A pioneer in pur sang, as described by Wim Revet (85) himself. The military service brought him in the early fifties for the first time to the former Dutch New Guinea. After his military service, he was employed as a civil engineer in the area. In 1953 he returned to the Netherlands, “but I made a conscious decision to apply for a job that brought me back to New Guinea,” says Wim.
Together with his wife and children he left in 1959 towards New Guinea to work for one of the forerunners of a construction company BAM. “The country has developed rapidly between 1950 and 1960 and I was part of it.” He worked a lot with Papuans and made some good contacts.
The Revet family even had plans to send a boy called Clemens Upaja for further study to the Netherlands. The transfer of Papua to Indonesia in the early sixties made this impossible. A fact which the family still often thinks back of. In August 1962 his wife and children already went to the Netherlands, followed by Wim in 1962.
Back in the Netherlands, they settled in Eastern Flevoland, as one of the first families. “I’ve always been a pioneer, but I still think back often to Papua. I support Hapin from the beginning, because I think it’s important Hapin invests in land and people. “
