I started the day off with breakfast in a cute local cafe before the whole group headed to the Watersnoodmuseum. This museum, located along the southwestern coast of the Netherlands, commemorates a major flood that devastated that region in 1953. When an intense storm lasting 24 hours hit this region, the dike created to protect it from flooding could not withstand the pressure. Over the course of the storm, multiple holes formed in the dike, causing it to fail and the very nearby towns to flood. The damage was incredibly severe, and almost 2,000 lives were lost as a result, which was almost half of the population of people living in the flooded area.
The museum shared many heart-wrenching stories of people who lost loved ones to the flood as well as some amazing stories from survivors. One that I found particularly interesting was the story of a baby whose mother saved his life. To help save some people, an airplane dropped inflatable boats in bright yellow bags. The mother placed her eleven-month-old baby boy in one of those yellow bags to keep him safe and dry on the boat that would save their lives. Years after the tragedy, the baby (then a grown man) returned to the Watersnoodmuseum to see the bag that saved his life. I thought this was an incredibly beautiful story, especially since today is Mother’s Day (thank you, moms)!
While many people evacuated like this family, the rest of the community and some volunteers stayed behind to rebuild their home. They placed 4 caissons along the dike to prevent flooding. These buildings were actually renovated and turned into the museum I visited today, which was really neat.
My favorite part of this museum was how it highlighted the sense of community following this tragedy. Even beyond the community directly affected by it, people came together to fix what was damaged. The image below shows what each country contributed to helping those affected by the flood. The United States donated 300,000 sandbags and 6.5 tons of blankets and clothing. Jamaica provided coffee and sugar. Columbia sent $10,000 of coffee and $15,000 of blankets. Those are just a few of the countries that sent supplies to help, which is very sweet and lovely to see. Furthermore, 6 countries actually gifted over 800 houses to those who lost their homes in the flood. Overall, it was very nice to see how different groups of people came together to help those who were desperately in need of it.
After the museum, we finished the day off by having some delicious Chinese food for dinner and calling our moms to celebrate Mother’s Day! Tomorrow, we’re off to tour a Dutch university.
