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Hallo, my name is Johanna, I was born in Bodegraven (Z-H) in December 1944. My family name then was Van de Wiel and I went to the "Nonnen school" in Bodegraven.
I then lived in Scotland for some years and now live in Portugal, am retired and would like to make contact with any of my cousins from Bodegraven..most of them were of the family name ten Brink. Any ideas how I can go about this please?

Dank U Wel.  

Hello Johanna,

Welcome on this forum. You are an expat in an other way than most other people around here. They left their country and came to the Netherlands and you left the Netherlands and went from Scotland to Portugal. There is also a Portugal forum on Expat Focus (http://www.expatfocus.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=24). This might be interesting for you as well.

There are several ways you could try to find your cousins in Bodegraven:
- search the internet to find out of the are active on the web
- contact the gemeente Bodegraven to check the Bevolkingsregister, currently called Gemeentelijke Basisadministratie (GBA) to find out if they still live there. If not, the gemeente might be able to tell you when they moved and to which city.
- do you know any family member who might be able to help? If you find one cousin he/she might be able to find an other and so on (works like a snowball, the so called "sneeuwbaleffect").
- try the telephone directory on www.detelefoongids.nl and try if you can find people in Bodegraven with the name "ten Brink" and if there are, call them and ask if they are members of your family.


Good luck!
Agnes  

I'm An italian of 25 years old, Now i stay in Rome (Italy) but i wont move in Amsterdam, i speak english and i serking for a job if someone can help me contact at: palopalo @ hotmail.it

Thanks a lot

 

Hi Palopalo,

Welcome to this forum. You are saying that you are planning to come to Amsterdam and would like to have a job.
What kind of work are you looking for? What kind of work experience and education do you have?

When you come to the Netherlands, you will need a place to live and many other things. If there is anything you want to know about the Netherlands, please ask your question here and we will try to help you.
Many others moved to the Netherlands and settled here for a short or long period.

Good luck,
Agnes  

Hi Agnes, I took your advice and sent an e-mail to gemeente but have not heard anything back from them other than an automated reply saying it had been sent to the relevant department. Do you think they will reply to it or would the information be private? should I may be give them a call. Yours Hayley  

Hi Haley,

Indeed, you may need to call to gemeente. I think you need to ask for the department civil affairs (burgerzaken).
A few years ago, I contacted the gemeente Tilburg, asking for details about an old lady who used to live there. When I was a student, I lived some time in her house together with other students. We stayed in touch, but I hadn't heard from her for a long time and the phone number wasn't active any more.
They replied to me (I e-mailed them) and told me that the ladyI was looking for had died.
So, may be the gemeente is willing to tell you more about your dad.

If this doesn't work, you could consider to contact a Dutch TV programme, called Spoorloos. When everything fails they are sometimes willing and able to search for you. Contact them at spoorloos @ kro.nl


Hope it works!

Good luck,
Agnes