Brussels the brave

Seeing my beloved Bruxelles, my dear Belgium, under attack, while being safe and sound abroad, is pretty estranging. It suddenly made me realise how much my identity is connected with the places and the people who gave me so much chances to grow in life and to become the person I am right now.

I want to recall my school in Brussels, that accepted me, a student from another school in another town, and allowed me to change to their institute. In Brussels, they recognised my ambitions and interests and were willing to offer me chances I couln't get elsewhere, among which the opportuny to realise my dream, of doing an internship abroad, which turned out to be Slovenia. 

Training in Brussels also did silence the negative voices, those who, wrongfully, had told me to doubt my passion (and ability) to become a midwife. Their scepticism didn't manage to discourage me but strengthened me to take the risk to leave my old school, give up old paths that turned out to be not fruitful anymore and have the guts to try new ways. That new way was the way to Brussels, and on that way I was offered exactly the learning chances and challenges I needed most. Brussels taught me how to hang on to a dream and how to take a risk in life. Brussels taught me how to be brave.

That is why I want to recall today my wounded Bruxelles. The city and the people that brought me much healing, who invested in me. Today, I want to stand by you, by your fear and your despair, by your tears and your bleeding heart

Dear Belgians, we all know, that you, as Julius Caesar said, are the bravest among all tribes. Today, I want to recall that braveness. In the footsteps of Ambiorix, who stood strong against the renowned Roman commander, I want to recall your inner civilisation, to not harvest what others are trying to sow in your nation, in your heart; to not answer death and violence with hate and counter violence; to not disqualify the beauty of your multicultural society because of its shortcomings; to not let despair making you lose hope.

Today I want to recall the many brave pregnant women I had the privilege of working with and learning  from during my last year's training in hospitals in Brussels. Women from all over the world, from all colors and denominations, who had found and made themselves a home in Brussels. Today, I want to recall that other face of Brussels, the enriching beauty of the multicultural society that taught me so much about what it means to be a human being and to be a woman.

Today I want to recall the brave women of Bruxelles, the women representing the whole world and embodying the human strength and resilience. I want to recall those superwomen, who so courageously keep putting their life's and hearts at risk to carry and give birth to new life in a world that is in so much pain. I want to recall the small babies, who don't point fingers, who don't distinguish between color, culture or religion. Those babies who not only feed on milk, but most of all on love.

I want to recall the importance of motherhood. Mothers, the real warriors of life and love. They need us all to join hands, not to make a fist, but to stand strong together in love. Because evil can only be put to shame by standing by one another, not by letting us be divided, but by embracing what is fragile, vulnerable, good and beautiful. That is what makes a motherland.

I owe it to the new generation I helped to enter into this world, to the brave parents that have to raise their children in an unsafe world, to the mothers of this world who don't know how to explain hate and violence to their innocent children, to the frightenened hearts of our minors, to the fathers who are unable to protect their families against the radicalisation of this time,...I owe it to all of them to advocate a culture of love. 

The beauty of Europe is its lovely cross-pollination of cultures. Here in Slovenia, I often hear Belgian singers on the radio, I see Belgian bands on the billboards and playing in the local venues, I see Dutch literary heritage popping up on festival posters.

Let our arts become our weapons...
Let us live by the he(art).
Let us continue to be brave afterall.  

Big bissous from Slovenia!  

PS: next time, finally the long expected first blog on my internship!