Residents in Lexmond also had to ‘get used to’
The 58 asylum seekers were received in recent months in an emergency shelter in Lexmond, another village in Vijfheerenlanden. Residents there were initially divided about their arrival, but soon most of them embraced their new neighbours.
Local hairdressers voluntarily came to cut hair, other residents gave language lessons and others went for a weekly walk with them. “Many residents just watched the cat out of the tree,” said volunteer Martine Langerak when the shelter in Lexmond had just opened. She saw that Lexmonders “had to get used to it”, but eventually found it “fine”.