Post | January 2020 | 3 min read

Annual Feel At Home Fair Coming to The Hague on Sunday, February 2nd!

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You bought your plane ticket, packed your bags, made the flight, and now you’re here in The Hague! What comes next? What’s the best way to find housing? What are the most effective ways to break into the job market? How can we get involved in new social circles? And, as expats, how can we start making this new community our home?

This is where the Feel at Home Fair comes in! This annual event is the biggest gathering of the international community in The Netherlands, with the goal of providing a warm welcome to those newly arrived, as well as a friendly venue for all internationals to meet, network, and give mutual advice. At the Feel at Home Fair, you’ll be able to browse over 130 exhibitor stands representing organizations and services that provide useful services for local internationals – everything from corporations and nonprofits to cultural and social organizations. There will also be free workshops and seminars held throughout the day, activities and performances for young and old, as well as a fantastic international food court where you can sample some of the best food our local international community has to offer!

Exhibitor's Hall at the 2019 Feel at Home Fair

And new for this year, fair organizers have arranged a new sector of exhibitors: International employers who will be at the front of City Hall as part of this year’s Hague Talent Hub, which showcases all of the amazing career and training opportunities available to local internationals. So fair attendees will have the opportunity to meet representatives and hear more about employers such as Eurojust, OPCW, the United States Embassy, The British School, Security Delta, and Europol. Many of these organizations will be contributing to the brand new Raadzaal Lecture Series – free lectures during the fair which all share the important theme “Finding a Home for Your Talent.” Speakers will explain the career opportunities that exists at their organizations and in the area, as well as the skills they are looking for in new employees.

VTH Project Manager Tetyana Benzeroual will give a presentation on growing your talent through volunteering at the 2020 Feel at Home Fair

As an organization dedicated to helping internationals, Volunteer The Hague will also be in attendance! VTH will be manning a booth in the main hall alongside many other fantastic organizations, so be sure to come and say hello! We would love to tell you all about who we are and how to get involved in local volunteering activities, as well as hear your stories and advice about life in The Hague. In addition, our fabulous project manager, Tetyana Benzoural, will be holding a workshop titled, “Developing and Growing Your Talent Through Volunteering.” At this workshop, Tetyana will be discussing how volunteering can help you gain new skills, boost your current ones, and open up a whole world of possibilities that will help you while living here in The Hague!

The Feel at Home Fair is organized by TheHagueOnline, an English-language news and information website specifically serving our local expats and internationals. This year’s Feel at Home Fair will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2020 from 11:00 – 17:00 at The Hague City Hall. Registration is already open and tickets to the fair are absolutely free! All you need to do is visit their website to register. You’ll also be able to see the day’s agenda and register for individual workshops and seminars there as well. Since workshops and seminars will get full, we encourage anyone thinking of attending to register ASAP. All of us here at VTH look forward to meeting you there!

Volunteer The Hague Takes the Stage at the Annual Feel at Home Fair + Full Program Video

On 14 March (and for the 7th year in a row!) Volunteer The Hague once again enthusiastically participated in The Hague Online's Feel at Home International Community Fair! Every year, this fun and informative event brings together local internationals with businesses, service organizations, and activity groups of every type imaginable with one goal in mind: making those of us from other lands who now live in The Netherlands "feel at home!" This is one of our favorite events - not only because we tend to run workshops and panels showcasing the work we do, but also because it give us the opportunity to meet directly with the international community that we serve. And despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the show went on as planned thanks to The Hague Online's hard work in putting together a wonderful online program of virtual panels, workshops, and information booths. Despite the limitations, things really went off without a hitch; we were not only able to offer an informative panel on volunteering, we also participated in the fair's Work & Career Program and were also able to chat directly with attendees in our very own virtual booth! Our panel titled " No Dutch? No Problem - Volunteer! " was hosted by VTH's very own project manager Tetyana Benzoural. Tetyana was joined by Deborah Valentine, executive director of Access , as well as local professional speaker Cathy Delhante, who also founded one of our favorite local organizations, Wool for Warmth . Together, they discussed the importance of internationals stepping up to volunteer here in the Netherlands, as well as the many benefits - not only the benefits for our local community, but also for the international volunteers themselves. Later in the program, Tetyana was also joined by Ali Ayoub and Rodica Malancea, two local internationals with extensive volunteering experience here in The Netherlands. They answered questions about volunteering and spoke about the many fringe benefits they gained during their time as volunteers at various organizations - from expanding their support networks, broadening their CV and job skills, and giving back to causes they care about in the community. There were some great conversations during this panel, so for those of you who weren't able to make the fair, we hope you'll take a look at the video of the full program, which you can find below. We want to thank Deborah, Cathy, Ali, and Rodica, as well as all of those who attended the fair and joined us in our virtual booth! We had a fantastic time once again this year, and we're very much looking forward to participating again in 2022!