Ce n’est qu’un au revoir Chantale!

When Chantale Holzmann arrived in Washington DC, twelve years ago, she dropped her suitcases and went straight to the WBVS office. She had already heard so much about the organization, that she didn’t want to lose time to join. Several years earlier, her husband Robert had been working at the IMF, and, at the time, Chantale had felt quite capable of getting along by herself and rather reluctant to join the IMF Family Association despite their repeated phone calls. After six months of doing it alone and experiencing various ups and downs , she finally allowed herself to be persuaded to attend an IMFFA welcoming coffee and this changed her life: she was thrilled to meet so many interesting families and learn about their different backgrounds and cultures. To hear her tell it, “The fish had found the pond and never left it!”

The first day she came to the Bank she had to ask several people before she finally located WBVS in the G building. And before she knew it, she was volunteering full time with the welcoming team. “At the time,” she recalls, “there were no computers, just pen and paper. Each volunteer had their own files with a list of newcomers to call. We would call the staff at his office to welcome him and encourage him to have his spouse contact us. ”

Chantale is passionate about the human richness of the Bank’s community: “You meet at the Bank people and couples that are deeply motivated by a certain vision for development and are living it. They feel professionally responsible towards humanity and they bring enough passion, creativity and generosity to become real achievers, movers and shakers.”

“To fully benefit from such a unique environment,” she continues, “you have to come out of the safety of your home and accept the multiple invitations of colleagues or of WBFN. You have to experience the bond, the feeling of belonging to a supportive community, in good and bad times. Plus it is an open book to learn about multiple cultures and enrich one’s knowledge.”

Volunteering at WBFN also expanded her leadership skills. As a former high school master teacher in Vienna, she had already developed her abilities to organize, listen, look ahead and plan. When she assumed her first responsibilities as a member at large of the Executive Committee, she was worried that she would not know how to perform and was quite intimidated by the founding members. “Do not worry,” then WBVS president, Hada Zaidan, told her, “you will grow with the job.” And indeed, she did. She discovered the wonderful freedom to readapt her skills to take on new challenges and assume new responsibilities. For her, volunteering can open wide new vistas and change your life.

She recalls her time at the Book Project, which she joined in 1997, with great fondness: “This was the first time I realized to what extent spouses at the Bank had the power to achieve things. That a group of women working together harmoniously are able to run a program with the utmost professionalism.” Chantale considers the Book Project a very good school for management where you can learn all the skills required to run an NGO and where you perfect the art of blending business acumen with volunteer work. To this day, she remembers with delight the many times Bank staff members would be very surprised to learn that the perfectly organized shipment of books had been all done by volunteers!

On the very first Executive Committee meeting that Chantale attended, a member related the horrific situation of a spouse in an abusive relation. The member broke into tears telling the story. This event triggered Chantale’s long time dedication to a difficult cause that not many people want to think or talk about. At that time, the Bank had no Domestic Abuse Prevention Coordinator, victims came to WBVS. They were lost. Somebody had to help them. Together with Barry McIsaac and Myra Jacobs she followed several trainings to better understand the mechanisms of domestic abuse. The three of them were successful in breaking the silence around this topic and raising awareness around the Bank. Eventually, the position of DA Prevention Coordinator was created as well as the HUB. As Chantale puts it: “The purpose is not to solve the problems for the victims but rather to ensure that the Bank understands its responsibilities to the trailing spouses and families and make sure that they have equal access to legal and social services.”

Her all-encompassing advice to today’s WBFN members is: “Think positive and be strategic. If it is good for the families, it can be done even if it takes a long time to be achieved.”

In concluding, Chantale urges the new members to draw some very good lessons from their stay in the US and American culture: “You can only gain by volunteering. You develop skills you never knew you had. You grow with your duties. You become self-assured and well-versed in what you are doing, and very well informed in general. And you have fun! People back home might not recognize you when you go back but you will feel good about the person you have become! I have experienced all of the above and to this day it has made me very happy.”

Chantale and Robert are joining the Bank office in Marseille. Those who have known Chantale’s hospitality in DC look forward to visiting her there and tasting her bouillabaisse!

We here at WBFN wish them all the best.

By Rula Ghani