#knowyourbenoni: Nurse dedicated to sick Benonians

Lucy Verbeek has been working with Hospice East Rand Benoni for 16 years, sometimes as a locum nurse.

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Although she lives in Kempton Park, Verbeek said Benoni is a special place for her.

She is a registered nurse who moved to South Africa from the Netherlands in 1983 when she was 19 years old.

BCT: Where did you grow up?

LV: I grew up in a province called Utrecht, about 20km from Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

BCT: Why did you move to South Africa?

LV: When I received my diploma and completed my training to be a nurse, the hospital where I trained couldn’t find somewhere to place me.

Short after that I decided to visit my aunt, who lived here.

The Dutch all still thought South Africa had wild animals in the streets, which I soon found wasn’t the case.

BCT: Do you miss the Netherlands?

LV: In the beginning, I used to.

But now I am a true South African and a citizen.

One thing I do miss is what we used to call a ‘snack bar’.

It was usually a caravan or some sort of structure on wheels and you could buy chips with the creamiest mayonnaise sauce.

Some of the snack bars were even fixed in a wall.

You would insert a few euros and select a snack, like a sandwich, croquettes or sausages and the machine would deliver your snack.

BCT: Tell us about your family.

LV: My husband is also from the Netherlands but we met here.

I had to travel far to meet my husband.

We have two children, our daughter Judith Hunter and our son Reinier Verbeek.

Judith lives in Benoni with her husband Ryan and Reinier lives in Hong Kong with his wife Alet.

We have two grandchildren, Jayden Hunter (10) and four-month-old Mila Verbeek.

BCT: Why do you love being a nurse?

LV: It is so rewarding.

The looks on people’s faces sometimes really show that we make a difference.

I took a break from nursing from 2009 to 2015 and I found most people who leave the field end up coming back, myself included.

Both my parents died of cancer, and I cared for my father until the end.

That is what made me decide I want to be a nurse that helps terminally ill people.

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