It is Erwin’s father who approached the program out of desperation. The lack of work and an extremely high interest rate make it impossible for his son to pay the mortgage on his house. The misery started years ago when Erwin lost himself in his work and was less and less at home with his family. “I tried to be a good father, but in retrospect I can say that it was not the case. My work was everything: I could put my heart into it and I lived more for my work than for the rest.” But Erwin doesn’t just lose himself in his work: “At that time it was more considered that I could drink well, but they didn’t know that I was using cocaine.”
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Although Erwin knows how to keep his secret, his wife eventually leaves him, because he is never home again and always hangs out in the pub. “It was impossible to talk about that anymore and that is why I decided to put the house in my name, because I thought that I could only be happy here,” he says. Soon Erwin meets a new woman, with whom he moves in immediately. From that moment on, the gate is off the dam. Erwin feasts, drinks and uses every day. In addition, he works days of around ten hours at work and he also helps every day until around five in the morning in his favorite bar. He keeps that up for a few years, until his boss fires him. To make matters worse, his girlfriend also shows him the door because of his extreme drug use.
He does not think about this for long, because soon afterwards he meets Paulien: who uses just as much as he does. “I was able to be open and honest about my use. That was the ideal relationship for me,” says Erwin. When Paulien decides to get clean, Erwin also makes a switch and leaves for rehab in South Africa. Four years later, Erwin is still clean and works at a homeless shelter in Oss. However, the high mortgage payments, which were once easy to pay, mean that he is in danger of losing everything again.
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Although Martijn and his team are skeptical, they want to give Erwin that second chance. They are also extremely afraid of what will happen if Erwin ends up on the street. “When I’m off the house I think I’m going to jump in the air, because then I think I will be released from a lot of misery,” says the ex-addict in front of the camera. He currently has to make do with 250 euros per month. “I actually live, as we have to live in recovery, from day to day. But this is a different one from day to day …”
To help Erwin with his money worries, his entire house is being renovated by the team of Postponement of Execution. Not only the inside, but also the outside is completely addressed. And the hard work pays off, because in the end the house is sold for 295,000 euros – and not the 230,000 euros it was valued for before the renovation. Erwin therefore ends up with 10,000 euros in the plus after paying off his debts. “If anyone has been awarded it, then it is Erwin. This really enables him to start over,” said broker Alex van Keulen. Presenter Martijn agrees with him: “You have come this far and fought your way out with so much strength and courage. You just needed a little push and I hope this is it.”
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Look Postponement of Execution back here.
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