Moluccan community

With Oral History, we record personal memories of eyewitnesses through interviews. These personal stories give colour to the past. Something I sometimes struggle to do with our objective sources at the depot. The stories tell the human side of history and touch us. In this Oral History project, the students of Lingecollege get to know the history of the Moluccan community in Tiel.

The project starts with an interview lesson at school by writer Ronald Giphart and an introduction to Moluccan history by Benji Sariwating of Buah Hati. Then the pupils go to the Regionaal Archief Rivierenland for a guided tour through the depot with various archive documents about the history of the Moluccans in Tiel. After the tour they interview in groups a Moluccan elder about his or her life. In the last step, the pupils choose between a writing workshop by Giphart or a workshop by Ninja Heevel, a professional teacher from Zinder, and make an article or illustration for a joint newspaper.