Dear members and friends of the NAF,
It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jacob Gelt Dekker, entrepreneur, philanthropist and friend. He passed away on September 1, 2019, in Key West, Florida after his long battle with cancer. Jacob and his partner, John Padget, were the creators of the private equity investment firm Padget Associates B.V. and investors in Budget Rent-a-Car, One Hour Photo Shops, and Kwik-Fit auto service centers. They were instrumental in launching the Giving Back Foundation in the Netherlands and the Dekker- Padget Dutch2USA Internship Program with the NAF. Jacob was a dear friend and will be missed.
Jan J.H. Joosten, Chairman
Dekker-Padget Dutch2USA Internship Program:
A Reflection by Jacob Gelt Dekker
In the 1960s and 1970s, anti-Americanism in Europe was so strong that young students did not dare to mention contacts they had in, or with, the United States.
Thousands of students and locals across Europe demonstrated, chanting, "Nixon - murderer." Alongside President Nixon, Europeans condemned the American public for the genocide in South East Asia. Internet or social media didn't exist in those days, and information was well controlled and one-sided.
It was not until the journalist, Philip Caputo, --witness of history--, reported directly from the jungles of Vietnam, that that the struggle of victims were transmitted directly to our little black-and-white family television screens. The horrific images intensified public debate and anti-Americanism quickly turned into violent riots.
Students interested in experiencing the high quality American educational system could count on total exorcism from their Dutch academic community. One could only whisper about such things to a small group of close friends.
When I arrived in New York in 1968, there was no student-exchange infrastructure; nothing at all! To my surprise, the universities and my local hosts were not warmongering devils but very polite and hospitable, even eager to help. But they had little or no concept how to handle even a single international student, let alone those – who like me -struggled with the English language.
California was a little better but offered a different Pacific-oriented worldview. It was not much of a surprise that I finally became more comfortable in a small university in Anchorage, Alaska, one with fabulous ethnic and cultural diversity. I also became a great skier with an Eskimo-Russian accent in English.
Today, the white sand beaches near Hanoi are full of American and European tourists, vacationing, frolicking and touring the battlefields. Vietnamese guides proudly display the dugout shelters and tunnels that helped them survive the brutal war and ultimately brought them victory. The Big Vietnam-war is a near-forgotten historical incident, now reduced to a tourist site. Communism no longer exists in South East Asia except in name. The Vietnam people have achieved a reasonable level of welfare, well beyond anything they ever experienced under the once so charismatic communist leader, Ho Che Minh. Anti-Americanism has made a full swing, and local communities warmly welcome all foreign visitors.
European universities, once the bulwarks of anti-Americanism, pacifism and socialism, turned course and are now actively fostering joint programs for student exchange and internships. Having an American educational experience on the CV is today a giant plus, eagerly pursued by many Europeans.
Starting in the 1960s, I became a regular in all walks of life in the United States, while also maintaining my home base in Amsterdam.
My contacts with the Netherland-America Foundations allowed me to interact and mentor students who struggled like I once did. Over the years, I have found that first and second-generation Dutch students from medium and low-income families have a particularly strong cultural inhibition. Somehow, the stigma I had experienced as a young student still lingers on and continues to impede the professional development of far too many Dutch students.
Along with John R. Padget and the NAF, we decided to do something about those obstacles by forming the Dutch2USA project. Modestly, we make available funds for internships, especially for those students who need a little extra help to realize their dream. My hope is that with this modest extra support, they can break down barriers, achieve their full potential, and overcome the challenges that I and so many others have faced as they cross the Atlantic.
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