“Monday 21 February is UNESCO International Mother Language Day. With so much emphasis placed on integration in the Netherlands, heritage languages can get neglected. But, say experts, that’s a big mistake.
One of the longest standing is the Polish School of Eindhoven, dating back to 1988, and managed today by Dr Ania Kijak. Every other Saturday, around 70 children aged 4-12 gather at a local primary school just west of the city for three hours of Polish lessons. ‘It takes a lot,’ she says. ‘We all have our lives, our work, our families, and we still have to put the work into [Polish] school, and we do it with passion and love.’