Ft 16 04 27 lowres

#427 Erkenningsnummer P708816

APRIL 27, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

Welcome back, Maalbeek

The Brussels metro station bombed last month has reopened, and the entire network is back to normal \2

politics \ p4

BUSiNESS \ p6

innovation \ p7

Medieval doodling

Big, leather-bound books from the 15th through the 18th centuries hold students’ notes, unlocking information about how classes used to be taught \9

education \ p9

art & living \ p10

Junk food junkies

Belgium’s kids are eating more and more unhealthy foods, and the advertisers are partly to blame, says consumer organisation Test-Aankoop \ 10

Independence days

© Courtesy Onafhankelijk Leven

Ghent non-profit helps people with a disability to live on their own Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

As the government of Flanders changes how it allocates funding to the disabled, one non-profit has won plaudits and a new prize for the way it helps people become selfreliant.

L

ast month, Onafhankelijk Leven was the first winner of the new Care Story of the Year prize. These are interesting times for the non-profit organisation, which helps people with a disability to live by themselves, as the Flemish government is changing the way it allocates disability funding.

This is the first time Red Cross Flanders has handed out the prize, which rewards the most inspiring project in the Flemish care and welfare sector. The jury was impressed

with Onafhankelijk Leven’s development into a professional organisation that always focuses on its clients’ demands and needs.

“We saw strong creativity and a constant search for innovation,” said jury president Professor Walter Sermeus of the University of Leuven. The jury was also impressed that half of the organisation’s team consists of people with a disability or parents of a child with a disability.

The Onafhankelijk Leven (Independent Living) story started about 30 years ago, when the organisation was founded by Fleming Jan-Jan Sabbe. Sabbe had ended up in a wheelchair after he fell from a ladder while working in a tree.

Inspired by Scandinavian initiatives, he started to fight for more opportunities in Flanders for people with disabilities

to take their lives in their own hands, with the provision of assistance.

Until 2000, the government of Flanders only provided subsidies directly to organisations that helped people with disabilities, such as residential institutions. But at the start of the new millennium, Onafhankelijk Leven achieved its main goal: the launch of the Personal Assistance Budget (PAB).

With this allowance, funded by the Flemish Agency for People with a Disability (VAPH), individuals could hire an assistant to help them in their daily lives.

While only 62 people received a PAB when the system began, this has now increased to about 2,500 people. Onafhankelijk Leven mainly helps with administrative matters, continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Maalbeek station re-opens Brussels metro stop hit by suicide bombing resumes normal schedule Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

M

aalbeek metro station in Brussels re-opened on Monday for the first time since last month’s suicide bombing in which 20 people died and more than 100 were injured.

It was the last station on the metro network to open after the 22 March attack, and the service is now fully operational, with the 22.00 closure time dropped.

“Safety is the primary concern of this government,” said Rudi Vervoort, minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region.

“Appropriate measures have been taken so the proper level of safety can be guaranteed across the entire network.”

The entrance hall has a memorial

VRT to scrap Teletekst after 36 years of service Flemish public broadcaster VRT has announced that it will stop publishing new messages on Teletekst on 1 June. The service has been running for 36 years but has been overtaken by online services, the broadcaster said.

Teletekst was launched in 1980 to provide news, a TV guide and cultural agendas on TV screens. Users have been dwindling in numbers for years, with the rise of social media and the various VRT websites, including De Redactie and Sporza. When the broadcaster negotiated its latest management agreement with the government of Flanders, it did not include Teletekst as a core function.

The savings resulting from scrapping the service will go to the development of other news channels “so that Flanders can find fast and accurate news coverage and background information where they are looking for it,” VRT said.

VRT will continue to use Teletekst 888 as a source for requesting subtitles, including those for the hearingimpaired. \ AH

board where anyone can leave a message. On the platform level, the faces by artist Benoit Van Innis remain on one side, while the other side, where the explosion took place, has been repainted in red. Van Innis will be involved in the creation of a memorial in the station at a later date.

The station’s Wetstraat entrance will remain closed for now, allowing the mass of flowers and other tributes placed there to remain undisturbed. Among those tributes is a wreath placed last week by the parliamentary investigative committee charged with looking into the attacks and the government’s reaction (see story, p4).

© Thierry Roge/BELGA

On Saturday, some 200 victims and families of victims of the

Maalbeek attack were taken on a visit to the station before it

re-opened. The visit was also open to emergency workers who helped deal with the aftermath of the suicide bombing.

Meanwhile, the former Zaventem railway station has been brought back into service to serve Brussels Airport, while the airport station itself remains closed. The station now in use uses the same platforms, but the train stops further from the entrance to the airport.

Passengers are restricted to a set of stairs and one lift. Counter service is not available, but there are ticket machines. All scheduled trains are now arriving at the station, a spokesperson for rail operator NMBS said.

Brussels breaks down shanty town along railway lines A group of some 55 Roma who built up a sort of shanty town along the railway lines between Laken and Jette are to be moved on orders of a justice of the peace. The group had previously been living in a squat in Evere, but when they were evicted from that building, they set about building their own accommodation.

They made shacks out of construction materials, wood and cardboard found around the area and also taken from building sites where the men are sometimes employed. The shanty

town was spotted by TV Brussel, and brought to the attention of the regional government.

The region’s mobility and public works minister, Pascal Smet, also part of the Communal Community Commission, which aids people in need, said the development was “intolerable” and called on the owner, a private landlord, and Brussels-City to act.

In the end, the owner took the matter to the justice of the peace, who ordered the site to be cleared. “The justice has decided that these

people may no longer carry on living there,” said a spokesperson for Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur. “They will be informed over the next few days and then ordered to leave their shacks.”

The group, according to the Brussels social aid organisation Samusocial, has declined blankets, showers and even beds. “They want to stay together as one group”. No arrangements have yet been made for their future accommodation. \ AH

Wezembeek-Oppem most expensive in Flanders for houses Wezembeek-Oppem in Flemish Brabant, just outside of Brussels, is the most expensive municipality in Flanders to buy a house in, according to figures commissioned from property consultants De Crombrugghe & Partners by Trends magazine.

Buyers in Wezembeek-Oppem can expect to pay €448,650, nearly €28,000 more than the average price of a house in the second most-expensive municipality: Sint-MartensLatem, near Ghent. Next on the list comes Kraainem, also bordering Brussels, KnokkeHeist at the coast and Horebeke in East Flanders.

The market has skyrocketed in Wezembeek-Oppem, which saw an average price a year ago of €370,000. The city, along with Kraainem, is a facility municipality in the

The average cost of a house in Wezembeek-Oppem is almost €450,000

Flemish periphery of Brussels and sees many residents who work in Brussels but prefer to live outside of it.

The cheapest place to buy a house, mean-

while, is Mesen in West Flanders, with an average price of €148,500. Menen, also in West Flanders, is next at €168,300, followed

by Ronse in East Flanders, As in Limburg and Wervik, back in West Flanders, on the border with France.

The latest figures show no major changes from past years. House prices in Flanders overall decreased by 0.3%, while apartment prices decreased by 0.8%. House prices in the Brussels-Capital Region increased by 1.1%, while apartment prices came down by 1%.

The market for luxury homes dropped by 0.7% in Flanders and went up by 0.9% in Brussels. Finally, prices for building land went up by 2.4% in Flanders, while in Brussels the opposite was true; it saw a decrease in land prices of 2.3%. \ AH

€160 million

2,250

13t

h

people spent time at one of Flanders’ 840 “care farms” last year, including psychiatric patients, troubled youth, isolated seniors and people with a disability

\2

approved by Flemish culture minister Sven Gatz for a campaign to promote books in Flanders, to be developed by authors, publishers and booksellers

place for Belgium on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders – up two places on last year. The list was headed by Finland for the sixth year in a row

motorists flashed during the most recent flitsmarathon mass speed check last week. Police using mobile radar caught 28,256 speeding, of whom 158 had to give up their driving licence on the spot

cost to insurers for the damage to Maalbeek metro station in Brussels caused by the bomb attack on 22 March, according to a provisional estimate by Belfius Insurance

APRIL 27, 2016

WEEK in brief Brussels Airlines has issued advice to passengers to bring their luggage to the Brucargo depot at Brussels Airport the day before their departure to simplify the procedure. Passengers must present their bags themselves, with the exception of children under 12. The pre-check-in desk is open from 14.00 to 20.00.

Flemish exports reached an all-time record of €301 billion in 2015, while imports remained steady at €289 billion, according to Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT). The figures were released as Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois and FIT director-general Claire Tillekaerts left on a trade mission to India.

Exports to India fell last year by 9.5%, but sales to the US went up by 7.5%, and to Central America by 15.8%. Chemicals and pharmaceuticals are Flanders’ largest sector, responsible for one-quarter of all exports, while transport materials takes up 11.7%, and machines and equipment 10.8%.

Flanders is responsible for 83% of all Belgium’s exports.

A ceremony in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station on 22 March will be held at the Royal Palace in Brussels on 22 May, the prime minister’s office has announced. The ceremony will include regional representatives and the emergency services. The families of victims will be consulted in advance to have their wishes taken into account. According to the latest figures from the Crisis Centre, 39 victims remain in hospital, 20 of them in intensive care.

A court in Antwerp has confirmed the detention of a second suspect in a fraud case in which the victim was the multimedia company Studio 100. The suspect is a businessperson accused of

face of flanders submitting false invoices to facilitate a fraud carried out by Studio 100’s financial director, Maarten Stevens, who is also in custody.

Belgocontrol, the Belgian air traffic control agency, is looking for temporary staff from other countries. The agency is seeking about 15 qualified personnel, mainly from Scandinavia, for temporary contracts to cope with its staff shortages. New hires, who require a long period of training, will be sought.

The city of Ypres in West Flanders is asking the public to decide on the collection and theme of a new city museum to be installed in the Lakenhallen on the main square in 2018 after the departure of city administration departments. To help inspire fresh ideas, the city has opened an exhibition on nine themes, and invites all residents to submit their ideas. \ huisvandestad.be

One in four people in Belgium doesn’t have enough money to take a week’s holiday, and the same number would have difficulty coping with an unforeseen expense of €1,000, according to figures from the federal office for statistics. The survey on statistics on income and living conditions polled more than 6,000 households and found that 18.8% of children are growing up in a home where the income lies at or below the poverty level, while 14.6% live in a family where adults spend less than 20% of their time at work. The European average is 11%.

Prominent politicians, including Flemish minister Joke Schauvliege, federal ministers Kris Peeters and Koen Geens and parliament speaker Siegfried Bracke, were present in Sleidinge, part of Evergem in East Flanders,

last week for the inauguration of a statue of the late Wilfried Martens. Martens, who was born in the village, died in 2013 after a career that took him to the prime minister’s office before he went on to become a beacon of the European movement. The statue

by Leo De Buysere was financed by a private concern, and the square on which it stands has been renamed Wilfried Martensplein.

Lisbeth Imbo has left her job as co-editor of Flemish daily De Morgen after almost three years of sharing the post with An Govaerts. Imbo, a former radio and TV host, described the experience as “an unbelievable rollercoaster” and said she would be seeking new opportunities within De Persgroep, which owns the paper. Govaerts will continue as the paper’s editor-in-chief.

A court in Bruges has refused to hear a case brought against the animal rights organisation Bite Back by a group of pig farmers because it considers the case to be a press crime, which in Belgium must be heard by an assizes court. The organisation posted a series of undercover videos in 2013 showing maltreatment of animals. The farmers brought a joint action for stalking and libel. The judgement is now likely to go to appeal.

The federal government has published the Royal Decree governing the use of drones, as previously agreed by the government. The law permits members of the public to fly up to 10 metres in height, while professionals can fly up to 45m or, in some cases, 90m. Pilots now require a licence for professional use, and so far 367 people have signed up for the first theory course to be organised by the air force at the end of the month.

OFFSIDE Happy Birthday (suit) It’s hard to imagine now how shocked we all were back in 2001 when the coastal hamlet of Bredene became the first Belgian resort – and so far still the only one – that allowed naked sunbathing. This July, the town of 17,000 residents celebrates the 15th birthday of the decision.

At the time, Flanders’ minister-president offered coast towns subsidies for ideas that would attract tourists.

Bredene, the only part of the coast with no sea-front dyke, had a stretch of 1.7 kilometres of beach nobody ever used, and so the idea was born.

Unlike elsewhere, Bredene’s beach isn’t visible from any road or major walkway, and only someone intent on getting an eyeful would stray into the dunes. “There were a few growing pains,” says current mayor Steve Vandenberghe, referring to visitors who were less concerned with communing with nature than with each other, so to speak. “We had a zero tolerance policy,” he says. In the last 10 years, the police have had no occasion to intervene.

Bredene would like nothing better than to expand,

© Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA

Salah Echallaoui Salah Echallaoui became the new head of the Muslim Executive in Belgium on Monday, 21 March. The very next day, bombers claimed by Islamic State blew themselves up in Brussels Airport and in the Brussels metro at Maalbeek station.

We’ve all had difficult first starts, but it’s tough to compare anything to that.

Echallaoui was elected after federal justice minister Koen Geens, entrenched in the whole question of Belgium’s involvement in the attacks in Paris last November, called on the religious institutions to put their houses in order. The Muslim Executive in Belgium – the only Islamic institution with an advisory relationship with the federal government – has traditionally been split between Turkish people and Moroccans, which in recent years has translated into less and more radical strands, respectively.

Echallaoui was the chief inspector for the French-speaking community of Islamic courses in French-speaking schools; his promotion means he represents all Muslims. It’s often said

that moderate Muslims should speak up more to distance themselves from the fundamentalists. Echallaoui wasted no time in doing that.

A religious position, he said, does not necessarily mean radicalisation. “The majority of the population can see the difference,” he said. “But there are signs which can be stigmatising.”

He admitted that there could have been more action taken against the growth of radical opinions, but he opposed any idea that the multicultural projects had failed. “Multiculturalism is built up out of fertile and difficult periods,” he said.

And he reacted strongly to claims by federal home affairs minister Jam Jambon that “a significant section” of the Muslim community had reacted joyfully to the bombings. “That may have been a couple of young people, two or three, who reacted,” he said.

“In any case that’s not a significant part of the Muslim community, and it doesn’t represent us.

Our people were busy mourning the victims, and burying them.” \ Alan Hope

Flanders Today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the Flemish Region and is financially supported by the Flemish authorities.

The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 815.088). The editorial team of Flanders Today has full editorial autonomy regarding the content of the newspaper and is responsible for all content, as stipulated in the agreement between Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.

but they are stuck between what the mayor calls their “textile beach” and the town of De Haan, with an administration that has no desire to see the fleshpots of Bredene advance any closer.

“I’m amazed no other municipality has jumped on the bandwagon,” he told De Standaard. “Even now, nobody has any plans, even though one section of beach along the entire coast is relatively little. This nude beach has put us on the map, at home and abroad.” \ AH

Editor Lisa Bradshaw DEPUTY Editor Sally Tipper CONTRIBUTING Editor Alan Hope sub Editor Bartosz Brzezi´nski Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino Art director Paul Van Dooren Prepress Mediahuis AdPro Contributors Rebecca Benoot, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Andy Furniere, Lee Gillette, Diana Goodwin, Clodagh Kinsella, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Denzil Walton General manager Hans De Loore Publisher Mediahuis NV

Editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 467 23 06 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu Advertising 02 467 24 37 advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

\3

\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Dancing in the streets

Federal interior affairs minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) was the centre of yet another political incident this week. In an interview in Flemish daily De Standaard, he talked about support for the Brussels attacks in the Muslim community. “A significant number of Muslims were dancing in the streets after the attacks,” he said. In an earlier interview, he had spoken of “street parties in Brussels”.

First social and later the rest of the media focused on these words. Had anyone actually seen these dancing Muslims?

And how many is “a significant number”? Fact checks came up with little proof of Muslims celebrating the attacks, let alone street parties.

Had the minister exaggerated or even made this up? Even The Wall Street Journal picked up the story, comparing Jambon to Donald Trump, who made similar statements after 9/11.

In the world of politics, there was little support for Jambon.

The opposition accused him of being divisive and stigmatising. In parliament, the Frenchspeaking socialists demanded “no blabla, but facts”. There was even criticism from majority coalition partners CD&V and Open VLD. The most friendly came from Jambon’s justice colleague Koen Geens: “In times like these, everyone has the right to make little mistakes.”

Jambon refused to take back his words. “I do not need police records to know there is support and to intervene,” he told parliament. The discussion about a “significant number” he called “semantics”.

In this same week, Liesbeth Homans (N-VA), Flemish minister of integration, published an op-ed in De Morgen. “I am tired of hearing every day that nearly every Fleming is racist and discriminates and stigmatises.” This country offers plenty of opportunities to migrants, she stated, and cannot be blamed for people failing to take advantage of them.

Homans, too, was criticised.

CD&V party president Wouter Beke answered with another op-ed, pointing out that “it’s not just the individual that matters; so does the context”.

What to make of all of this?

Was this just another week of bickering? One commentator called the discussions a “dance of the powerless”. Another saw it as a crucial debate about migration and integration.

One thing is sure: on these topics, there are some fundamental differences, especially between N-VA and CD&V. The discussions are divisive, not in the least between these two majority parties. \ Anja Otte

\4

Bourgeois talks health care with Mozambique president Minister-president meets Filipe Nyusi to discuss co-operations Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

F

lemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois received the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, last week to discuss bilateral political and trade relations.

President Nyusi (pictured) was accompanied by his trade and industry ministers.

Flanders has been present in Mozambique for more than 10 years as a development partner, in particular in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Central to the meeting was Flanders’ new strategic programme on development co-operation, in which additional attention is given to sexual health care for adolescents.

Mozambique continues to suffer the effects of the HIV/Aids epidemic, with 1.5 million people infected, according to 2014 figures.

Following the talks, Bourgeois and Nyusi signed a declaration committing the two sides to closer collaboration, including an average €5 million a year from Flanders for “the training of health-

© Imago/BELGA

care workers, improvement of sexual and reproductive health and rights as well as the development of the practice of evidence-based medicine, aimed at promoting health among adolescents”.

The meeting followed Flanders’ first-ever General Assembly, called by Bourgeois to bring together all stakeholders in the field of develop-

ment co-operation. The event brought together 120 representatives of the regional and municipal governments, parliament, NGOs, international organisations, the private sector and academics.

“The time when development work centred around budgetary contributions by bilateral donors has passed,” Bourgeois told the gathering. “Bilateral aid now comprises a much smaller portion of the financial resources of developing countries than before. That is why we have to reach out to a larger number of players, who can each, from the point of view of their own speciality, contribute to the development of the south.”

Flanders is committed to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, he said, as well as to the goal of more effective co-operation.

“We are a modest player, and that is why our aid needs to be as effective as possible.”

Child allowances to change as regions get control

Luxembourg and Germany ask for temporarily closure of reactors

The government of Flanders is reforming child allowances – the amount of money families receive from the government per child. The allowances became the responsibility of the regions in the last round of state reforms.

Discussions are ongoing, but one change that has emerged is that the amount of the allowance will not automatically increase as a child gets older. Currently, the amount increases at six, 12 and, in some cases, 18 years.

Instead, the government wants a flat rate for every child, and is thought to be considering a figure of €140 to €150 per month. That would be good news for families with one child, who currently receive €90 a month, rising to €114 at age 18 in some cases. (Child allowance can be paid until 25 under certain circumstances, but is only automatic to the age of 18.)

Flanders’ family organisation Gezinsbond is, however, concerned about the impact on families with more than one child. At present, a second child entitles the family to €167, and a third to €249. Thus, a family with three children now receives a monthly allowance of €506; under the flat rate system the family would receive €420 to €450. The impact is even greater on families with more children, Gezinsbond said.

“Scrapping the age-related allowance is unacceptable,” Frans Schotte of Gezinsbond told the Flemish parliament. “Children cost more as they get older. Everyone knows that.” \ AH

German environment minister Barbara Hendricks has asked Belgium to close the nuclear reactors Doel 3 in East Flanders and Tihange 2 in Liège province temporarily until they are determined to be safe.

Germany will close down its own reactors by 2022, she said.

The two Belgian reactors were closed in 2012 when microscopic cracks were found in the concrete casing of the reactor cores. After a lengthy investigation, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc) gave the go-ahead last November to owners Engie Electrabel to start the two reactors up again.

Doel 3 was closed for a time last week because of a software problem, but was restarted again at the weekend, by which time the Luxembourg government had joined in with Germany’s appeal.

Germany and Belgium have an agreement allowing each other’s security agencies access to the nuclear installations of the other. Hendricks points to research by the German commission for nuclear safety, which was unable to confirm that Doel 3 and Tihange 2 have sufficient secu-

rity reserves to cope in the event that new defects are discovered.

“I think it would be a good idea if they were taken off the grid,” she said, “at least until further investigation can be completed.”

The director-general of Fanc, Jan Bens, is “completely at ease” about the safety of the country’s nuclear power stations, he told TV programme De zevende dag at the weekend.

Bens said that it was perfectly usual for industrial installations to close down from time to time. Since Belgium has seven reactors, such incidents regularly make the news, but that doesn’t mean the plants are not safe, he said, noting that “there are no technical reasons to be concerned”. The conclusion of the investigation already done “is unequivocal,” said Bens. “They will hold up.” More tests, he said, would not change the conclusion.

Meanwhile, the German Green party has proposed a new law allowing their parliament more say on nuclear safety. “A radioactive cloud does not stop at the border,” the party said. \ AH

Terror investigative committee visits airport and metro The new parliamentary committee investigating the terrorist attacks of 22 March carried out its first on-site inquiry at the weekend. Members of the committee visited Maalbeek metro station and Brussels Airport, the scenes of the three suicide bombings.

The committee laid a wreath at the Wetstraat entrance to the metro station, where a public memorial has sprung up in the weeks since the attacks. Members led by committee chair Patrick Dewael also visited the scene of the bombing at Brussels Airport, where they laid a second wreath. “With this wreath we want

to show our deepest sympathy for the many victims, their families and friends,” Dewael said. “And we wish to show our respect and appreciation for the many first responders and the work they do.”

The committee, under the rules of parliament, has all the powers of an investigating magistrate, including issuing warrants, ordering police investigations and interviewing witnesses under oath.

Chair of the committee is veteran liberal politician Dewael (pictured), a former home affairs minister and Flemish minister-president. Speaking on VTM News, he said he hoped

© pn/De Standaard

the committee would be able to leave party politics behind and produce effective recommendations for the future.

“The members of a committee like this need to be able to rise above their party’s interests,” he said. “The search for the truth comes first. In a

second phase, you look for effective recommendations. We have to find a conclusive response to this form of criminality.” He also wants to interview victims and other key figures in the terrorist attacks, he said.

In the 1990s, Dewael was a member of the investigative committee into the case of serial killer Marc Dutroux, which had the public glued to live broadcasts of its hearings. That experience convinced him of the importance of a visit to the crime scene. “You find yourself submerged, as it were, in the drama, and you can’t help but realise the gravity of the situation,” he said. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

APRIL 27, 2016

Independence days

The government’s focus is shifting from care to support for people with disabilities continued from page 1

provides advice via a free hotline and offers paid coaching services to help people take the first steps towards a more independent life.

It also trains ambassadors: people with a disability who give presentations on independent living in schools and other institutions.

One of the first people with a mental disability to benefit from the system was Dominiek Porreye. He is now closely involved in Onafhankelijk Leven and lives independently in the Sint-Amandsberg district of Ghent, in the Groot Begijnhof – the former begijnhof where Onafhankelijk Leven is also based.

For the first 39 years of his life, Porreye (pictured on cover, left) lived in various institutions in West Flanders. He never had a real relationship with his parents, who didn’t want to take care of him. As he grew older, institutional life became suffocating.

I couldn’t even decide for myself what to eat, what programme to watch on TV or when to go to bed “The worst thing was that I needed to ask permission to do anything, and all my daily activities were organised for me without me having any input,” says Porreye, who’s now 52. “I couldn’t even choose what to eat, what programme to watch on television or when to go to bed.”

The work he had to do, in a sheltered workplace, was also monotonous: counting the number of screws needed to put furniture together, for example. “I tried to run away from the institution several times,” he says.

Making contact with Sabbe was the spur for Porreye to apply for a PAB. “For me, it meant I could finally experience freedom,” he says.

His assistants help him with practical household chores – like cooking and doing the laundry – as well as with social and creative activities.

Porreye uses his freedom to develop his artistic skills: he’s made an amateur feature film and written his life story as a book, and, through a professor friend, he also gives guest lectures at Ghent University.

“With the help of assistants, many young people with a disability can function perfectly in regular education and later hold down a regular job,” says Cor Van Damme, director of service provision at Onafhankelijk Leven, who himself uses a wheelchair because of a muscle disease. “While the government used to focus too much on care, it is now gradually shifting towards providing support.”

People in Flanders with a disability can receive a PAB of between €10,000 and €45,000 annually, depending on the amount of assistance they need. They can hire assistants themselves, through an application process or by asking family members or friends.

Assistants don’t need to have a special

ONAFHANKELIJKLEVEN.BE

diploma or training.

However, there are still about 35,000 people living in institutions in Flanders, according to Van Damme. “For many of them, care at an institution is the best solution,” he says. “But about 20% of people in institutions could live independently perfectly well, given the right assistance.”

A big problem in Flanders, according to Onafhankelijk Leven, is the long waiting list for PABs, caused by a budget shortage at the VAPH. Priority goes to people whose needs are most urgent and who don’t have a wide network of family and friends.

Van Damme himself had to wait four years to receive his allowance, and he now lives independently with his partner. “With this support, I can live a very normal life without over-burdening my girlfriend, family or friends with demands for help,” he says.

While the VAPH budget will expand soon, Van Damme feels it won’t be enough to meet the current need. However, he is glad the Flemish government is improving how the budget is distributed. At the beginning of 2017, the PAB will be replaced by the Persoonsvolgend Budget (PVB).

The big change is that anybody with a disability – including those who live in institutions – will be able to hire assistants. Institutions will no longer receive subsidies and will instead be paid by the clients – people who have been granted a PVB. People with a disability and their guardians will be able to choose to receive their PVB in the form of cash to be spent on assistance, vouchers to pay an institution or a combination of the two. “People can decide to live in an institution but pay for assistance to leave for trips or visits, for example,” Van Damme explains. “We will show people the different options and help them find the solution that best suits their needs.”

He expects, though, that some institution directors will try to convince people to stay with them. “Certain directors will try to keep their clients, so their budget isn’t cut.”

Another challenge will be to inform the parents of people with a disability. “Many of them are scared of what will happen to their children after they’re gone and prefer them to be in an institution, where they can stay for the rest of their lives,” says Van Damme.

“It’s up to us to show them there is another way.”

To help people with a disability who are not yet eligible for a PVB, the government is also introducing the Basic Support Budget (Bob).

This is a monthly allowance of €300 that can be used for any kind of expense and cannot be combined with a PVB. In September, about 6,200 adults will receive a Bob, with priority given to those who have been on VAPH’s waiting list for more than a year. Next year, it will also become available to about 16,000 minors.

Onafhankelijk Leven, which is 25% subsidised by the government of Flanders and for the rest depends on fundraising, is relatively happy with the new system, and with the work of welfare minister Jo Vandeurzen in general.

“Flanders is becoming a frontrunner in Western Europe when it comes to independent living,” says Van Damme. “We still think the VAPH budget is insufficient, but we’re satisfied that it hasn’t been cut in these difficult economic times.”

Cor Van Damme, director of service provision at Onafhankelijk Leven (top), says about 20% of people in institutions could live independently perfectly well, given the right assistance; Dominiek Porreye at home in Ghent’s Groot Begijnhof

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Property Immobel The quoted property developer is merging with real estate group Allfin, both based in Brussels, to become one of the country’s largest groups in the business with a €400 million market capitalisation. The move is expected to allow more profitable home builder Allfin to stimulate the staid Immobel group, specialised in office developments.

Investment GIMV The government of Flanders’ venture capital fund has pushed its stake in Ghent food products group Vandemoortele to over 23% by converting warrants it has held since 2009. GIMV also announced it was considering selling its interest, valued at some €230 million, to the highest bidder.

Brewing AB InBev The Leuven-based brewer has sold its Italian Peroni, Dutch Grolsch and British Meantime brands to the Asahi group of Japan. The move, valued at €2.5 billion, follows AB Inbev’s recent acquisition of SABMiller and is a response to competition authorities’ monopoly concerns. AB Inbev is reportedly considering acquisitions to diversify its products, with Coca-Cola named as a potential target.

Energy Tecnubel The affiliate of the French GDF-Suez group, based in Dessel, Antwerp province, is poised to win the contract to train some 40 technicians in the operation of a new structure being built on the site of Chernobyl in Ukraine. The operation will dismantle and dispose of irradiated equipment from the nuclear plant that famously blew up in 1986.

Food Dunkin’ Donuts The US-based chain has announced plans to open up to 20 outlets in Belgium over the next four years. The company expects to open its first shops in Brussels and Antwerp early next year, followed by openings in Bruges and Ghent.

Marine development Rent-A-Port The Antwerp-based company, specialised in the development and management of marine infrastructures, has won the contract to survey and offer solutions for the de-pollution of Vietnam’s Ha Long bay. Rent-A-Port is already participating in the development of the nearby port of Haiphong and the building of berthing facilities for ships up to 100,000 tonnes.

\6

Five Dutch-language media outlets relaunch as Bruzz

FM Brussel, Agenda and other Brussels titles are now under one name Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he merging of five familiar Brussels media announced last autumn is complete.

The Dutch-language news and entertainment sources FM Brussel, TV Brussel, newspaper Brussel Deze Week, the weekly Agenda and brusselnieuws.be will all now be known as Bruzz.

With the slogan “You are the City” (in English) the former VlaamsBrusselse Media (VBM) is now known as Bruzz across all its platforms – radio, TV, print and online. “We want to be the reference for Brussels,” said editor-inchief Jeroen Roppe. “Independent, engaged and passionate.”

Bruzz.be replaced brusselnieuws.be

last week, and Bruzz radio has hit the airwaves on 98.8. The launch of the brand aims to bring a definitive end to the troubles that plagued VBM in 2015. Created from the merger of three nonprofits in January last year, VBM ran into difficulties in June when management brought in the new CEO Michel Tubbax, an advertising executive with no journalism background.

Sweeping reforms were introduced, including the closure of FM Brussel and the sacking of Brussel Deze Week editor Anne Brumagne.

Staff and listeners revolted, and eventually Tubbax was let go, and FM Brussel was saved. The

station’s then programme director Roppe was asked to work out a new strategy.

The new organisation will have to do more with fewer resources, he said, and how users digest media is a guiding principle. “Digital first is important in that respect. Everything has to be online quickly and completely. From there, we will deliver content to the radio, TV, print and social media.”

The new strategy also involves more co-operation with Flemish public broadcaster VRT, including Bruzz International on Sunday. “We have an agreement with VRT to take over their Brussels content,” Roppe said.

The Bruzz weekly agenda in print mixes Dutch, French and English, and the radio station features a show in English every Sunday.

Paid leave approved for volunteer fire service training

€300 million investment for Genzyme pharma in Geel

Volunteer firefighters will now be allowed to take paid leave from their jobs in order to take part in training, the Flemish committee responsible for accreditation has decided. The agreement follows discussions opened by Flemish labour minister Philippe Muyters and federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon.

Fire services across Flanders are finding it more and more difficult to find and keep volunteers, according to the Union of Flemish Fire Service Volunteers. About half of all candidates fail to pass the aptitude tests, and those who do find the compensation less attractive than it used to be.

According to Jambon, paid leave for training will make the service more appealing to these part-time volunteers, allowing them to more easily combine it with their work.

The measure covers training for the entry-level firefighting course as well as courses for promotion

The French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi plans an investment of €300 million to extend its Genzyme factory in Geel, Antwerp province. The extension is expected to lead to some 100 new jobs.

The development, which adds 8,000 square metres of production space, includes new production lines for biological drugs. Sanofi Genzyme has already produced a biological medication for Pompe disease, a genetic condition in which the sugar glycogen builds up in the body’s cells, leading to heart and respiratory problems.

The factory currently employs 550 people, while Sanofi employs another 300 in offices in Brussels and Diegem. “We have a robust development pipeline of biological molecules, including monoclonal antibodies, and this investment furthers our work and expertise in key disease areas such as cardiovascular disease,

© Eric1980/Wikimedia

to sergeant and captain.

“In rural areas, the number of incidents can be too few to sustain a permanent service of full-time professionals,” Jambon explained.

“But there still has to be sufficient coverage over the whole area, to be able to intervene rapidly and adequately.” Efforts in favour of firefighting volunteers were, he said, “the socially responsible choice”.

The committee is still working on a new compensation system, but the aim is to allow local authorities more flexibility in setting payments, such as paying more to those who are most available to be called up. \ AH

rheumatoid arthritis, and atopic dermatitis,” said Philippe Luscan, chair of Sanofi France.

He called the expansion “an exciting opportunity” for Geel. “We are very pleased with the support we received from the government of Flanders, Flanders Investment & Trade and the government’s investment agency.”

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois welcomed the news.

“Flanders thrives on international trade and investments,” he said. “Life sciences is a sector with many innovative opportunities, not only for multinationals but also for small- and mediumsized enterprises. We have succeeded in attracting significant investments year after year, and it makes sense to keep investing heavily in this sector. Sanofi’s decision to select Flanders reinforces our expertise and professional talent to support these types of investments.” \ AH

Business travellers are avoiding Brussels Airport, says Voka Some 25% of business people have avoided travelling through Brussels Airport since the attacks on 22 March, according to a survey carried out by the Flemish chamber of commerce Voka.

The organisation said that the time required to check in was the main reason given.

“One in four is avoiding Brussels Airport and looking for alternatives,” Hans Maertens of Voka told VRT. “About 15% try to organise international meetings by conference call or other communications methods. Another 6% are using smaller airports, like Ostend or Eindhoven. The remaining 5% are choosing to travel by train or car for meetings in neighbouring countries.”

According to 35% of those polled, foreign partners are in turn avoiding Belgium as a result of

© Belga

the situation. The figures are bad news for Brussels Airport, where business travellers make up 40% of all passengers.

One-quarter of respondents said they had suffered direct effects of the attacks, in loss of earnings and clients, in extra investment in

security measures and in personnel and goods being unable to reach the right place at the right time.

“The damage is in fact worse than we thought, not only in the Brussels-Capital Region and not only in the sectors you might expect, such as tourist attractions and restaurants,” Maertens said. “Companies that are export-driven and have a lot of overseas clients and suppliers are also affected. International relations are under pressure.”

The damage is not, however, permanent, he said, as companies become more flexible in the search for alternatives. “We encourage businesses to look for their own solutions, but the government has to have a strong policy of its own, and communicate effectively,” he said. \ AH

\ INNOVATION

APRIL 27, 2016

Digital minds think alike

week in innovation

From cute robots to the world’s biggest barges at iMinds conference Ian Mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

IMINDS.BE

T

he iMinds conference in Brussels explores the latest thinking on digital innovation, while showcasing projects by Flemish researchers that are putting these new ideas into practice.

Danny Goderis and Luc Van den hove, the chief executives of iMinds and imec respectively, will open the conference, setting the scene and talking about the forthcoming merger of the two research organisations. They will be followed by Jamie Bartlett from British think tank Demos, who will talk about the digital underworld lurking out of sight of Google’s search engines.

Subsequent sessions highlight trends that are shaping digital innovation. First comes the datadriven economy, in which new ways of dealing with information create innovative products and services or reshape traditional industries. Then there is the internet of things, the idea that objects can share information over digital networks, transforming the way we live and work.

Break-out sessions cover digital manufacturing, trust in the digital world and how bright ideas become international companies.

Speakers from academia and companies such as IBM and Proximus will address the broad sweep of these issues, but to see what they might mean in practice, you need to check out the booths where iMinds is showing off its research projects.

Several trends come together in the Wonder project, which is looking at new ways of using the Zora health-care robots developed by

© Courtesy iMinds

The iMinds conference looks at how bright ideas can become global enterprises

Flemish company QBMT. The robots are currently used for preprogrammed tasks; the idea is to see if they can work with greater independence.

One approach is to use ideas from the internet of things to extend a robot’s senses. For example, if a robot responds to a call in another part of a nursing home and needs to plot a route, a wireless connection to sensors all over the building could provide the necessary information.

“A robot can’t look around the corner, but if there’s a sensor that indicates a door ahead is closed then it knows and can plan its movements more intelligently,” says Pieter Simoens of Ghent University.

An alternative would be to use the same wireless connection to allow the robot to unlock the door, or to pass the task on to another robot in a better position.

Data about staff movements that

could be gathered in a connected nursing home might also help. “If a robot needs to take an elevator to another floor but can’t activate the elevator itself, maybe we can predict when people will be at the elevator so that the robot can hop on,” says Simoens. Pilot projects in two Ghent nursing homes are currently being set up, with sensor company Xetal.

An example from the data-driven economy involves the movement of shipping containers along inland waterways. BCTN, which operates inland terminals in the Netherlands and at Meerhout in Antwerp province, approached researchers at the University of Leuven to see if they could make the scheduling of barges more cost-effective.

Currently, barges operate on a

28 April

semi-regular schedule between inland and port terminals, delivering and collecting containers within set time windows. The researchers were given several months’ worth of data on these movements and set to work designing a computer model to produce better schedules.

This meant dealing with several “real world” complications, such as not knowing exactly how long a journey might take, given factors such as locks on the waterways.

Similarly, a container barge cannot be treated like a single vehicle.

They often consist of several barges or bakken pushed by a boat. Some may be left behind if not required on a particular leg of the trip, but must be collected again later.

“The bakken make it more interesting,” says Greet Vanden Berghe, who leads the project from the university’s Ghent campus. “They give an additional level of potential for optimisation and academically exciting complexity.”

Finally, an option was added of moving a container by road if that was more cost-effective than the barge.

The model has been tested against academic benchmarks and performed very well. “So we can be more or less certain that we outperform the manual schedulers, who have much less information and no computing power,” says Vanden Berghe. But the real test will be when the company uses the model in practice.

Square

Kunstberg, Brussels

Ghent team peer into scrolls once buried under volcano ash When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, covering the town of Herculaneum with hot ash, it preserved a library of papyrus scrolls.

Researchers at Ghent University are now involved in an international effort to unlock their secrets.

The disaster that preserved the scrolls also carbonised them. They are whole, but they disintegrate if you try to unroll them. That’s frustrating, because the library is thought to have included texts otherwise unknown to scholars.

Last year an international team of researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble was able to decipher the content of a scroll using an X-ray imaging technique called 3D phase contrast tomography. Without unrolling it, they could make out words and most of the Greek alphabet. But reading in more detail was impossible.

Further analysis found high concentrations of lead in the scrolls. This was unexpected, since lead is not normally found in papyrus, nor in inks of the period.

Investigating the source of this lead is where Ghent University’s department of analytical chemistry came in. It specialises in developing new ways of using X-rays to identify and measure different substances.

“By doing this, we can get a good sense of which techniques are perfect to investigate certain kinds of samples,” says Pieter Tack, part of the department’s X-ray microspectroscopy and imaging group.

The fragments of papyrus available were both rare and unusual samples. First, they were very brittle. “Just touching them risks parts breaking off and being lost, so we had to be really careful,” Tack says.

The carbonisation also means that any lead present is not necessar-

ily in its original form. “If it started out as galena – lead sulphide – it’s very likely to have changed to some kind of lead oxide over the years,” Tack explains. “So you really have to take into account all the different parameters and figure out what could have happened.”

His own expertise is in microfocus X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which uses very narrow X-ray beams. With letters often only half a millimetre wide, a beam less than one thousandth of a millimetre across was used to test the difference between the ink and the blank papyrus.

The suite of X-ray techniques used by the team demonstrated that the lead was, indeed, in the ink and not the result of contamination. The next step is to repeat the tomography in the light of this new knowledge.

“Now that we know the ink contains lead, and how much, this

© E Brun

The scrolls not only can’t be unrolled, they can barely be touched

should improve the resolution or at least the contrast that we get from these measurements,” Tack says. “So it should make it easier to read the scrolls.” \ IM

Flemish duo guides solar plane across Pacific

The Solar Impulse 2 solar plane touched down in San Francisco on Sunday, after a three-day non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii, thanks in part to the expertise of two Flemish meteorologists from the Royal Meteorological Institute in Brussels (RMI). The 4,300-kilometre trip from Honolulu to San Francisco means Solar Impulse 2 has completed another stage of its 35,000-kilometre trip around the world. It is up to Luc Trullemans and Wim De Troyer of RMI to decide if the weather is good enough for the plane to take off and harvest enough solar energy to make it to the next destination. Last Friday, they gave the green light for departure from the Solar Impulse headquarters in Monaco.

Darwin incubator to support start-ups Darwin officially opened last week at the science park of Antwerp University in Niel.

The incubator will house prestarters, start-ups and spinoffs active in ICT and life and environmental sciences. The incubator offers modular office and laboratory space, administrative support and a network of specialists. The specialists can help the new concerns with, for example, tax issues, subsidies, legislation and human resources.

Entrepreneurs will be able to outsource research to UAntwerp or use the institution’s research facilities. UAntwerp has developed 15 spinoff companies in the last five years.

Three million have electronic patient file About 3.1 million Belgians have given health-care providers permission to exchange their data via an electronic patient file, four times as many as the same time last year, according to figures from the Christian Mutuality (CM). Last month, healthcare providers in Belgium consulted the electronic platform eHealth, which contains patients’ health data, 140,000 times, compared to only 10,000 in March of 2015. Threequarters of general practitioners now use eHealth. According to CM, the platform gives health-care providers much quicker access to data, which enables them to start the right treatment faster, and the electronic patient files also help to prevent red tape, unnecessary costs and double examinations.

\7

\ EDUCATION

APRIL 27, 2016

Notes from the past

week in education

KU Leuven digitises student lecture notes from the 15th century Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

LECTIO.GHUM.KULEUVEN.BE

M

y own notes from university days were never more than a messy heap of papers consisting of snippets of information, usually copied from other, more attentive students.

Their historical value is arguably insignificant.

In bygone days, and especially at places like the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), it was a completely different affair, with students binding their handwritten lecture notes into books, spanning at times more than 400 pages.

Over the centuries, some of these notebooks were preserved in the school’s archives, and many of them date back to the days of the “Old University”, the period between KU Leuven’s founding in 1425 and its forced closure by the French government in 1797.

© Dieter Daemen and Bruno Vandermeulen

manager of the digitisation project Magister Dixit. “We are fortunate that many of these bundles were preserved.”

The project aims to digitise the

They help us form a picture of how the teaching of science changed over three centuries “Because they were taken by students, these notes may not present much value as physical artefacts, but their historical significance should not be underestimated,” says Marleen Reynders, the

notes – which are part of the collections of KU Leuven, the Catholic University of Louvain and the Royal Library of Belgium – and make them available to researchers. The documents, Reynders explains, will allow

researchers to see how lecturers viewed new and developing ideas and how this translated into their teaching.

“They help us to form a picture of how the teaching of scientific knowledge changed over the course of three centuries,” says Reynders. “During that time, science had evolved from the old Aristotelian model to a new one based on the ideas of philosophers such as Descartes.”

This is not the first time the university has looked into the content of the notes. The past research, however, had a more limited scope. Now, three doctoral students are working on the task to systematically examine the documents. Reynders says it is too early to speculate what they might find because the project is

scheduled to take three years.

“In any case, we expect to gain insight into the educational developments at the university,” she says.

“We also hope to learn more about how ideas spread during that time.”

During its first three centuries, KU Leuven established itself as one of the most important educational centres in Europe, alongside Cologne and Paris. “We see how quickly new ideas spread from each of these places to the others,” says Reynders, “and that both students and professors often travelled between the three institutions.”

But it’s not all a dry study of scientific history. Scribbled sporadically in the margins are students’ reflections on their everyday lives, including their aspirations, thoughts on their hosts and how much they missed home. “These are amusing details that tell us so much about the students’ social life at the time.”

KU Leuven’s collection has already been digitised. The researchers will now turn to the notes stored at the Royal Library in Brussels. “Eventually, all the notes, wherever they are, will be available in a central database,” says Reynders.

The digitalisation, she adds, will not only ensure their availability for future studies but also help in preserving them. “We won’t have to physically touch the manuscripts anymore. This is absolutely indispensable to their preservation.”

Extra funds for student social services in higher education Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits is investing another €2.5 million a year in student social services offered by universities and university colleges. This should allow them to extend their policies concerning equal opportunities in higher education, she said.

Every university and college has a

department to assist students who may face financial problems when participating in higher education.

Students receive assistance renting a room, for example, or for transport or meals. Child care, medical aid or psychological help are also available for little or no cost.

The government is now increas-

ing the annual budget for these services from €44.2 to €46.7 million.

The way the budget is distributed is also changing, said Crevits, so the average amount per student is the same for every institution.

Together with the Flemish Education Council, Crevits has also promised to organise the regis-

tration of disadvantaged groups – such as students with a disability, learning disorder or from an at-risk environment – in a more uniform manner. “This should ensure that students don’t always have to provide certificates when they change institutions,” she said. \ Andy Furniere

Q&A Charlotte Benoot of the Mental Health and Wellbeing research group at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) experienced an emotional burnout after interviewing cancer patients for two years. She is organising an event to highlight the challenges faced by PhD students working on sensitive topics.

How did you approach the interview project?

It was my first job, and, looking back, I was completely unprepared. The job interview was the only time when it was mentioned that it might be hard, but of course if you’re applying for a job, you hide your fears. And you adapt your emotional behaviour to the expectations of your work environment. In an academic setting, that means being a neutral, detached researcher gathering information.

When did you begin to feel distressed?

There’s a cumulative effect. You come back to the office, and the story isn’t over; you have to rehear the whole conversation, and there’s nothing you can do. Then you ask yourself ethical questions about making abstractions of people’s suffering. You’re not really conscious of the emotions it evokes, so it gets at you slowly.

I began to have nightmares about getting cancer myself, for example.

way of protecting myself. The most important thing is self-reflection.

You have to give yourself feedback all the time, to ask what emotions an interview has evoked.

© Ingimage

Have you adapted your methods?

If I look at my first interview, it’s quite different from how I do it now. I’ve learned a lot. Now I’m doing research again, with a palliative cancer population – meaning people who are dying. It’s hard, but I’m communicating with my supervisor and other researchers about the experience. That’s my

What do you hope for from the congress?

We have a lot of training in methodological challenges, but we need more collaboration between researchers working on sensitive topics. Last year I organised an event focusing on the stories behind the research. It was an overwhelming success, so this is the second edition. We’ll formulate recommendations and present them to everybody involved in qualitative research, to show the challenges we’re facing. / Interview

Catholic schools to welcome Muslim teachers

From September, Antwerp’s Karel de Grote University College will offer interreligious faith studies for primary school teachers. In addition to Catholic religion, the new curriculum includes a course on Judaism, Islam and Latitudinarianism. The college hopes this initiative will attract more students with a migration background to teaching studies. The move is welcomed by the board of Catholic schools in Flanders, which wants more teachers of different beliefs, especially Muslims, in its primary schools.

Students who choose to train in faith studies are welcome in all Catholic primary schools and may teach all subjects except the Catholic religion.

More requests to suspend primary school pupils Pupil support agencies (CLBs) are receiving more and more requests from primary schools to start suspension procedures against pupils. The number of requests has nearly doubled, from 56 in the 20102011 year to 109 in the last full school year. The increased figure can be partly explained by a change in procedure that requires schools to involve CLBs when they are considering suspending a pupil. The procedure doesn’t always lead to a suspension. There are not yet figures available on the number of actual suspensions, but the general director of VCLB said the agencies are noticing more behavioural problems among children, including bullying and vandalism.

Record number of GP students A record number of medical students in Flanders intend to become general practitioners (GPs), according to figures reported by Het Nieuwsblad.

About 40% of all medical students at Flemish universities have chosen the specialisation option this academic year. At Ghent University , for example, 120 of the 280 medical students have started the specialisation programme to become a GP. The figures come as a relief to the medical sector as GP numbers are dwindling, particularly in border areas, where many Flemish GPs prefer to cross the border and work in the Netherlands. GPs are also retiring faster than they are being replaced, according to sector federations.

by Sally Tipper

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities International Two-Day Walk

This year marks the 47th edition of this annual walking event on the Flemish coast that starts and ends in Blankenberge. The theme this year is 150 years of diplomatic relations with Japan, as well as the centenary of the First World War. Choose from routes of six, 15, 24 or 42 kilometres, with children’s activities, musical entertainment and local attractions along the way. 30 April to 1 May, across Blankenberge; €5-€10 \ 2daagse.be

Bokrijk Plant Day An annual spring tradition, this plant market includes more than 200 vendors offering an array of flowering, edible and decorative plants for sale. There are also workshops for adults and kids and guided tours of the arboretum. 1 May 8.00-18.00, Bokrijklaan 1, Genk; free \ bokrijk.be

Steam Train Festival The last steam-powered passenger train in Belgium stopped service 50 years ago. But this weekend, you can take a ride on a vintage steam train, as well as see other historic trains, classic cars and even busses from that era. Memorabilia, food and drink for sale. 30 April to 1 May 10.00-18.00, Stationsplein 8, Maldegem (East Flanders); €15 \ stoomcentrum.be

Duvel on Tour Three bike routes in “Little Brabant”, the home of Duvel Moortgat Brewery: a 15-25km “Mini” route, a 55km “Classic” and a 100km “Duvel Tripel Hop.” Participants get the chance to win a year’s worth of Duvel. Live music, children’s activities and brewery tours, too. 1 May, Sport Vlaanderen, Beenhouwerstraat 28, Willebroek (Antwerp province); €10-€12 \ duvelontour.be

O-Parade A May Day event in Genk, this colourful, moving spectacle is much more than a parade. International street theatre and circus acts, giant puppets, stilt-walkers, balloons, costumed performers, music, singing and dance: two hours of free entertainment for young and old alike. 1 May from 16.00; Genk city centre \ visitgenk.be

\ 10

Food fight

Campaign calls for more responsible food advertising aimed at children Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

NOJUNKFOOD4KIDS.BE

T

he advertisement of foods rich in fat, sugar and salt is causing more children in Belgium to be overweight, according to the consumer organisation Test-Aankoop and Flanders’ family support organisation Gezinsbond.

Together with the French-speaking Ligue des Familles, they have launched a new campaign against such advertising directed at kids. No Junk Food 4 Kids includes information to help parents understand the issue and select the best snacks for their children.

“More than one in 10 children in Belgium are overweight,” according to the campaign. “Over the last 30 years, the number has tripled. An overweight child is at higher risk of having cardiovascular problems, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, sleep problems and cancer.”

The campaign points out that marketing of snack foods often deliberately targets children.

Research shows that kids between the age of four and six are particularly attracted to packaging and advertising featuring their favourite cartoon characters. In Flanders, 23% of food advertisements feature Studio 100 characters like Maya the Bee, Kabouter Plop and K3.

“There have been attempts to protect children from the food marketers, but they haven’t been sufficient,” says a spokesperson for Gezinsbond.

“Ad regulations are too lax, and they often do not apply to campaigns from other countries.

There are recommendations set out by the World Health Organisation and the European Pledge, but they are not obligatory.”

The European Pledge is a voluntary initiative by the world’s leading food manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, Mars and Kellogg’s, to create more health-conscious advertising campaigns.

Belgium has its own variant of the pledge, which applies to supermarket chains and companies that produce foods such as pastry, chocolate and ice cream. The pledge commits signatories to either not advertise to children under 12 or, if they do, to advertise only products covered by the pledge’s own nutrition criteria.

The initiative only covers print, television and online ads. From December, it will extend to radio, cinema, DVDs, direct marketing, product placement, games and mobile and text marketing.

According to Test-Aankoop’s nutrition expert,

© Ingimage

Stephanie Bonnewyn, television is the medium of choice for food advertising campaigns. The mother of four says that Belgium has regulations that prevent the deliberate targeting of children, and product placement and ads during children’s programmes are banned.

“There is also a code of conduct not to show ads for children five minutes before and 12 minutes after a programme,” she says. “The question, of course, is how effective that legislation really is.

We know that children watch both Dutch and French broadcasters, for instance, in addition to programmes not intended for their age group.”

She says these limitations are only half-measures. “While the goal is to get children to eat healthier foods, the number of cases of obesity continue to rise. This negative trend can only be stopped with the right measures.”

For now, the No Junk Food 4 Kids campaign is targeting the demand side. According to a survey by Test-Aankoop, 44% of parents indi-

cated that food advertising is a cause of conflict with their children.

The website lists the nutritional content of some 100 products, including biscuits, chocolate, ice cream, fast food and soft drinks, and compares them to recommended norms. Many of them contain more sugar and saturated fat than allowed by the industry.

The campaign calls for a Europe-wide ban on advertising to children on TV, radio, internet and mobile of any product from the top of the food triangle – products that should only be consumed sparingly, including crisps and sweets.

It also calls for “responsible and non-aggressive packaging” of foods aimed at children that do not sport cartoon characters or superheroes.

The campaign also singles out companies like Disney and Studio 100, which do not sell food themselves but use food products aimed at children for marketing purposes.

BITE

Order freshly cut meat online from Gustor Meat Boutique It’s not exactly difficult to find high-quality meat these days. While not all of us have the time to run around to shop at Rondou in Leuven or De Laet en Van Haver in Antwerp, now there’s a quality solution for everyone: Order your lamb chops online.

Slagerij Fernand dates back to 1885, when August Eeckhout set up shop in Koksijde on the Flemish coast. He eventually passed it along to his son Michel, who passed it to his son Fernand.

In 1989, Fernand’s son-in-law, Rik Debouver, took over. As a university graduate with a fresh outlook, he started organising tastings allowing people to sample the best the world has to offer – pata negra iberico, simmental, rubia gallega and dry-aged pork belly.

Rik’s son Jef, meanwhile, set out to explore the world at 20 and ended up at a cattle ranch in Australia, where he worked as a cowboy, discovering the potential of free-range meat. Last year, he brought his ideas back to Koksijde, and the

Rik and Jef of Gustor Meat Boutique

Gustor Meat Boutique was born.

It’s one of Belgium’s few online butcher shops, and its range includes Black Angus, Holstein Premium Austria and 100% Wagyu. The meat is cut and prepared in the shop and is delivered refrigerated within 24 hours to anywhere

GUSTOR.BE

in Belgium. “It’s always fresh, we never freeze it,” says Rik. “We don’t do pre-sliced or pre-packed meat, and we only cut what the client needs.”

The meat selection is posted in three languages – many customers come from abroad – and includes lamb, pork, beef, game and poultry.

“Choosing, ordering and tasting should be a special experience,” Rik says. “We want to give the customer the feeling of a real butcher’s, even if it’s online, and share our trade and professional knowhow, which we’ve built up over five generations.”

Customer advice is also important, and the Gustor Meat Boutique is available seven days a week for questions by phone, email or social media. “We’re not salesmen, we’re butchers,” Rik says. “Old-fashioned butchers in new clothes, but butchers all the same.”

And should you want to visit in person, Slagerij Fernand is at Zeelaan 308. \ AH

APRIL 27, 2016

Criminal by night, artist by day Our Mysterious Flanders series goes in search of the region’s hidden past Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he 18th century was a disastrous time for Limburg. Several wars raged across the region, bringing poverty and misery to the local population.

During these dark and trying times, a gang of notorious robbers terrorised the area.

Known as bokkenrijders (goat riders), the ruthless criminals were said to have sworn allegiance to the devil and travelled on the backs of horned goats to raid farms and churches in the dead of the night.

So the legends say. The truth is, we do not know much about the bokkenrijders. Any documents from the period are based on the interrogations of the suspected gang members, who, under coercion and torture, confessed to even the most fantastical of things. Between 1740 and 1798, hundreds of people were executed for their suspected involvement with the bokkenrijders.

Arnold van de Wal was one of the most infamous gang leaders of the time. He and his gang roamed in what is Belgian Limburg, near the cities of Bree and Peer. They are perhaps best known for the use of “fire letters”.

Rich farmers would receive letters demanding that a sum of money be handed over at an agreed location. If they failed to do so, their farms would go up in flames. Although extortion was van de Wal’s trademark style, countless break-ins were also attributed to him.

As evasive as he may have been, the hand of justice got van de Wal in the end. During a bar fight one night, he threatened to set the inn on fire. This attracted the attention of a civil servant, Van de Cruys, who set a trap

© Rik Nulens

The so-called witch’s handprint is carefully preserved in the Aldeneik church

for the bandit.

When a member of van de Wal’s gang was caught retrieving a sum of money, Van de Cruys was able to pin the charges on the leader as well.

Under torture, van de Wal eventually confessed to being a bokkenrijder and was hanged in 1789.

A notorious criminal by night, van de Wal also had a surprising artistic side, earning money honestly as a musician and painter. One legend says that he painted a mural in the house of the very sheriff who brought about his demise.

In the painting, a group of wealthy citizens is dancing to the music, while an unobtrusive goat lingers off to the side. In an added irony, the musician in the picture is no other than van de Wal. It’s a great story, but historians say it isn’t accurate. Although it does portray van de Wal, the mural was painted after he died.

It also can’t be seen in its original location.

After it sustained damage in the 1960s, it was moved into storage in Bokrijk.

Just east of where van de Wal roamed lies Aldeneik, one of the most charming villages on the Meuse river. Though it officially dates back to 720, the village could well be much older. In its square is a chapel with a well and a baptismal font. Dedicated to the missionary saint Willibrord, the church was erected where the Germanic god Odin was

© Courtesy Partyflock

Legends say bokkenrijders rode on the backs of horned goats to raid farms and churches in the dead of the night

worshiped in a more pagan past.

Near the chapel stands Sint-Anna church.

Behind a pane of glass inside this beautiful building, a stone has been mounted on the wall. Inspect the rock closely enough, and, with a bit of imagination – OK, a lot – you can make out a handprint. And not just any handprint: that of a witch. This is the famous Kleefsteen (Sticking Stone) of Aldeneik.

On Easter in 1596, so it goes, the local lord Jan Hammerslag was handing out communion to the church’s congregation. Suddenly, a ruckus was heard outside. An old woman was brought inside, her neighbours accus-

50 weekends in Flanders: City trip to Kortrijk Flanders Today has launched an e-book with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth of weekends. Visit the link above to get your copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here.

Kortrijk used to be famous in Flanders for the Battle of the Golden Spurs, which was fought outside the city walls in 1302. But it’s now gaining a reputation as a cool design town with new architecture on the Buda island and design shops popping up in previously abandoned buildings. \ toerismekortrijk.be

Visit the BEGIJNHOF Kortrijk is currently restoring the old Begijn-

hof, which dates from the middle ages. The work won’t be finished until 2017, but you can dodge the scaffolding to reach the cobbled lanes where single women once lived. Not much is known about these all-female communities, though they are largely considered to have been home to pious women. But some scholars believe they were more like feminist communes. Whatever the truth, they created seductive urban hideaways that are now recognised as world heritage sites.

Eat at SPOON This tiny soup bar with a cool contemporary interior opened last year on a quiet square.

Owners Sofie and Shaun serve three soups daily from big black cooking pots along with

ing her of witchcraft. She said wanted to set the record straight.

The priest asked her to take the sacramental bread, which would prove her innocence. But however hard the woman tried, she could not swallow it and eventually spat it out. When the host fell to the ground, she tried to pick it up. When her hand touched the floor, it got stuck there.

Only after the priest had picked up the host could she could lift her hand. Now it was clear that she was a witch. After a swift trial, she was burned at the stake, and the flagstone with her handprint was mounted in the wall of the church.

TINYURL.COM/50WEEKENDS

rijk’s main square with friendly staff and talented baristas who learned the art of coffee making at the Viva Sara Barista Academie. The stunning interior is decorated with modern furniture, quirky lamps and old coffee roasting machines. \ vivasara.be

hunks of brown bread. It fills up quickly at lunchtime, but you can usually find a seat in a basement furnished with vintage pieces. Jozef Vandaeleplein 8 Drink at VIVA SARA A fabulous coffee house (pictured) on Kort-

Stay at B&B OYO This renovated Art Deco townhouse is in a quiet side street in the centre of Kortrijk. The young owners have decorated their three guest rooms in individual styles, incorporating old architectural details along with quirky modern design ideas. \ Derek Blyth \ oyo-bnb-kortrijk.be

\ 11

Your guide to life in Belgium The spring issue of Th The Thee Bulletin Newcomer is your guide to making the most of life in Belgium. It mixes practical community eff efforts information with features on community orts to clean up Brussels, planning for retirement, family activities around the country and other lifestyle topics.

PLUS our Education Guide 35 pages of interviews, articles and essential addresses of schools, colleges and universities in Belgium.

Pick up your copy at newsstands or at www.thebulletin.be/shop

Hey you.

Yes, you, with the smartphone.

There is an app for Flanders Today, you know, which makes it super easy to keep up with daily news and features anywhere at any time on your smartphone or tablet There are 2 easy ways to download the app: visit www.fl www.flanderstoday.eu anderstoday.eu and click on “Download the Flanders Today app” or go straight to your app store – Android or iOS, makes no diff difference erence

CHECK OUT OUR COOL-LOOKING, EASY TO MANOEUVRE APP HOMEPAGE

’RE YOU N CTIO E SE H T O CTLY T THE LEFT SIDE TAKES YOU DIRE

D TE ES R E INT

IN

AD NLO W O D CAN YOU T A H SSUE T PRINT I Y L K E E W R U THE RIGHT SIDE IS A PDF OF O

U GO DIRECTLY TO A SECTION, AR IF YO TICLE S LOO K LI KE T HIS If you download the pdf, it looks just like the paper you’re holding in your hand (but your fingers fingers won’t get all black)

Did we mention that the Flanders Today app is free?

It’s free.

\ ARTS

APRIL 27, 2016

Melting pot of sounds

week in arts & CULTURE

Experimental pianist brings unexpected sounds to the fore Tom Peeters More articles by Tom \ flanderstoday.eu

HELEENVANHAEGENBORGH.WORDPRESS.COM

N

ever ask Heleen Van Haegenborgh to only use the keys of her grand piano. Experimenting with every part of the instrument is essential to her work. It’s also one of the reasons she agreed to participate in the project Melting Pot, which brings together musicians from across Europe to the Polish city of Wrocław for jam sessions and improvised concerts in front of a live audience.

The project is part of a series of cultural events organised by Wrocław, one of the 2016 European Capitals of Culture, and is supported by the Europe Jazz Network, an association of international producers, venues and organisations.

Handelsbeurs concert hall in Ghent selected the participating Flemish musicians, including Van Haegenborgh.

Melting Pot, which began with a series of concerts in February, concludes this month when the musicians gather on stage for one final performance. Handelsbeurs artistic director Wim Wabbes says he’s thinking of bringing the event to Flanders next year.

For now, he will accompany Van Haegenborgh back to Wrocław.

They will be joined by jazz guitarist Ruben Machtelinckx, Inwolves drummer Karen Willems and Laurens Van Bouwelen, who used to tour with the Flemish bands Amatorski and School Is Cool.

Reflecting on her last Melting Pot concert, Van Haegenborgh says she was initially worried about performing with so many musicians she’s never met before. “But I quickly realised that the local curator did a great job. All the instruments and musicians really fit together.”

And for a project like this, they

© Geert Vandepoele / Handelsbeurs

Playing every part of the piano: Heleen Van Haegenborgh

have to. “We would only rehearse together twice before each concert, once on our own and once in front of a small audience,” she says.

When she went to Wrocław in February, Van Haegenborgh was pleased to find a city filled with enthusiasm for experimental music. She says she didn’t know much about Poland before taking part in this project.

The curator took the artists on a walk around the city. They tasted food and watched a performance by two mimes who were members of the group. “Their show helped us build a sense of trust,” says Van Haegenborgh. “Also on a musical level.”

Every Melting Pot session has a specific character, she continues. “Mine was based on sound, my favourite aspect of improvised music.”

Her love for the genre started with the discovery of tones and sounds. In school, she practiced playing John Cage’s “Dream” and “A Little Suite for Christmas” by

the avant-garde musician George Crumb.

Her albums reveal the fascination for combining sounds. The 2015 release Signaux, which blends the sounds of piano and foghorns, is a collaboration with Raoul de La Roche Aymon, a collector of foghorns in Burgundy, France.

“I came upon his videos on YouTube,” Van Haegenborgh says.

“He wanted to make a keyboard that would function as a way to play his horns.”

Signaux was first performed in a remote corner of Ghent’s harbour.

The foghorns were placed 200 metres away from the audience and the piano, to ensure they wouldn’t overwhelm the more delicate sounds produced by Van Haegenborgh’s instrument.

When she returns from Wrocław, the pianist will head to the Logos Tetrahedron concert hall in Ghent for Wool-E label night. The concert will serve as the premiere

3 May, 20.00

of her latest album, which sees her partner up with Flemish jazz guitarist Frederik Leroux. The cassette-only release was inspired by an acquaintance’s collection of turntables and sound recorders.

Earlier in her career, Van Haegenborgh wrote music for theatre and collaborated with visual artists, such as local artists Jasper Rigole and Johan De Wilde, on projects based on old amateur family videos and a walk down the Akerselva river in Oslo. She’s also recently returned to school and is studying composition at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, under the auspices of Peter Swinnen.

This wide-ranging experience could be the reason why Van Haegenborgh enjoyed working with the pair of mimes in Wrocław. Wabbes also points out that the interdisciplinary collaboration with visual artists is an essential factor in the success of the Melting Pot project.

Aside from her more experimental projects, however, Van Haegenborgh also stages classical pieces with jazz pianist Christian Mendoza. The two will perform at the Ham Sessions in Handelsbeurs next month and plan to release an album in 2017.

“Yes, again a jazz musician,” Van Haegenborgh says. “I simply can’t ignore the fact that I like their attitude. They move through life without the stress and the weight of musical history, and that just frees my mind.”

Heleen Van Haegenborgh will perform at Melting Pot in Wrocław this week and in Ghent on 3 and 16 May

Logos

Bomastraat 26, Ghent

Q&A Hugh Wolff will take over from Andrey Boreyko next year as the head conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra (BNO). An American, Wolff previously worked with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Have you been to Brussels before?

Yes, my first concert with the National Orchestra of Belgium was in 2010, and I’ve since worked with them four times, and once with De Munt orchestra before that. I’ll have to be a little bit lucky to not get lost when I start working here, but ask me in two years, and I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Will you relocate to Belgium?

The job entails a lot more travel, but I’m not sure it means relocating. I’ve been living more quietly for the past few years, focusing

in Belgium. That’s part of the fun for me, to travel around the country, getting to know people and persuading them that this is something they would want to listen to.

on teaching more than conducting. My wife and I talked about the move. She really encouraged me to accept the job and said that this is absolutely right for me. It made me understand that I’m at a point in my life where a big and exciting challenge is just what I need.

© hughwolff.com

With the possible merger with De Munt orchestra on the horizon, some say these are turbulent times for the BNO. I’m well aware of the complicated situation. But I find the orchestra lovely to work with, and the musicians have been wonder-

ful and supportive every time I’ve been here. Whatever the challenges, my job is to make sure we work together and bring quality and passion to what we’re doing. I also like that the orchestra is not just for the one million people living in Brussels, but for everyone

Do you listen to any specific type of music?

A conductor needs to have a broad taste in music. After all, you’re performing with 90 musicians, and you have to take their style into account. My preferences have evolved over the years, and I don’t specialise now in one specific composer. That being said, I also used to listen to whatever my sons told me to – Radiohead, Arcade Fire and some indie pop stuff – and I was surprised by the complexity of the songs. / Interview by Johan De

Born in Antwerp opens headquarters

The year-long project Born in Antwerp, which brings together creative and economic talent in the port city, opened its new headquarters in the Eilandje neighbourhood with a party at the weekend. The Hoofdkwartier will feature exhibitions, workshops, lectures, film and networking events.

Born in Antwerp’s five curators have organised a broad programme of events for the coming months. In addition, the Hoofdkwartier also has two bars and a workshop for visitors to come together to share ideas. \ borninantwerp.be

Bevergem big winner at Flemish TV awards The comedy-drama series Bevergem won three awards at the Nacht van de Vlaamse Televisie Sterren (Night of the Flemish Television Stars), picking up best actress (Ann Tuts), best script and best comedy programme. “Obviously, we’re delighted,” said Bart Vanneste, who played the lead character in the programme about a stand-up comic taking refuge in a town that turns out to be stranger than any of his acts.

“It’s always great to receive the appreciation of colleagues.”

Best actor went to Koen De Bouw for his role as a crimesolving professor in T., while Best Drama went to Vermist (Missing). The public prize for Programme of the Year was won by the quiz show De slimste mens ter wereld (The Smartest Person in the World).

New directors for Holocaust museum Christophe Busch is the new general director of the Kazerne Dossin Memorial, Museum and Documentation Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights in Mechelen. The museum’s operations director since 2012, Busch replaces Herman Van Goethem, who was elected rector of Antwerp University last month. With a Master’s degree in Criminal Science from Ghent University and a Master’s in Holocaust and Genocide studies from the University of Amsterdam, Busch previously co-ordinated treatment policies for medium-risk prisoners in Flanders. Veerle Vanden Daelen, meanwhile, is the museum’s new adjunct general director and curator.

With a PhD in history from Antwerp University, she was previously a senior researcher at the Brussels-based Centre for Historical Research and Documentation on War and Contemporary Society. \ kazernedossin.eu

Smet

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\ ARTS

Love, actually

Philosopher’s first novel explores life’s ubiquitous emotion from mulitple angles Rebecca Benoot More articles by Rebecca \ flanderstoday.eu

UGent alumna Alicja Gescinska has followed up her philosophical study of moral indifference with a fictional study of all-consuming passion.

A

licja Gescinska was born in Warsaw and moved to Flanders shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2012, she obtained a PhD in philosophy from Ghent University and is now a lecturer at Amherst College in the US and a frequent contributor to newspapers, including De Morgen.

After 2011’s De verovering van de vrijheid (The Conquest of Freedom), a non-fiction study of society’s moral indifference and laziness, she’s now delved into fiction with her first novel, Een soort van liefde (A Sort of Love).

“I never saw myself as a non-fiction writer

her conventional life back home. One of her lovers introduces her to Raymond, a charismatic professor who holds intellectual soirees in which students drink wine and debate.

Despite the 40-year age gap, sparks fly.

In a novel, writers have the freedom to explore their own limits as well as those of their characters. In Een soort van liefde, Gescinska examines a difficult love story, one that at first seems impossible.

“But when you read it and are looking at the situation from the characters’ point of view,” she says, “you can’t help but conclude that love can be all-consuming. There’s no point trying to fight it, it just happens.”

And so it goes with the passionate, whirlwind romance between Anna and Raymond.

There’s also another kind of love in the

Love is the most irrational force in the universe because I was a philosopher,” she says. “I just regarded myself as a writer. The form depends purely on the topic, and a novel suited this message about love best. There are many philosophers who write both fiction and nonfiction.”

In her previous book, when discussing freedom, Gescinska (pictured) referred to philosophers and political systems as well as autobiographical events, so, she explains, the non-fiction approach suited the topic. In fiction, different rules apply.

There are two storylines in Een soort van liefde, which ultimately meet in an explosive ending. Psychologist Elisabeth has to clear out the house belonging to her late father, a celebrated Germanics professor at an American college. Her parents divorced when she was a child, and her bond with her father had diminished over the years as she believed he was more interested in his career than in her.

Then there’s Anna, a Flemish student in Massachusetts, who decides to let her hair down while abroad before she returns to

novel, that between a father and daughter.

“I used this relationship to illustrate how we perceive the love we get from others,” Gescinska explains. “Sometimes we can get things totally wrong, and it’s up to the reader, who has all the information, to gain insight.”

As the reader has all the pieces of the puzzle, she says, they understand more than the characters themselves, giving them the upper hand.

Gescinska, who worked on the book on and off for years, believes we always try to rationalise love, “but it’s the most irrational force in the universe”. She wanted to explore how love makes and breaks us, how it forms us. Our perceptions of love, she says, usually say more about us than they do about the emotion.

Her background as a philosopher isn’t just visible in her themes, it’s also clearly present in her character development: All the characters in Een soort van liefde have rich inner lives and spend most of their time reflecting on their situation and on the world at large.

“People can lead similar lives but feel very

© Koen Broos

different things,” she says, “and I think it’s particularly interesting to convey how people experience their own lives. Reality is often more complex than we think.”

Een soort van liefde is a clever and profound novel filled with vivid, lingering descriptions

and provocative thoughts. At its heart are faith and choices that aren’t always ours to make, inviting readers to question their own expectations when it comes to love. ) is published in Een soort van liefde ( Dutch by De Bezige Bij

More new books this month The Hunt Paul Bird • FeedaRead.com British native Paul Bird lives in Flanders. His debut novel, The Hunt, is a dystopian satire that tells the story of 16-year-old Nim, his mother, Samir, and his father, Cush. They live in a not-so-distant future that’s been struck by several economic and social tragedies, creating two symbiotic worlds: an upper and a lower suburb. While detective Cush tracks down a band of subversive free-thinkers set on changing the social structure, Nim and his friends are busy with their own hunt. A well-written, engaging read.

\ 14

De Idioot en de tederheid (The Idiot and the Tenderness) Yannick Dangre • De Bezige Bij Former Debut prize-winner Yannick Dangre’s new novel is a poetic, slow-burning family chronicle filled with tragedy, redemption and despair. Arthur wants his nephew Tristan to write down his life story, hoping it will help him come to terms with his past. Tristan, though, is a stubborn and determined boy who plunges into a labyrinth of lies without looking back.

Een unie van het eigen (A Union of their Own)

Witte warmte (White Warmth)

Joachim Pohlmann • Polis Joachim Pohlmann, better known as Bart De Wever’s speechwriter, follows up his 2012 fiction debut, Altijd iets (It’s Always Something), with a novel about four generations of Flemings who examine what’s left of their ideals after a destructive century. Protagonist Armin no longer believes in the system and leaves for Berlin, somewhere he used to go with his father. This trip down memory lane soon becomes a quest to find out how his family was scarred by ideology and war. An intriguing novel with a political core.

Dimitri Casteleyn • Manteau The second novel by former VRT producer Dimitri Casteleyn is a tragic page-turner about a father and daughter who both long for freedom and affection, two things that could change their family.

Victor is a university professor, an intellectual who longs to be his own boss. Eline, on the other hand, realises how restricted her upbringing was when she goes to college. Love is her way out, until her father makes a decision that affects them both. Witte warmte is a pleasant and unpretentious read.

\ AGENDA

APRIL 27, 2016

Funny business

EVENT

Live Comedy Festival 29 April to 5 June

Hasselt Mei-avond viering: Celebration on the eve of 1 May as part of a medieval tradition for the end of winter and the welcoming of spring, featuring the planting of the meiboom tree, dance performances, concerts and tastings of local jenever, pâté and speculoos. 30 April 19.00-22.00, Grote Markt

Antwerp and Brussels livecomedyfestival.be

Antwerp’s mostly English-language Live Comedy Festival is back with an impressive range of international star stand-ups. They include the UK’s Jimmy Carr, American Reginald D Hunter, and Flanders’ own Jeroen Leenders – all of whom appeared in the first edition of the festival in late 2014.

This time they’re joined by popular British talent Bill Bailey, Nina Conti and Simon Brodkin, familiar to many from their appearances on TV programmes such as Live at the Apollo. Also on the line-up are rising star Dane Baptiste of London, who will share a few doubts, and Canadian Glenn Wool (pictured) with his brand new show, Creator, I Am But a Pawn.

After selling out at the last edition, Carr returns with his new show, Funny Business. Conti, a brilliant ventriloquist, appears with her trusty sidekick, the cynical monkey known as Monk, and

a selection of audience members who literally don’t know what they will say next. (Don’t sit too near the front.)

If you’re a fan of local talent, don’t miss Lukas Lelie and Kamal Kharmach, the latter of whom gained a new legion of fans after his appearance last year on the hit TV quiz De slimste mens ter wereld (The Smartest Person in the World).

They’re joined by special guest Steven Mahieu, the 2011 (and final) winner of Flanders’ pioneering stand-up competition, the Humorologieconcours.

The festival’s Survivor Pass gives access to all nine shows and guarantees the best seats in the house for every performance – but there are only 30 available. Most of the action takes place in Antwerp, but Hunter, Carr, and Conti will also appear in Brussels. Brodkin’s only show is in Brussels. \ Dan Smith

\ feestcomitehasselt.be

CONCERT Antwerp

\ livenation.be

TALK

CONCERT

Docville

Dave Graney & the Lurid Yellow Mist

Imagine the delight of hard-working filmmakers if the public flocked to documentaries in the cinema at the same rate as they watched reality TV. Should they try, they would find that this is where such watered-down TV fare was born.

Highlights from the programme of Flanders’ annual documentary film festival include Finders Keepers, the barely believable story of

Across Leuven docville.be

two men, a mummified leg and a lengthy lawsuit; The Nightmare (pictured), a look into extreme forms of sleep paralysis (“That’s when the shadow man comes. It’s like a horror movie.”); and Nuts!, an animated documentary about a 1920s doctor who surgically implanted goat testicles to cure impotence. You’ll never take to your sofa again. \ Lisa Bradshaw

2 May 21.00 A native of the wild environs of Adelaide, Dave Graney forsook a promising career in Australian rules football to become a rock singer. He and his partner, drummer Clare Moore, formed the Moodists and decamped to London in the 1980s as part of the Aussie post-punk invasion spearheaded by The Birthday Party.

He returned home the following decade a national treasure, racking up awards for his literate brand of song-writing and receiving them with puckish insouciance. An invitation to perform at the latest edition of UK festival All Tomorrow’s Parties gives Graney and Moore the excuse to tour Europe once more. \ Georgio Valentino

Hasselt Chaff, Brussels tinyurl.com/chaffbrussel

FESTIVAL Brussels The Brussels Tango Festival: Annual festival of the Argentinian partner dance, featuring numerous activities, workshops and performances scattered across the city, including free events, evening salons, afterparties and aperitif tango. 28 April to 2 May, across Brussels \ brusselstangofestival.com

© Michael Vale

EVENT

Star Wars Legion

Red Bull BC One Cypher Nieuwe Graanmarkt 23, Brussels starwars.com/projectlegion

The Star Wars convention was a venerable institution. With no studio support during the series’ interregnum, the fan community organised hundreds of grassroots events around the world. The multibillion dollar sale of Lucasfilm to Disney changed everything.

Marketing resumed its corporate character, even when outsourced to local affiliates. This one-day pop-up exhibition of stormtrooper helmets invites 30 contemporary Belgian artists to customise the iconic headwear of the films’ expendable villains. The results are visually interesting and perhaps will appeal to a new generation of fan. \ GV

1 May On 3 December, the world’s finest breakdancers will meet and compete at the Red Bull BC One Cypher world championship in Nagoya, Japan. In the meantime, qualifying rounds are held throughout the year in dozens of participating countries. Ghent hosts the Belgian finals, during

Vrouwen van Dada: On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Dadaism, professor Ingeborg Dusar of Antwerp University presents the lesserknown female artists who influenced the avant-garde movement (in Dutch). 28 April 20.00-21.30, Literair Museum, Bampslaan 35 \ literairmuseum.be

VISUAL ARTS 4 May, 10.00

kets n ow

Goose: Infectious electro-rock by the Flemish band whose new album, What You Need, is a reflection of the foursome’s increasingly mature, more emotional sound. 28 October 20.00, Lotto Arena, Schijnpoortweg 119

FILM 29 April to 7 May

get tic

FAMILY Hasselt

NTGent, Ghent redbull.be/bcone

which 16 homegrown b-boys stake their claim for a chance to represent the nation. A jury of breakdance professionals from the US, Puerto Rico and Taiwan will select the Belgian champion who then moves on to Nagoya. Admission is free but online registration is required. \ GV

Koinobori: Children’s day at the Japanese Garden, featuring a range of dragon-themed activities encouraging kids to explore the garden while making masks, filling pots, catching fish and more. 1 May 14.00-18.00, Japanese Garden, Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 23 \ japansetuin.be

FOOD&DRINK Ostend Barrio Cantina: Cosy food truck festival with world cuisine ranging from Mexican burritos and American hamburgers to Vietnamese spring rolls and Thai dumplings, plus DJ sets and cocktails. 29 April to 1 May, Leopoldpark \ barriocantina.be

© “Burp” by food stylist Erik Vernieuwe

\ 15

\ BACKPAGE

APRIL 27, 2016

Talking Dutch If the glove fits

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

In response to: Flemish scientists find cure for rare immune disease Christine Heyvaert: Thank you so much for your work!!!

M

ost people ignore them. But not Nico Verhoeven from Turnhout. Whenever he sees a single glove lying in the street, he takes a photo.

Het viel me de voorbije jaren wel vaker op die eenzame handschoenen die hier en daar in de straat liggen – In the past few years, I’ve been noticing those solitary gloves lying here and there in the streets a lot more often, he told Het Gazet van Antwerpen. In februari zag ik zo’n mooi exemplaar op de Grote Markt liggen – In February, I came across one on the Grote Markt that was so beautiful dat ik er een foto van nam en deze op Facebook plaatste – I took a photo of it and posted it on Facebook.

He called his Facebook page Eenzame handschoenen – Lonesome gloves. Launched this year, it soon gained a loyal following. Al snel kreeg hij berichten van mensen die ook elders een handschoen hadden opgemerkt – He was soon getting messages from other people who had spotted a glove. Ze gaven de coördinaten door – They gave him the location, of stuurden zelf een foto – or sent a photograph themselves.

His glove-spotting group has now grown. Samen hebben we tussen 12 februari en 4 april wel 64 handschoenen gelokaliseerd – Between 12 February and 4 April we mapped 64 gloves, Verhoeven reports proudly.

But now the days are getting warmer, the gloves have vanished. Het seizoen is voorbij – The season is over, Verhoeven posted on 10 April. Seven dagen lang geen nieuwe melding binnengekregen – For the past seven days, I haven’t received a single message.

It was time to publish some data on the lost gloves of Turnhout, Verhoeven decided. Slechts 22.6% van de teruggevonden handschoenen zijn van kinderen – Just 22.6% of the lost gloves belong to children, he announced; 37,7% zijn linkerhandschoenen – 37.7% are left-hand gloves, en

VoiceS of flanders today

In response to: Business travellers are avoiding Brussels Airport, says Voka Abhishek Dutta: It’s true. Nowadays there is a long long queue. I have suffered myself today :/

Diederik Kramers @DiederikKramers #Brussels #Maelbeek station around 9:11, 1 month after.

Benoît’s portrait gazes at an empty platform. As usual.

50,9% zijn rechterhandschoenen – and 50.9% are righthanded.

That doesn’t add up, you might be thinking, but there is a reason. Bij de overige was identificatie niet mogelijk – It wasn’t possible to identify the remaining ones.

Verhoeven has come up with other fascinating details – 69% is donker – 69% are dark in colour. Daarvan is 81% zwart – Of those, 81% are black. Handschoenen van leer spelen we minder vaak kwijt dan die van wol – We lose our leather gloves less often than the woolly varieties.

And don’t think this project is just a silly waste of time.

Dankzij het project vond alvast één handschoen zijn weg terug naar de rechtmatige eigenaar – Thanks to this project, at least one glove has found its way back to its rightful owner.

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Katja Retsin @megakatja It was Purple Love that night in Ghent! ã #prince #rip

Bent Van Looy @bentvanlooy Rock’n roll nights never end in kebabs. Literary nights ALWAYS do. #leuven

Ellis Shuman @ellisshuman When in Belgium, Drink the Beer #bruges

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the last word Disorganised crime

Drugs trade

“It seems that the decrease is partly due to young people going out less at night. They’re sitting at their computers and spending the evening on Facebook, which means less street crime.”

“A chemist is there to help people with advice, not to make as much profit as possible.”

According to Ellen Van Dael, statistics expert for the federal prosecutor-general, social media is partly responsible for lowering the youth crime rate

Blue blood “She said she had something to tell me. It seems that she’s actually an African princess.” © Dirk Waem/Belga

BACK TO SCHOOL King Filip pays a visit to Scharrel primary school in Minderhout, Antwerp province, as part of the activities of the Prince Filip Fund

Flemish artist Andreas Misera was with his partner, Isabelle YapoDlamini, for four years before she told him that she’s the niece of the king of Swaziland, Mswati III

Jan Berghmans, deputy-chair of the East Flanders Pharmacists Guild, on the arrival of the chain pharmacy Medi-Market in Ghent

Lost generation “We were standing in two rows.

Two rows of seven, next to each other on the footpath. Miss Magda was still explaining how to cross the road safely. Then suddenly we saw the van. After that, I don’t remember.”

Ivan Van Wilder was eight years old in April 1966 on the day a drunk driver ran off the road and into a group of 14 pupils in Walfergem, Flemish Brabant. Ten of them died.

The 50th anniversary of the event was commemorated at the weekend

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