Marjon: Hello, my name is Marjon Barton (nee van der Hoek) and I am originally from the Netherlands. My father is Dutch and my mother comes from Indonesia. All of my life I’ve felt the yearning to travel and explore the world. I have been fortunate to have done so and have lived and worked in many countries. My job as an Early Childhood  homeroom teacher and then as an Early Childhood Art teacher, has taken me to Morocco, USA, Malaysia, Japan and Vietnam.
I returned to Amsterdam in 2022 after the Covid pandemic to be with my 91 year old mother. Little did I know that I would settle here and join the IWC. I’m glad I did, since it feels comforting being surrounded by likeminded adventurers.

Prue: My name is Prue Nairn and I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa where I qualified as a Primary School teacher and taught for a short while. I came to Europe to join my (ex) husband and we lived in Dublin, London and Munich before moving to Amsterdam back in the 80’s. When I stepped out of the Amsterdam Central Station for the first time and saw the city, it was strange as I immediately felt that this was ‘my’ city. Still feel the same…

The first half of my working career was spent with Hilton Hotels and then I moved back into education. At the Hotel Management School in Leeuwarden I had different roles but especially enjoyed being responsible for industrial placements worldwide and our programme at the international campuses. 

Nowadays I love having much more free time to relax, meet up with friends and family and walking with my little dog. When I stopped working though I really missed the international contacts so joining the IWC has been wonderful!