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local Monday 27 March 2023
Imelda Geerman-Willems: 18 years of bringing joy to children

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