanish interpreter with a fellow Red Cross volunteer, and was invited to sit down at one of the houses owned by a young couple. When she got up from their couch, which had recently been under flood water, she says she could feel that her entire backside was wet.

“I was so embarrassed, but we still had other houses to visit, so I just stood with my back to the wall,” she laughs, clapping her hands. “Oh, it was funny!”

When asked in high school what she wanted out of life, Diet’s answer was this: “I don’t care if I will be rich or poor, if only my life won’t be dull.”

And 75 years later, it never has been.

Never Too Early to Start Decking the Halls!

Okay, it CAN be too early to really deck the halls — you know, with snowmen, Santa, glitter and all those festive trimmings. However, checking things off of the eternally long “Holidays To Do” list can be a wonderful thing, especially when it’s ahead of the holiday curve. In fact, just today, one of my coworkers informed me she had most of her Christmas gifts wrapped and stored already. Talk about being on top of the game!

Well, while we can’t personally come over to your house and wrap your gifts for you (while pounding the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in the background and drinking eggnog, of course), we can take one big thing off your mind. The centerpiece, the cornerstone, of any holiday celebration — the tree.

Order now through November 25 online at Dutchman Tree Farms, where you can pick from a variety of fresh trees and wreaths, and then, the best part is this — they get shipped right to your door! No more standing in a Christmas tree lot, shivering, and trying to pick from 800 trees that all look the same, and somehow, always ending up with one where all the needles fall off the second you get it home. (We can all relate to Charlie Brown on this one, can’t we?)

It gets even better! Order online now through November 25, use the code RCGRMI, and a portion of your purchase will be donated to your local Red Cross!

So we say fa-la-la-la-la and deck those halls with a Christmas tree from Dutchman Tree Farms — you gotta love seeing a little Red (Cross) mixed in with that piney green!

The Next Best Thing to Personally Handing You a Tissue

If you haven’t had the flu, chances are someone in your house or office has. We had a nasty case passing around the past few weeks here, and we know how miserable it can be.

While we can’t personally hand you a tissue as you sniffle and sneeze, make you a cup of chicken noodle soup, or find you the TV remote (one can only watch so much “The Price is Right” when a couch invalid…), but we care so much that we want to share what we can: these videos. This is just for you, all ye flu sufferers (okay, and everyone else too):

Want more resources? Try redcross.org, flu.gov, and our local resource here in Kent County, stickittotheflu.com.

Worldwide Weekly Wrap-Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Weekly Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It’s a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work…

 

[The place names link to maps so that you can get a quick idea of the region.]

INDIA: The heaviest rains in more than a century have inundated parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states in southern India. The Krishna River and its tributaries have flooded surrounding villages, killing 384 people, displacing 674,500 and affecting more than 4.1 million

The Indian Red Cross is responding, providing relief supplies and water sanitation. The American Red Cross is sending $180,000 of relief items.

YEMEN: Aid from the ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent has reached around 140,000 people over the past three months, but tens of thousands of others trapped in conflict areas or forced to flee must fend for themselves as winter approaches.

PAKISTAN: As thousands flee fighting in the south of Waziristan, the ICRC and Pakistan Red Crescent Society continue to help people displaced in the north of the country over the last six months. Photo gallery.

BURUNDI: A healthy albino baby boy was born last week in a police-protected shelter. A rare happy story in the Ruyigi province where albino people have been the target of occult-based killings.

 

WORLDWIDE: For more worldwide Red Cross and Red Crescent news, read the latest issue of Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine online.

GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

[Original post by Robin Parker]

Great Stories, Part 3

As I’m sifting through great stories, deciding which ones to share with you, I am noticing a theme.  People.  It’s all about human connection.  The power of the American Red Cross is the way it allows people in vulnerable situations to reach out to each other.

Here’s a story from Michelle Barbaresso, an AmeriCorps member in Washtenaw County:

After my first interview for the “Together We Prepare” position at the American Red Cross, I was told this position would challenge me every day in one way or another. Only after my first training with Service to Armed Forces (SAF), did I realize what “challenge” meant.

My first SAF exposure was definitely what I would consider an emotional test of strength, along with a few other experiences I have had since starting at the American Red Cross of Washtenaw County. Our trainer, Amy Jo, taught us that SAF casework is relatively structured as far as paperwork, but the caseworker must be flexible when faced with each individual situation. There was an interesting case on this first day of SAF training, one that Amy Jo hadn’t even dealt with before in her many years working with the Red Cross—a face-to-face interaction with a SAF client.

This individual came to our chapter with the desire to send a message to his son overseas. When he walked in, we could see his emotional distress from the start. He told us his father (the serviceman’s grandfather) was in hospice care and did not have much time left. Amy Jo did not have all the information necessary to send the message, so the individual called the hospice nurse to verify. As he was on the phone, he found out his father had actually passed away since he had last been with his father. Amy Jo changed the nature of the message and continued to send it to the serviceman, but the emotional intensity of that moment I will never forget. His face as he found out and the way he held back tears—that’s the individual I’m going to picture every time a SAF call comes through for me.

This is not an upbeat story by any means; in fact, I’m still tearing up weeks later because this moment was so emotional. But it taught me a valuable lesson about the American Red Cross and how much these messages really mean to the servicemen and women and their families. We must remember the responsibilities that come along with our positions, volunteer or otherwise, are constantly having an impact on people—whether it’s a SAF case or helping as a DAT team member at a house fire or teaching someone CPR and first aid—and how much what we do actually means to our community.

Oh Baby, What a Photo!

As I am due to be a first-time aunt any day now, I definitely have babies on the brain. Here at your local Red Cross, we are also in the midst of picking out photos for our holiday cards this year. As I am looking through the Red Cross photo library, I am getting utterly doused with photos of adorable tots that Red Cross has assisted over the years. (This is not helping, as my niece is not due for another week, and I am NOT a patient person.)

So, today, in my overly-excited, auntie-to-be state, I give you “Cute Kids of the Red Cross.” (And cue the “awwwww…”s.)

This little cutie stayed at a Red Cross shelter during the June 2008 flooding in Indiana.

Who else just wants to (gently) squeeze this little one's cheeks?

There is a general consensus in the office that this little guy, staying at a Louisiana shelter, looks like me as a toddler. (I don't know what to think of that since this is a boy...and I am not. Hmmmm.)

Want to “oooh” and “ahhh” at more pictures? Check out the Red Cross Flickr account (both the National organization’s and ours).

Have little ones that you want to protect? Have you taken Child/Infant CPR? Or is your “little one” all grown up now and eligible for Babysitter Training or youth volunteering? Lots of options to choose from!

“Goodness Precedes Greatness”

I came across this article, written by musician Jon Foreman, on the blog of the organization Invisible Children, and thought that, in all ways, it is worth sharing. As the Red Cross is an organization that thrives of the realization of “goodness” in each of us, Jon’s words hit a spot very, very close to home.

I write songs for a living, which is to say that writing songs helps me to live. The song becomes a place where melody and tempo can cover some truly volatile topics. God, women, politics, sex, hatred, disillusionment- a song or a story can be a deeper vessel and more forgiving than most conversations. Poetry can get under the skin without your permission, and music can offer perspective or hope that might have been hidden before. And so the song becomes a vehicle to cover some serious ground.

These days I have a hard time writing a song that feels bright or hopeful. The unemployment rate is edging up even further and spending is down. Foreclosures are way up and stocks are down. Our headlines are full of war, natural disaster, and corruption. So I go looking for songs of hope and stories that remind me of the incredible privilege of living another day. I suppose I’m looking for a hero of sorts. Someone who rises above the situation and does something incredible.

Remember the guy who threw himself on top of the passenger who had suffered a seizure in the New York Subway? As the train was approaching he jumps down onto the tracks and risks his life to save the life of a complete stranger whose convulsions had thrown him into the path of an oncoming train. Incredible. Have you seen Team Hoyt, the dad who pushes his disabled son through all the marathons? They’ve even done the Iron Man competitions together as father and son, which makes me tear up. Or the story of Mother Teresa, a woman who gave her life to the less fortunate day after day after day. These are the stories that I want to sing about. These are stories of hope.

Such sacrifice, such patience and such goodness is rare and rightly called heroic. But these are not the heroes of our times. Wesley Autrey is not a household name and neither is Team Hoyt. If you want to know the heroes of our society, follow the money, look at the posters on the wall. We pay them seven digit salaries, we put their songs on our playlists, and follow them on Twitter. These are the heroes we emulate.

Let’s face it. Mother Teresa doesn’t look that good in a negligee. And Team Hoyt won’t sell beer commercials to the networks. But when the ball players and the supermodels end up in rehab, we end up asking esoteric questions about what makes a hero. In the movies the good looking actor who gets the girl is easy to point to. But after he gets the girl, then the house, and then a few kids and then a divorce and then another girl. Then what? After all of the special effects are gone, we’re left with an aging mortal who looks a bit awkward on the talk shows. Perhaps we’ve set our goals too low. Or perhaps we’ve got it backwards.

I would like to suggest that the best parts of our human nature can be seen in sacrifice or surrender. A mother sacrificing her time for her child, a teacher devoting her afternoons to help students off-the-clock. These are truly our most incredible moments as a species: moments of unmerited kindness. Goodness. Virtue. Nobility. Grace. Morality. These are the truly remarkable moments. Perhaps our current economic climate of debt needs a fresh perspective on worth and value. Maybe our monetary crisis indicates a broader loss of perspective.

We live in the land of plenty, the land of milk and honey, where the lottery of birth has given us the advantage of education, of wealth, and of opportunity. Ammon Hennessy puts it this way, “You came into the world armed to the teeth with… the weapons of privilege.” A trip south of the border can be an incredible reminder. We are living in the land of entitlement, one of the wealthiest nations in the history of mankind. And yet, money cannot buy us the true wealth of happiness, or peace, or of a deeper form of a meaningful life.

Perhaps the current climate of uncertainty would be the appropriate time to ask the question: what are we aiming for? Our technological achievements as a species are impressive. Our cities, our advancements in flight and our iPhones are all fairly remarkable. But there is nothing heroic about my cell phone. There is nothing sacrificial about it. Where is the song that’s worth singing? What is our measure of success? Renown psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl says that “success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a byproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”

Maybe the fix is not the money. Maybe two and a half hours in a theatre isn’t enough time for a hero to be born. Maybe it takes a lifetime- a lifetime like John M. Perkins. John Perkins is a man who devoted his life to those around him in simple and profound ways. He was quick to forgive, quick to utilize resources to help those in need. He has been a tireless civil rights worker who has endured beatings, harassments, and even prison for what he believes. With the help of his wife, Vera Mae, and a few others, he founded a health center, leadership development program, thrift store, low-income housing development and training center in his hometown of Mendenhall, Mississippi. His is a story of reconciliation, of forgiveness, of patience. He endured the suffering, holding on to a cause greater than himself.

John Perkins has is a song I want to sing. A song of a great man, the story of a legend. How do you replicate this goodness? Do you monetize it? Do you subsidize it? No. It’s bigger than Washington, it’s bigger than Wall Street. And it looks better than Hollywood. His is the story of a hero, a song of hope. His is a story that reminds me of a goodness beneath the system. Though Perkins was a devout Christian, he was quick to point out that this goodness is bigger than stale religion. Mr. Perkins once said that “many congregations do nothing but outsource justice.” John Perkins said it right- you can’t outsource justice. You can’t farm out goodness to someone else. Your life is yours alone. Those decisions are yours to make.

I am the system. You are the system. We, the system of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, choose goodness. Yes, the system is flawed. Yes, the church is flawed. Yes, Wall Street and Hollywood Boulevard are all fatally flawed. Yes, there will always be those who take the easy way out. But that ain’t your game. Your choice is yours alone. Goodness precedes greatness. Maybe the mother will always have more power than the atomic bomb. Maybe under the skin there is a song of hope and meaning waiting to break free. Or maybe not. It’s our story. You and I decide with our actions. It can be as small as simple courtesy. Or get involved in your hometown. Find out what the local food bank looks like. Look up the local Habitat for Humanity [or American Red Cross!...okay that's our note, not Jon's]. What is the world you want? You choose it with every breath.

In our current climate of fear and debt I am reminded of what I hold most valuable in this life: the human souls closest to me. We need each other. Human beings will always be the most valuable natural resource on the planet. The human story is still unfolding. We are telling it as we speak. The human song is still weaving its way towards a chorus, through the suffering, through the fear. We need each other. We need heroes. Let your life be a beautiful song. We need hope. Tell a good story with the way you live. What is the world you want?

- Jon Foreman

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/goodness-precedes-greatne_b_322551.html

“Lucky 13″ Halloween Safety Tips for Your Little Ghouls and Goblins!

The American Red Cross of Greater Grand Rapids wants your family to have a safe Halloween so we’re providing these tips, the lucky 13:

• Map out the route that you plan to roam, so adults are assured you will find your way home!

• From the bravest of superheroes to the noblest of knights, everyone should remember to bring their flashlights!
• If you visit a house where a stranger resides, accept treats at the door and, please, don’t go inside.
• When you get ready to put on your disguise, use face paint instead of masks, which will cover your eyes.
• Always remember, before you embark, to wear light-colored clothing to be seen in the dark! (And remember to use reflective tape, even on bikes, skateboards and brooms!)
• Whether you walk, slither or sneak, do it on the sidewalks and not in the street.
• As you roam through the neighborhood collecting your treats, please look both ways before crossing the street! (And cross from the corner!)
• Wigs, capes and costumes are flammable attire, so avoid open flames to prevent a fire!
• Use a glow stick instead of a candle so your jack-o-lantern isn’t a safety gamble!
• You may fly on a broom or a space ship from Mars, but please be on the lookout for drivers in cars! (And don’t hide between parked vehicles).
• Monsters and zombies should stay off the lawn, and only visit homes with their porch lights turned on!
• You may be dressed as a werewolf, a cat or a frog, but be cautious around strange animals, especially dogs.
• Have a grown-up inspect your candy when you’re done trick-or-treating to remove open packages and choking hazards before eating.

Tulips are good for the soul

As part of our AmeriCorps term of service, we participate in a service project each month, usually working outside the American Red Cross with another organization.  For our October Service project, one of our members found a volunteer needs posting entitled “tulip planting.”  So we piled into a van and made our way to Holland, to the Evergreen Commons Senior Center.  The West Michigan weather decided to smile on us for a day, and we moved dirt, spread mulch, planted bushes, and planted tulips to a blustery wind and an indian summer sun.

It felt so good to spend the day moving, to watch our hard work met with tangible results.  Comradarie + sunshine + hard work = getting outside yourself and seeing the beauty in the everyday.   We got to know some of the regular volunteers who give up their time so generously  We planted over thirty bushes, hacking through old roots to dig the holes.  We threw dirt clods at each other.  And at the end of our work, we took a walk in the woods and climbed a monstrous sand dune.

We often live in worlds that are too confined; take the time to move outside of yourself.   Rake your neighbor’s leaves.  Provide vaccinations for children around the world.  Bake bread for a family member.  Help out with disaster relief.  Jump into something with your whole being.

Weekly Worldwide Wrap Up

Welcome to the Worldwide Wednesday Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It’s a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work…

[The place names link to maps so that you can get a quick idea of the region.]

BELGIUM: The ICRC and the College of Europe are bringing together experts from around the world to discuss new forms of violence and how they relate to international humanitarian law.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The ICRC and Central African Red Cross Society are bringing aid to thousands of civilians displaced by violence – providing water sanitation, supplies for medical centers that have been looted, and reuniting children with their families.

IRAQ: In the four years before the closure of the American detention facility at Camp Bucca, around 30,000 detainees received 146,000 visits from their relatives with ICRC financial support.

SUDAN: Acting as a neutral intermediary, the ICRC transported two released hostages in Darfur last weekend.

INDONESIA: The Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah Indonesia) and the ICRC are working hand-in-hand to trace people separated from their families by earthquakes that killed more than 1,000 people, destroyed tens of thousands of houses and left hundreds unaccounted for.

AMERICAN SAMOA: In the wake of the tsunami, American Red Cross volunteers are working with grieving families and providing a “safe space” for children to laugh again.

GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

[Original post by Robin Parker.]