Geertje

War Seen Through the Eyes of a Child as an Adult

World War II officially ended some seventy years ago, but for some people, it lives on. Gerda Blokhuis Vandenhaak, who spent the war in the Netherlands, still recalls the hunger and fear she felt throughout the war, which sticks out more than hearing about the two little boys killed or the blank expression of her father when she visited him in a concentration camp. She looks back at the confusion she felt as a child and how she always managed to get food for her family as a seven-year-old, even if it meant breaking curfew to roam the countryside and beg at a farmhouse. When the war ended, her troubles did not. Her family took in another family because so many homes had been destroyed. They took up three rooms, and they had to share the bathroom, and she recalls being angry. But those early experiences showed her what it meant to suffer, which is one of the reasons shes dedicated her life to helping others. Join her as she celebrates love and joy and moves past pain in this inspirational account that shows the power of the human spirit.