One of the first opportunities that I had to really bond with the city of Groningen after moving here seven years (!) ago was through volunteering and writing for Connect International. In particular, I've gotten to know Karen Prowse throughout that time, and it's been awesome to see the services that the whole team provides becoming more formally recognised and branching out.
A couple of years ago, part of Connect's services evolved into the International Welcome Center North, which is a hub for the international community of the north to go to and get the help they need with basically everything.
Another branch that emerged from Connect is called Connect Relocation, where Karen, Monique and Astrid provide comprehensive assistance to people who are moving to the Netherlands from a different country. Astrid contacted me about doing some portraits of them for their site, so we took a chilly stroll through Groningen and several windows inside the municipal offices of Groningen.
(My current job at The Northern Times is thanks in no small part to Karen, so she's wound up in front of my camera quite a few times lately.)
