History
How the Liliane Foundation started
The year is 1976 when the seed for The Liliane Foundation is p
lanted in the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Liliane Brekelmans-Gronert was born on Sumatra and spent the first ten years of her life there. After almost forty years, Liliane returns to the island. The blistering heat, the vivid colours and pungent scent of the tropics take Liliane back to her childhood days. The holiday is filled with memories. One day Liliane suddenly comes face-to-face with Agnes. Agnes is about fifteen. She has difficulties in walking and needs a cane. Her disability is the result of polio. Liliane also has a cane. Like Agnes, she had polio as a child. Like Agnes, the disease has left her disabled. Like Agnes, she had also once been a fifteen year old girl who was different from the others.face with Agnes. Agnes is about fifteen. She has difficulties in walking and needs a cane. Her disability is the result of polio. Liliane also has a cane. Like Agnes, she had polio as a child. Like Agnes, the disease has left her disabled. Like Agnes, she had also once been a fifteen year old girl who was different from the others.
Similarities and differences
“In her, I saw myself”, Liliane Brekelmans says, almost thirty years after she first met Agnes. “I remembered perfectly well what it was like to be on the outside, when in fact you long to be part of the group. The way people look at you or ignore you hurts – especially at that age; it makes you insecure and shy.”
Apart from their similarities, there are also considerable differences between Agnes and Liliane. Liliane has blossomed into a self-assured, independent woman who is actively involved in life and the world; she is respected and appreciated by others. Agnes is headed for a life of dependence and insignificance. Her parents live in abject poverty and in the daily fight for survival Agnes is a burden for them. She never goes to school. She has never had the chance to become more mobile and independent, mainly because of the lack of resources, but also because she is not deemed important enough. There is no future for Agnes: it has already been erased before it has had the chance to begin. As Liliane can imagine what life is like for Agnes, she understands how important it is for Agnes to discover her own strengths, to become independent and to start seeing how valuable she really is. She discusses the situation with Agnes and her husband Ignaas, who accompanied Liliane when she returned to her native island. Together they reach the conclusion that a sewing machine would enable Agnes to provide for herself; it is the key to independence, control over her life, participation in society and respect from those around her.
What happened next as a result of this spontaneous decision
Once back in Vlijmen, the Netherlands, Liliane and Ignaas approach a number of development organizations to ask if the organizations could help Agnes by financing a simple hand sewing machine. When none of them seems able to do so, they decide to save up for it themselves. Friends and family join them in their efforts. It is not long before Agnes gets her sewing machine and is even able to attend a sewing course – even a little of Liliane’and Ignaas’ donations is left over. In the meantime, more requests for help have come in. So they continue saving. More and more people keep joining them too. Their spontaneous decision to help Agnes becomes an initiative which will affect the lives of thousands of disabled children in developing countries. On March 14, 1980, the Liliane Foundation officially becomes a foundation.
Unity
Liliane has not had an official position in her Foundation for years. She has delegated her tasks to the next generation. Still, she continues to watch her brainchild with much interest and remains a source of inspiration to all those in dozens of countries around the world, who carry on her work. Now that she is able to sit back and look at it from a distance, she is in a much better position to see what the Liliane Foundation’s work is really all about. “In the end, it is unity that binds people and from which nobody should be excluded”, Liliane stated on the eve of the 25th anniversary. “People need each other to be a complete human being. If others avoid, exclude or ignore you, you waste away. Those who reject, turn a blind eye or just do not care about another being, miss out on something as well. It is precisely these differences which can enable people to enrich, strengthen, nurture and complement the lives of one other”. To Liliane nobody is insignificant, with nothing to offer: “Look at a child with a severe mental disability. He/She can evoke love and give love. Even if his/her contributions are mere grains of salt, the whole would not be complete without it”.
«-- <Home