'He gave me an A for my first essay'
Kader Abdolah (68) came to the Netherlands from Iran in 1988 as a political refugee. The fact that he became world famous as a writer is partly thanks to Wilco, the teacher who taught Dutch to newcomers. “You felt that he wanted to give his students something.”
Picture: Fred van Diem
“My father was illiterate and deaf and dumb: he could not read, speak or hear. The first language I spoke was a self-developed sign language. In three to four hundred gestures we managed to tell each other everything. The fact that for more than thirty years I had saved myself with only rudimentary gestures strengthened my conviction that it would also work with that complicated Dutch. When I cycled on the Zwolse dike, I felt that I was not afraid of the Dutch language.
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interest and trust
With about thirty newcomers I started the compulsory language lessons at the IJssel College in Zwolle. Teacher Wilco taught me my first words. He was open, instilled confidence and I felt that he was interested and wanted to give something to his students. After twelve months I wrote my first essay. It was about René, the gay neighbour The journey of the empty bottles. Wilco asked me to read the text. When I finished, Wilco said, “I'll give you a grade I didn't give before, a 10. And he wanted to publish the text in the school paper. That strengthened me again. I thought: if I can write one page in Dutch, three pages will also work and then I will have a story. And if one story succeeds, then ten stories also succeed and then I have a book. In that week I parked my bicycle at the editorial office of the Zwolse Courant and threw a stone at the window. After the third pebble, a man came down to whom I handed my essay. That afternoon I got a phone call: the newspaper wanted to interview me.
Teacher Wilco taught me my first words
In Iran I studied physics, but I didn't like it. I was a writer. I wrote for an underground magazine against the regime and published two books.
See talents
Writing gave me the opportunity to be happy in the Netherlands. After Wilco's lessons, I enrolled at Utrecht University to study Dutch literature. When I applied, I included a Persian translation by Jip and Janneke and a letter from Wilco stating that I was 'talented and did my best, that my Dutch was not sufficient, but that I was well capable of learning'. Wilco had the power to give students space and to see their talents. He was cheerful and lively and enjoyed his work. All the women were in love with him, then you are doing it right.”
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