International Brigade Spiffs Up House and Garden

For the second year in a row, the IIRE has profited from an international team of people who have spent a week doing repairs and thoroughly cleaning the building. This year we had close to 20 people from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, England, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. During the week of 4-10 August, under the direction of Paul van Kuijeren from the Netherlands who dedicated a week of his vacation to this project, a number of the dormitory rooms, as well as the bathrooms on the reception and garden level, were painted. We also we able to clear the four storage rooms of the institute, giving away over 40 chairs and bedframes which were no longer of use to us. All windows and the interior woodwork were cleaned for the first time in years. The kitchen and dining area received special attention with all cupboards cleared and thoroughly cleaned. With the aid of Wineke 't Hart, we sent a load of broken electrical equipment and old cans of paint etc. to the chemical dump outside of Amsterdam. Additionally, under the careful supervision of Jim Cockcroft for accurate identification, the garden was weeded, the grass cut and the pond cleared of excess growth. The IIRE was thus well prepared for the LGBT seminar which followed the next week.

We wish to heartily thank Luis, Micaela, Paola Francesca, Laetitia, Juan Carlos, Paula, Luis, Raul, Raquel, Marina, Carlos, José, Peter, Sergio, Jean-Robin, Selma, Laura, Terry, and Urs for the work they did for us this summer. We hope to make this a yearly event - so consider spending a week of your vacation in Amsterdam next summer!

The IIRE construction brigade