English readers
“This is what I learned on my journeys. We cannot truly understand each other with our minds, but only with our hearts. Every human being remains a secret for any other human being. It’s more likely for salt to turn into honey, than for human being to truly understand another, let alone for one nation to understand another nation.”
This quote is by Dutch travel writer A. den Doolaard, who wrote this line in 1958 in ,,Life and times of a vagabond’’. And yet, I will always keep on trying. Since I left my home country The Netherlands I have been trying to understand those other worlds, in Africa, The Middle East and in Turkey. Borders and migration are my obsessions.
I documented my life in different parts of the world. I wrote a book titled ,,Help, ik ben blank geworden’’ (Help, I became a white man) about my failed attempts to integrate in Africa (2009). I also presented the awardwinning televisionseries ,,In Turkey’’ (2011) , ,,Along the borders of Turkey’’ (2012), ,,Straight through Africa” (2014) and my last one about migration in and outside of Africa: De Trek (2016).
I was voted Journalist of the Year in 2008, won the Dick Scherpenzeelprijs and the Lira Correspondentenprijs for best foreign Reporting (2013) and the Herman Wekkerprijs (2014) for best reporting from English speaking countries.
