You may have heard or read about it, this summer the doors of Rotterdam's Ahoy were reopened for the Jeugdvakantieland Fair. A large playground with plenty to do for children between the ages of 4 and 12. Almost every sport can be practised here. You can dance, act in our theater, there is a clown, you can help the 'injured' as a real first aider, ride a pony, dive, swim, go on the merry-go-round, paint, build, rollerskate, get your youth driving licence in the traffic garden, climb the climbing wall, braid your hair, eat, snack, fight the Military Unit and ride in a fire engine with the siren blaring. In short, there's nothing you can't do there. I did not see any children on their mobile phones or PlayStations. Nope, I did not see them.
What I did see was children playing, diving, dancing, playing sports, practising first aid, horse riding, climbing, painting, roller skating, riding, braiding and snacking on yummy foods.
How is that possible, you ask? Aren’t you older than 12? Yes, that's right, but I was there because we installed the A&M dismantling square at the Jeugdvakantieland Fair. One hundred square meters, where children could dismantle devices, computers and the like under supervision, before proudly going to the next event in possession of a genuine A&M Rangers diploma and photo. Wonderful to see all these kids; black, white, fat, thin, boy, girl, Muslim, atheist, Christian, tall, short, born here or not, go through 1 door where the common denominator was 'play'. Incidentally, I was not the only adult there. Parents, supervisors, granddads and grandmothers who were there must have seen it all. And yes, even they were all talking to each other. Their common denominator? 'Children playing'. Once again great to see so many people socially interacting on such a small piece of Rotterdam.
I read that in the coming four years, the municipality of Rotterdam will be spending an additional 144, yes, one hundred and forty-four million euros to improve safety in Rotterdam South, for example. More City Marine Officers will be appointed, and the personal approach will be improved. There will be additional concrete blocks and a better provision of information will be provided through key figures, training courses and dialogues. It's true! You can read about it in the ANP message of 28 September 2018.
I did not see 1 City Marine Officer, concrete block or key figure in Ahoy during the entire Jeugdvakantieland Fair.
My advice to the municipality, to save 144 million: "Just PLAY together".