our team
Building Human Connections
We are a team dedicated to the mission of making a difference in the lives of newcomers. Made up of experienced and passionate coordinators and a vibrant team of dozens of committed volunteers, our work is guided by an emphasis on personal relationships. We believe that each person deserves individualized attention and genuine care. Through these human connections, we build trust, mutual understanding and a sense of community.
Our coordinators not only lead, but also inspire and empower our team of volunteers, providing an environment where everyone can contribute with their unique talents and skills.
We present to you our Team of Coordinators:
Patricia Barendregt
Founder and director of Road of Hope
Patricia Silva Barendregt is from Brazil and works in the field of international development. The idea of the Road of Hope Foundation was inspired at her heart when she first came face to face with the consequences of conflict and forced migration. This has led her to devote her life to improving the situation of refugees.
Master in International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam, she conducted field research in Jordan where she visited Syrian refugees and Jordanian families in Al-Mafraq, Irbid, Al-Zarqa, Amman and Al-Za’atari refugee camps.
This experience transformed, not only her views but her life entirely.
Adriane Vieira
Project Coordinator of Breath of Hope
Adriane Vieira is a Brazilian psychologist that always had a calling to work with people and help others. Living in Europe since 2016, she got her master’s in Sociology. The topic of her studies and research was gender and refugee, focusing on refugee women, in Portugal.
She started at Road of Hope in 2018, when she came to the Netherlands to do an Erasmus Traineeship for 3 months. During this period, she developed the Breath of Hope project, which aims to support and empower women in refugee situations.
Courentelly, Adriane is the coordinator of the Breath of Hope Project and works also teaching actions and interventions in the practice of psychology with people in situations of refuge in host countries, in a Brazilian university.
Tatev Pardjinjan
Project coordinator of Ondernemerschap
Tatev Pardjinjan was born in Armenia and, at a very young age, had to flee her country with her family. She came to the Netherlands as a refugee. After 5 years of living in various refugee camps (AZC), she finally got her Dutch nationality.
She studied International Business in the Netherlands and travelled abroad as part of her bachelor’s degree. Living and working among different cultures, she learned to appreciate different views, customs and traditions. A life experience that made her very internationally oriented and related to newcomers from all backgrounds.
Tatev started at Road of Hope in 2016, and before becoming a staff member, she devoted 3 years as a volunteer.
Alina Bielun
Project Coordinator of Together
Alina Bielun is a Ukrainian visual artist who, while visiting Europe in Feb 2022, got stranded after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Only then, after becoming temporarily displaced herself, she realized that, for many years already, she was surrounded by family members and new friends who had been internally displaced persons since 2014, when the Russian invasion first began.
Understanding that she had a great willingness to belong and to do something for Ukraine, in May of 2022, she started at Road of Hope as a volunteer, and in October of the same year, she became the coordinator of Together, our project for wellcome Ukrainians in the Netherlands. Alina believes that art can illuminate things, that are impossible to explain with words, building bridges between different social groups. Those gave Together’s activities a strong artistic approach.
Gabriella Pignato
Project Coordinator of Bridge of Hope
With a multicultural background, Gabriella Pignato was born in Brussels and first moved to the Netherlands at 7 years old. A great part of her life she has spent living and serving people in vulnerable situations in different nations. For almost one year, she has worked with orphans in Ukraine (UA). In 2022, when the full-scale invasion began in UA, Gabriella and her family started welcoming Ukrainians in the Netherlands and found in Road of Hope the support she needed to keep assisting, not only Ukrainians but others in Amsterdam Noord. Gabriella is coordinating Bridge of Hope, focusing on reducing barriers to social integration between different population groups in Amsterdam Noord. With an emphasis on social integration, the project brings locals together with newcomers, through Home Visits, Personal Wellness, Workshops and Connecting with the neighborhood
Ana Claudia Luz
Comunication coordinator
Ana is a Brazilian journalist with over 15 years of experience in Telecommunications (radio and TV). In the last decade, she has also worked as a freelance producer and documentary maker for various humanitarian organisations around the world. In this context, while producing a documentary about the integration of refugees in the Netherlands in 2017, she met Road of Hope, and since then she has started producing multimedia content for the organisation. In 2019, Ana became the coordinator of our Communications department. Most of her professional experiences show her passion for reporting the stories of different groups and their journey away from conflict and all kinds of insecurity.
Anika Jansen
Human Ressources Coordinator
Anika has a scientific background and began studying medicine out of a desire to help people. During her medical studies, she gained experience in different healthcare settings. Through these experiences, a desire grew to be a voice for people as a whole.
In August 2023, she joined Road of Hope as a volunteer for the project research with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) about experimental knowledge, using intercultural facilitators to empower women in the Breath of Hope project. Since November 2023 she has been part of the team also as Human Resources Coordinator. “In the scientific world, there’s a tangible gap between literature and the field. With the work I do now, that gap is gone and I can see the direct impact of helping people in whatever way.“, Anika believes.