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local Friday 14 april 2023
Imelda Geerman-Willems: 18 years of bringing joy to children
(Oranjestad)—For 18 long in Action, received an invi-
years now, Imelda Geer- tation to perform in Cura-
man-Willems have brought cao.
joy to the children of Aru- “This was my dream come
ba with her puppets, and true, thanks to the EZ crew,
in recent years, with her my family—and last but not
magnificent puppet shows. least, my promoter, Corine.
In an interview with our re- We were able to repre-
porter, Imelda shares her sent Aruba and have left a
journey that has led her into beautiful mark. In Curacao,
the world of child entertain- we were able to sell out the
ment and puppetry. show and perform for 1500
people in the audience.
Imelda has been a govern- From the moment the first
ment worker for 30 years. song played, you could
She told our reporter that hear the children’s excite-
she comes from a family ment. It really warmed our
of 8 children; 5 girls, 3 boys. hearts and made us less
She is the youngest of the nervous. It was a beautiful
bunch. She’s been married experience. It does take a
to Patrick Geerman for 22 lot of work, but it’s always
years and they have one worth it for the kids. A big
teenage son who is now 19 thanks goes to Miss Debra
years old. for joining the show,” she
expressed.
Imelda worked at Party An- surprised me with a num- one day. This gave her the After working on two shows
imals for 8 and a half years, ber from the Chamber of idea to give children that with Tio George and Tan- For what’s in store this year,
but after her mother passed Commerce with the name may not have the luxury to chi Esmee, Imelda shared Imelda assures that there is
away, she decided to stop ‘EZ party solutions’ on it. It’s go to Disney Land, to enjoy that she did something be- a great show coming soon,
working at children’s par- been 18 years since that the same type of charac- yond her comfort zone: she but that she couldn’t give
ties. “My mother’s passing surprise, and it was one ters that you see there. produced her own show away too much yet.
left a hole in my heart. Not of the best things that has named “Masha and the
long after that, I lost my fa- happened to me. I was The first costume that Bear.” This show sold out 6 Lastly, Imelda extends her
ther as well. It was a really able to go back to mak- Imelda got was a Hello Kitty times over before it even gratitude to everyone that
rough time,” she expressed. ing children happy,” she costume for a friend’s par- premiered. has helped her dreams
shared. ty. After that, they met with This year, she organized the of bringing joy to children
A couple months after quit- a group preparing their set show called “Encanto and come true. “Once again, I
ting Party Animals, she start- The first show from EZ Par- for the Carnaval Queen Friends.” She explained that want to thank God for giv-
ed to miss the joy of making ty Solutions included Tio show, with their theme be- after she saw the movie En- ing me the energy and the
children happy. After talk- George and Tanchi Esmee ing Sesame Street. Imelda canto, she was inspired to motivation to do what I do,
ing to her husband about (Uncle George and Aunt and her husband imme- make this show, along with to my family for their sup-
how she felt, he started to Esmee). Imelda explained diately offered to provide the beloved character port and patience, and to
prepare a surprise for her. that at that time, she had costumes for the show— Sonic. After 4 full houses, EZ my crew who has always
“When I saw materials start never visited Disney Land, which ultimately won for Party Solutions, along with gone all out to make things
to come in the house, he but was really hoping to go best show that year. dance group Kids & Youth happen.”q