The red light district is located in the oldest part of Amsterdam.
An area with a dodgy reputation, full of prejudices and dark sides.
In Behind the Red Light District we visit people who make an honest living here
and see the neighbourhood from their perspective.
Behind the Red Light District The Church
Despite being cleaned up The Red Light District is still sinful.
Sins like premarital sex and marital infidelity...
drugs and a few other things forbidden by God.
But in the middle of all this there's a Christian organisation.
'Oudezijds 100' Christian Community.
They welcome the homeless, uninsured, prostitutes, addicts, asylum seekers.
Anyone can go there for physical or psychosocial care.
They have several branches in the area with resident volunteers.
Today we'll see how they receive everyone in this area full of sin.
The door is always open. Except now.
Hi there. -Good morning.
Sorry, I'm all wet. -Yes, it's awful.
Good morning.
The community residents gather every morning to pray...
and people from outside are welcome to join.
Let us pray. We pray for the church all over the world.
We pray for the world in which we live. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy on us.
Let us praise the Lord.
God is present.
God is here among us.
Let us praise from deep in the dust.
After spending half an hour getting closer to God...
Petra and Sarineke gave me a tour.
Here we have the Bible in the centre. The word of God.
These concentric circles continue all the way outside.
Sometimes it's interesting to see tourists here...
or people waiting to see a live porn show at Casa Rosso.
And they don't know they're standing within the circle of God's word...
as we believe, with the Lord in the centre.
What is Oudezijds Achterburgwal 100 residential community exactly?
We just call it 'Oudezijds 100'. Most people know it that way.
It's an ecumenical community. That means there are...
people of various religious backgrounds. Everyone has their own apartment...
but some things are communal. Sometimes we eat together...
we pray together in the morning and evening, we drink coffee together.
And we try to help each other in our daily lives.
So it's like a very big family.
You share some things and other things you do on your own.
Because you can't always be in a big group.
So your community has various locations in the area?
Yes. This is one of our buildings. This is 95. Number 91 is also ours.
It's quite special. Even just where we're walking now...
you have all these buildings. You have quite a presence in the area.
It's not very conspicuous.
You only see us on the other side where the chapel and the reception are.
Shall we go back that way? -Sure.
The community has ten buildings spread across the Red Light District...
and each location has its own purpose.
People live in some buildings but others are specifically for religious purposes.
Where are we now? -This is called the Chapter Room.
It's a library, as you can see. But it's also a meeting room...
a room for festivities and gatherings.
So when you look outside from the Bible circle room...
you look straight at the Hospital Bar live porn show.
The founders had been in France during the war.
They were a couple, both preachers. They're still alive.
I think they lived in a community there.
Also in quite a godless neighbourhood where their help was desperately needed.
They wanted to do the same here.
So they came to this neighbourhood. Lots of houses were empty or squatted.
And that's how they ended up here.
There wasn't much here so they wanted to be here.
Further along, another building offers medical and psychosocial help...
to people who can't access it through normal channels.
There are doctors, dentists, lawyers and social workers, who all offer help.
This is a consulting room. This morning it's Doctor Federman.
Good morning. -Good morning, ladies.
We are open every morning and evening and there are always two doctors.
How does it work here? Does everyone volunteer, or are some people paid?
Some have paid jobs but the GPs and most specialists are volunteers.
The receptionist is here and this is the waiting room.
What sort of people come here most? -Actually, they're all uninsured.
We get lots of foreigners without a residency permit. They have no insurance.
Lots of Europeans who are here on holiday or for work.
And increasingly, Dutch people too who somehow lose their insurance.
What sort of problems do they have?
We see people without insurance and without a residency permit.
They've experienced severe traumas in their countries of origin.
That's often a huge problem.
Most of them have fled and left behind their entire family, which is traumatic.
But others have been forced to do awful things.
Boys who were forced to kill people...
or forced to watch their little sister being raped.
Just really horrendous things.
Good luck next week.
How important is it that they can come here?
If you live in Amsterdam without a visa you can get help...
but you have to know the way. So these people come to the GP...
with a headache, let's say. The GP suspects it's more than that...
and then we can refer people.
Bye.
Do people say it's weird that they have to come here among....
the window prostitutes and brothels? -No one's ever said that to me.
This culture is so different anyway. Maybe they think it's normal here.
Or maybe they don't, but I think they're happy there's somewhere to go.
I don't think they really care where the place is located.
Maybe the clients don't mind but the community is clearly Christian...
while they live and work in the Red Light District. Quite a strange mix.
What's it like for you here where things happen that God doesn't like?
I remember the first evening I walked here with my husband and two kids.
We didn't live here yet. In the evening it's really crowded.
It was full of drunken tourists and women in the windows...
and that really affects me because...
I think there's a lot of misery here and emptiness.
People just come here for a few evenings of entertainment.
You think it's all misery? -Yes.
First of all my Christian faith says this is not how God intended sex to be.
I think it masks a lot of misery. -Do some people not see it as misery...
or say it's just the Red Light District, I've lived here for thirty years.
Everyone says, including people who have lived here a long time...
I'll never get used to it. Seeing all this wherever I look.
It's like the lion's den here, right? -Yes, we're near De Kajuit again.
Whenever you step out the door... -We're right in between two of them.
Since the 1980s the Red Light District has been cleaned up a lot.
The city is constantly trying to make it more respectable.
Does that affect you too? -I don't think it used to be more seedy.
I don't know. -You think it's seedy?
In the sense that you don't know what's going on behind closed doors.
So I'm not sure it has really changed, or whether it is improving now.
The same goes for closing the brothels. I'm not sure about that.
Because where will the girls go?
Now we still see them, we have some contact with them.
But where will they work? No one will see them anymore.
No one will know what's happening. There will be no control at all.
I haven't lived here long enough to know what they're trying to do.
All I see is all the authentic shops are disappearing...
and making way for chains of Nutella bars, which is just awful.