The power of water

Jetty Mathurin

“It was beautiful to see how the water passed from hand to hand,” says Jetty Mathurin about the opening of the humanistic care centre Reinalda in Haarlem on June 13 this year. As master of ceremonies, she was responsible for the opening of the centre. “This time, for a change, they didn’t cut a ribbon. Instead something happened which the residents, neighbours and the Queen will hopefully remember for ever.” Inspired by her own performance HM regeert, Jetty wore a dress in red, white and blue, while a group of young dancers pulled expressions of honour,
exactly like they used to do in the past on the Onafhankelijkheids-plein in Suriname. Jetty remembers clearly: “It was so exciting for a little girl. I was standing there in my white dress waving little orange flags. As a sign of humility our mothers would put their most beautiful scars on the ground where the Queen was walking.”
In Haarlem, the youngest dancers from the Lucia Martens dance school were dressed in colourful costumes from all around the world, while the audience welcomed the Queen by waving ordinary napkins — but with a lot of respect! “The Queen is after all still the eldest in the family and fellow-granny of all of us, a powerful woman,’ says Jetty.
Like the marronvrouwen in Suriname carried water in calabashes to the village with great care, here, too, a calabash was passed from the smallest to the tallest of those present, from hand to hand to the Queen. When it was her turn, she symbolically gave Reinalda the power of the water for the future. “As a beating heart, situated in a multicultural area, the care centre could easily do with a bit of a push,” says Jetty.
“Because people can be like water, taking the form of wherever it floats to. Therefore, make sure you never lose your uniqueness!”