His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Maxima will, on invitation of the Island Governor of Bonaire, Edison Rijna, attend Rincon Day (Dia di Rincon) on Thursday April 30th. On May 1st King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will, on invitation of the Governor of Aruba, Fredis Refunjol, will pay a visit to SAIL Aruba 2015 in Oranjestad. Also Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, Ronald Plasterk, will be present at these events. As patron couple of the Orange Fund the King and Queen will make use of the opportunity to visit two projects on Bonaire and Aruba, which are taking part in the Orange Fund Programme Chances for Youth (Oranje Fonds Programma Kansen voor Jongeren), as well as one of the Apple of Orange winners of 2015.
April 20th Rincon Day, Bonaire
On Rincon Day thousands of visitors from Bonaire and the other islands come to the oldest village of the island, Rincon, to celebrate a party of culture and traditions. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will together with the Island Governor be welcomed to Rincon in the morning by the president of the organizing committee, Francisco Janga. After the flag ceremony, where the Wilhelmus and the national song of Bonaire will be sung and during drumroll the flag of Rincon will be hoisted, several speeches and song- and dance performances will follow. Afterwards the King and Queen will visit the “Stentenstraat”, a sampling of traditional dishes of Bonaire and the museum Chichi Tan, with among others a collection of traditional music instruments. In the afternoon the Royal Couple will attend a parade of customs and folk costumes which will end with the simadan, the harvest in the form of a parade.
Orange Fund (Oranje Fonds)
One of the Apples of Oranje 2015 was won by the Krusada Foundation, an organization that since 1999 supports people on Bonaire who cannot make it in society. After attending Rincon Day the King and Queen will visit Krusada Foundation. With the programme Chances for Youth-Caribbean the Orange Fund supports volunteer initiatives that are geared towards early school drop outs. The Royal Couple will speak on April 30th with coaches of the Bonaire Youth Outreach Foundation and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds and youth that came into contact with the law and is being coached and trained.