NDIC : Family Fellowship and New Day Cafe Starting off the Summer Holidays On The Right Track - by RM

African and Caribbean Music Medley

This past Sunday  New Day International Church (NDIC)  had another fun and participative day of worship, music and food.

NDIC, is an English language Christian Church, which opened its doors in Almere about 5 years ago.

A Church which believes that nourishment not only includes the Word of God, but also good food.

One of its success stories of the church which today counts some 100 plus members is its quarterly "pot-luck" luncheon after Sundays services which is called "new Day Cafe"

Melvin Ho -Pastor

The difference with other cafe's is that the food at "New Day Cafe" is free and voluntarily supplied by the members of the congregation - a rainbow mix of people from 16 different countries. The result, a spectacular variety of ethnic food specialties. Certainly a great incentive to visit NDIC , but that is not the only incentive.

Melvin and Louise Ho the pastoral leaders and their organizational team say their objective is seeking to serve the international community in Almere by providing a growing relational and supportive network; an
inspiring and contemporary Sunday morning church experience; and many resources (pastoral care, teaching, relevant literature, etc.), to help people connect faith to life.

From Aruba - A saxophone solo

All this adds up to the special character of Almere, a brand new city, to the northeast of Amsterdam, built on ocean reclaimed land during the early seventies. Its ambitious planners at the time envisioned a suburban living environment for commuters to the nearby capital Amsterdam, Schiphol airport and the very richy "Het Gooi" area. Currently, over 176,000 people live in Almere — one of the fastest growing cities in the Netherlands.

The Dutch government recently announced plans for it to become the fourth largest city in the country, housing more than 400,000 inhabitants. It is also a very internationally flavored city with approximately a quarter of Almere’s citizens originating from outside the Netherlands, representing a variety of ethnic, cultural, social and religious backgrounds.

Only 5 percent of these inhabitants come from Western European or US heritage. Places of worship in Almere also include Mosques and prayer centers for the Muslim community.

Topping off a great event at NDIC Gafe

Almere is also a very open spaced community. According to the local government, there are on average 420 homes per square kilometers, compared with 1,930 homes per square kilometer in the four largest cities of the Netherlands - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

Even though it is still looked down on by citizens of most "cozy, old-style, and traditional" Dutch cities, Almere is already viewed throughout Europe, and by most of its own inhabitants, as a leading example of a successful new and modern designed city. It certainly has a great deal to offer people who seek a suburban lifestyle in a central easily accessible location. Innovative ideas like the NDIC just seem to materialize spontaneously on a daily basis in this surprising bustling new Dutch city.

Almere-Digest

Welcome to Almere-Digest

Did you know that by the latest count about 38% of the Almere population turned out to be English speaking. The Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, India, China and Europe - the English language somewhere ties them all together.

Although the Government's goal seems to be to eventually turn the Netherlands into one happy melting pot of many different nationalities, cultures and religions, who all call themselves "Nederlanders", many of us, rightly so, don't want to totally break ties with their roots, specially when it comes to their culture, religion or ...maybe best of all...food.

Consequently,  not a week goes by that there is not some event going on in our area where English is spoken. This could either be at an in international church service, business meeting, a cultural event, or at a promotional conference.

Unfortunately not everyone who might have benefited to attend such events might have heard about it in time.

This is where we at Almere-Digest want to help you. .We want you to consider Almere-Digest your free bulletin and news board.

It is quite simple. If you or your organization have a special event you want to promote just send us the information at least 10 days before your event by using the easy mail-in form on the right hand panel of our Almere-Digest.

Only legitimate and voluntary church or charity organization's information can be accepted for placement at no cost in Almere-Digest. The editorial staff also reserves the right to reject material it deems inappropriate.

Almere-Digest

Welcome to Almere....Here are the Facts - by Connie Koorevaar-Goecks

"Con­grat­u­la­tions .… you’ve moved, in my hum­ble opin­ion, to one of the most excit­ing places to live in the Nether­lands.  As a young city, Almere is con­tin­u­ously evolv­ing and chang­ing to meet the needs of the peo­ple that live here and that now includes you.

So, now that you’re here, let’s look at some of the IMPORTANT stuff you’ll want to know.
Police Emer­gency Num­ber:  112
Police Non-Emergency Num­ber:  0900–8844
Hos­pi­tal Emer­gency Num­ber:  0900 203 0 203     
City of Almere ser­vice line:  14 036 

Your health ser­vices are pro­vided by Zorg Groep Almere and on their web­site you can find the infor­ma­tion regard­ing the clos­est health cen­ter and phar­macy to you."

Read the complete story: Welcome to Almere....Here are the Facts | International Almere

Almere Homes Heated By Solar Power

Almere Sun Island

For the first time in the Netherlands, homes are heated collectively with locally-generated solar energy. NUON built Almere Sun Island and connected it to its district heating network.

Since May 2010 Almere Sun Island has supplied heating and hot tap water to the new Almere residential district Noorderplassen-West. The solar island is in keeping with the urban planning for the residential area and is an icon in the Almere landscape. The 520 solar collectors have a surface area of 7,000 m2, about one and a half football fields. It is one of the largest solar collector fields in the world.

The project by Dutch energy company NUON is part of its long range plans to make its energy supply innovative and sustainable. The solar island supplies 9.750 Gigajoules of sustainable energy annually. That is 10% of the annual heating needs of the 2,700 houses in the district, or the energy used by taking a million showers a year. Nuon provides the remaining heat using environmentally friendly residual heat from their nearby bio-fed power plant in Almere.

In addition the solar collectors and district heating together reduce CO2 emissions by more than 50% compared to gas-fired heating. That is equivalent to driving 30 million fewer kilometres a year.


Almer-Digest