Staff and volunteers in Loenen

Director: Brigitte Bol
Brigitte was HR manager and has been involved with the Institute since 2013. She started as a full-time volunteer, later became Operational Manager, and has been the director of Maitreya Institute Loenen since October 2017. Brigitte enjoys sports, walking, and gardening, and is always accompanied by Rags, her loyal and sweet four-legged friend who is always up for a cuddle.

Deputy Director: Lobsang Norbu (Maarten de Vries)
Norbu comes from the hospitality industry and started as a chef for the Institute in 2004 when it was still located in Emst. From 2009 to 2017, he was the director and oversaw the transition from Emst to Loenen. Maarten is addicted to coffee and loves sailing.

Publisher for boeddhaboeken.nl: Eric Leenderts
Eric Leenderts has been associated with the Maitreya Institute since .... His work for the center was on hold for a while, but he has been fully back since .....

Translator: Pellha de Vries
Pellha has been working at the Maitreya Institute since late 2016 as an interpreter/translator and teacher of Discovering Buddhism. Pellha is originally a theater maker and drama therapist. She lived as a nun for some time. Pellha loves espresso and playing the piano.

Head of Housekeeping & head of the garden team: Paula Matthijsse
Paula comes from an educational background and has been working for the Institute since 2006, and in a permanent position since 2011. In addition to ensuring that the building is spotless, she also takes care of the interior's appearance. Paula loves nature, and with her wealth of plant knowledge, she ensures that the garden looks beautiful.

Maintenance Technician: Ruud Harderwijk
Ruud originally has an engineering degree in metallurgy and is a welding engineering. Since his first contact in 1987, his life and work have been dedicated to Buddhism since 1990. From 1993-1997, he was the director of Tushita Dharamsala in India, and then worked as a metallurgist for over 5 years for the Maitreya Project India. Since 2004, he has been living and working at the Maitreya Institute. Ruud has been retired for some years but continues to volunteer and handle various technical matters. Ruud loves skiing, hiking, and cycling.

Head Chef: Yuval Ahlfeld
Yuval joined us on July 1, 2022. Yuval comes from the hospitality industry and has had various roles as Chef and sous-chef.

Financial Administration Assistant: Loes Staartjes
She has been a financial administration assistant since 2016. As a yoga teacher, she taught yoga to an external group here and decided to look up what kind of center it was. She came, saw, conquered, and never left. Loes loves ice baths and winter swimming.

Administrative Assistant: Jacqueline Roon
Jacqueline has been a student for a long time and has been employed since March 2019. She is involved in various tasks such as: shop, webshop, administration, hospitality. In her free time, she paints thangka's and gives mandala drawing lessons. She loves cooking and baking, reading, and intuitive drawing. In addition to painting thangka's, Jacqueline also restores the brocade around the thangka. You can always ask her for advice.

Hostess/ Housekeeping: Virginie Dubas
She started as a volunteer in 2017 and has been employed since August 19, 2018. Making rooms cozy and styling is her passion. Nothing is too much for her. She is a yoga teacher, loves dancing, making music, and dreams of taking saxophone lessons someday.

Volunteer:
Will you join our team?