Sarah Dobbe

Biography

"Don't sulk on the sidelines, take action and show your courage"

That is a quote from Karel Glastra van Loon. He follows it up with: let your anger go hand in hand with the good you do. It’s one of my favourite quotes and it reflects my core principles. SP is a party of both words and deeds.

Care home

Take our work with community care centres, for example. We do not just talk the talk about offering local healthcare, but we walk the walk too: actually setting up community care centres with the people. We opened the first centre in Oss, and it’s a prime example of the value of having faith in healthcare providers instead of setting up a bureaucracy of mistrust. I would love to see community care centres all over the Netherlands.

Injustice

Injustice and inequality have always horrified me, which is one of the reasons why I spent several years in Cambodia doing human rights work. After returning to the Netherlands, I realised that Dutch society is by no means free of injustice and inequality either. That insight drove me to work my hardest for Arnhem municipal council for many years.

Strength in numbers

I firmly believe that we can only make the Netherlands a more equitable country by working together. Together with tenants, I organised a campaign against mouldy housing, opposed free-market healthcare, and stood up with girls and women against street harassment. A lot of important decisions are made in The Hague, which led me to stand for a seat in the House of Representatives. The same principle applies in the House as it does everywhere else: involving direct stakeholders only improves the quality of debate. Making that happen is one of my key goals as an MP.

Bees

I’m a beekeeper in my spare time, and while working as an MP is a demanding job, I will never abandon my bees.