The story of Antonio and Tom van Eijle’s group of friends
Antonio worked as a physiotherapist for thirty years and still lost his home. With Tom’s group of friends he got his job and his studio back.
This is us with our Homie Antonio Gonzales (top row, second from the right, in the white shirt) on a good night out. My fellow Homies are Thies, Cas, Salvatore, Jippe, Koen, Laurens, Lodewijk, Mark, Mart, Max, Raoul, Steven, Do and Bas.
I am Tom, and I came across the Homies Foundation through the talk show Ghalid en Sophie, where Sander and Steven were guests. The following weekend they would set off on their bike ride to Lapland for Homies. That same weekend my group of friends had its yearly trip planned. While Sander and Steven were pedalling through the cold, I tried to win the group over for Homies, and it worked.
On 7 November we heard we had been matched with Antonio. Our Homie is 59, born in Willemstad on Curaçao and in the Netherlands since 1984. He is the father of a 21-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son. For the past three years he has lived in Amsterdam. Antonio practises Kuk Sool Won and holds a black belt in this Korean martial art. Besides being sporty he is musical, and he is learning Korean and Hebrew. He has around 30 years of experience as a physiotherapist at various practices.
In December 2020 Antonio lost his job as a physiotherapist, and he has not been able to find other work since. Last September he lost his home because he had no income. Since then he has been homeless and mostly sleeps in his car. Later he luckily found places to sleep with his niece in Amsterdam or a childhood friend in Hellevoetsluis. Through De Regenboog he came to the attention of Homies, and that is how he found us.
I can feel the strength of Homies and the friend groups right away. Giving love and letting someone belong is the foundation. Confidence, in others and in yourself, grows from there, and the first small steps follow. And so it proved: Antonio already has a job as a physiotherapist again, a remarkable achievement given how far he has come. Antonio needed that push. Now to sort out a home, but that will work out, because he has a good income now.”
Fairly soon after that update Antonio found a place of his own in Almere. Unfortunately his health took a turn for the worse at the same time. He was admitted to hospital twice. Antonio had become very ill with COVID, and because of his diabetes he needed three angioplasties in his lower right leg. He went on a return-to-work programme and started working half-time.
Since February 2022 the updates have been brief. Every few months I speak to Antonio on the phone, the only one of the group who does. So no new photos, sadly. The main news is very good, though:
- Since 1 August 2022 Antonio has been back at work as a physiotherapist, for one of his former employers in The Hague.
- Since 1 September 2022 he has been living in Watergraafsmeer again, in the same studio he gave up on 1 September 2021, when he became homeless.
- Antonio plans to spend about four weeks in South Korea. His son may come along.