Henriette van Ittersum - Immigrant -Traveler -Volunteer -Art

Send us Fan MailHenriette shares how being an introvert made immigrating from Holland at 35 with young children a bigger challenge than for most. She had language issues and job difficulties. Her family stepped away from religion, to the disapproval of her Holland family. She talks about how naive they were about Canada. The evolution of beliefs, personal growth and resilience. Her passion for cars. Her unique volunteer work helping new mothers care for twins and triplets. It is a unique and diverse conversation with many insights on an immigrant’s view of Canada and belonging.Henriette BioI moved to Calgary from The Netherlands with my husband and 2 sons in 2002. I struggled to find a job, being strangely over-qualified yet under-educated as immigrants often are, doing all kinds of different things and even dabbling with entrepreneurship, which did not suit me at all. In 2017, I retired and started taking courses in Sociology and, later, Women’s Gender studies at Athabasca University to learn about Canadian society and culture.  If I am not taking a course, I work as a volunteer with AHS to help out families with newborn twins or triplets in their homes.  I read lots of books, but also a Dutch newspaper, CBC.ca and Al Jazeera. My “motto” is: ”Explore everything, discard what is bad and integrate into your life what is good.” I am an avid traveller and Reiki Master. I love modern art. I make all important decisions using my intuition. I recently started painting after encouragement from my lovely and artistic daughters-in-law. Some words to describe me? Woman, thinker, feminist, student of and for life, introvert, reader, open-minded and fashionable.About Mark Laurie - Host.Mark has been transforming how women see themselves, enlarging their sense of sexy, and expanding their confidence in an exciting adventure that is transformational photography. http://innerspiritphotography.comhttps://www.instagram.com/innerspiritphotography/Sound Production by:Lee Ellis  - [email protected]