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Monday, August 2nd, 2021.
Dear friends of Brussels, dear friends of Europe.
You have welcomed us as old friends passing through your community in Etterbeek. You have welcomed us unconditionally, when the community's friends are just beginning to return because of the health restrictions. You gave us a huge gift, you filled us with your laughter, your jokes, your smiles, your joy, your looks.
You invited us to lunch in your four homes: "Le Toit", "La Branche", "La Ruche" and "Cana". Four beautiful townhouses that you have personalized so well. Each home has its own style, by its architecture, by its inhabitants, by the volunteers who live there for a year. Le Toit is your oldest home, right next to La Voisine where we stay. It is very much linked to the foundation of your community by Father André Roberti in 1971. We remember Pierre and Amaury, passing by in the garden, to see how we were doing. We remember Barthélémy's games of hide and seek to make the place his own, to drop his worries and dare to go and talk to the people there. Your jokes were so helpful. The evening teas too, like improvised appointments to meet again, chat and spend time together. You are a community around your four homes, all located in the same neighborhood, and around the day care center Le Grain. Your community is alive and moving. It is alive with people who are housed and who go to work in other day care centers or in mainstream businesses. Alive with the people who are not housed and who join you at Le Grain for the day. The 19 German, Belgian, French, Spanish and Mexican volunteers who refresh the atmosphere of the hostels every year, some of whom do not really want to leave and extend their voluntary work or start their studies in Brussels without cutting the link with the community.
We feel this attachment. Each of you is unique. Each of you is endearing. Time has also been a real ally, to have the chance to have lunch together, to walk together, to work together, to get to know and recognize each other. Your looks are beautiful, your presence is real, your lives are important.
Barthélémy tells us how sad he is to leave Brussels, Alain, Baptiste, Lilian and Nestor. We didn't know what to expect when we arrived. We leave rich with your testimonies of friendship. We are also full of gratitude for Iwona who had the audacity to welcome our project and to bring it to your community.
Our journey continues, without Daphne who left for her scout camp. Iwona and Geerit, her husband, welcome us for the weekend. They open their home to us, make us discover their Flanders and help us to review our first step in Brussels. Through her experiences in and out of L'Arche, Iwona sheds light on our understanding of the foundations of L'Arche and its current transformations. Daphne will join us in Poznań, Poland, and good news, Matthew will also join us for a week in Gdańsk. The German stage will be reduced to a few days in Tecklenburg and then in Berlin. We had to change our plans once again when faced with the difficulty of finding accommodation in Germany. I have a few new gray hairs since then.
The small challenges in the short term are :
rereading the two weeks in Belgium and keeping the best lessons,
organizing Matthieu and Daphné's trips to Poland,
inaugurate the non-French speaking part of the trip.
Peace, gratitude and joy to you all!
🇬🇧 welcomed as old friends passing through