To a friend

It has been six months since I wrote you. Living in Antwerp, my life is both the same and completely different as it was a year and a half ago. I have left the financial sector, most likely for good, and I work a few days in the week for an ngo, more precisely for the fund raising department. As a volunteer I'm still involved with small arms proliferation, and also with board responsibilities, further bringing into practice the policy on movement growth that we developed in the preceding years. That's not always easy as many people (including myself) have their own opinions and dogmas on how that should be done exactly. But there is progress and I think that we'll finally reach our targets.

You may or may not recall that I was following a course on nautical sciences. I continued to do so over the last months and this brought me to an incredible voyage at sea. The attached picture is one of the ship I boarded this Spring for one month. Navigating, steering, watch standing, position & compass calculating, but also cleaning, working on deck, and rigging the sails thirty meters above the ship: it was harsh work under the quite rigid authority of the instructors, but very rewarding. With no land in sight and no lights around, there is only the ship and the sea and, if the sky is clear, the stars above. And the curiosity of the Atlantic dolphins that accompanied us! :-). It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. The completion of this seafaring internship gives me the possibility to sail as a trainee on all commercial vessels that can use a deck officer apprentice. I plan to spend the foreseeable future with seafaring and seafaring studies, ngo work, and reading/writing. Gradually this will give me a considerable and increasing mobility and freedom. Around next year's Easter my second term on the board will end, and I do not intend to go for a third term. I long to "uncommit" myself for a long time so that I can devote myself to other things. Maybe there is even a chance we could then meet somewhere in the US, if you would like that idea. Well that's still one year from now but then again I have understood how utterly short a year can be.

For the rest I think that I can congratulate you by now with your dissertation and your PhD. I'm sure you have a bright and interesting future before you in the world of education and investigation... I really hope, but I do not doubt, that you can spark the inspiration of many students to engage themselves further into international relations and human rights policies. It's a profound and exceptional contribution and a big difference you can make there. Furthermore I hope all is well with you as a person, and that you also find the time that you need for the things that you like.

I'm writing a short novel in English, 'Estimated Time of Arrival', on seafaring, human rights, and some memories I have, and of things that life brings about. I may send it to you one day as a present.

All the best and take care,
Fenrig