A Visit to Neerpelt

Benny, a brother and friend:

Ladies and gentlemen, bravery can be viewed in many different perspectives. It is a display of bravery when one encounters a bunch of enemy army and survives. But I think that I have got another way of looking at the word 'bravery.'

On October 13, 2004, I bade my family in Anaku bye. On October 14, 2004, I left Murtala Mohammed airport, Lagos, Nigeria and arrived Amsterdam Schiphol in Holland the next day after flying about 6 hours in the celebrated KLM aircraft. From there, I took an international train to Brussels, Belgium. When I was making the difficult decision to go to Belgium to study Biostatistics in the then Limburgs Universiteit, Diepenbeek (now UHasselt), I did not have any friend or a family member to recieve me. A blind journey in which one can't tell where one would end up. But I saw it as a mark of bravery and challenge which I needed to pass through in order to achieve my aim of fighting for the rights and the previleges of the ranks and files in the region where I come from.

This was how I came to stay with Benny Giesbers who was also getting ready for a second Master degree in Database programming in the same University. Benny was my opposite neighbour and closest companion in the students house where we lived. A very humble, gentle, compassionate and quick in reasoning young man; Benny, soon became my God given brother in all situations.

In April, 2005, Benny took me home to stay a weekend with the rest of his family. When we arrived the closest "De Lijn" bus stop from the family house of Michael Giesbers, Jennifer took me by her "broemfiets" while Benny rode a bicycle. The sumptuous reception at the entrance of Benny's house was to be given by mother and little angel Mieke. It was an exhilarating breath of a new life to be taken as a member of the Giesbers family.

Gradually Benny paraded me round the whole places. I came in contact with his Oma (about 84 years then) , his uncle and many neighbours and friends. We also went to a stuffy but lively cafe in Neerpelt where I got the opportunity to meet with Jori and many others. I noticed that times well spent together would fly away very quickly. I won't forget the walk we had to the place where the royal aircraft crashed in Neerpelt during the world war II.

When mama Benny asked me what she could buy for me as a gift I thought that my new family had a lot of colors and so I chose a jas designed with three colors to symbolise the many colors of my new family.