Inspirational Speech at the Spring Cleaning

Thank you to all of you who came out to help with our Spring Cleaning Day. We are grateful for all of you and thankful for all the work you do! If you were unable to make it out for the Spring Cleaning, please read this beautiful inspirational speech Janine DeKeersmaecker gave to all of our volunteers: “Hi, my name is Janine. I am a member of the board of directors of Serve the City and currently acting as chairwoman of the board in Carlton’s absence. I am very happy to see you here today and to welcome you on our Spring Cleaning Focus Day. I got involved with Serve the City 10 years ago and have seen it grow thanks to the contributions and efforts of great people like our core team here present today (please can I have a well-deserved round of applause for them), thanks to many others who have now left Brussels but stay in our hearts and of course numerous volunteers like you. We are all about people. Today you will meet people that you would otherwise probably not very likely get to know by name. They will tell you more about their stories or perhaps you will just play and laugh together. Today they will not feel alone. Today you will meet other volunteers that share your kindness, sense of solidarity and the will to bring positive change to the city for those who need it the most. Today you will share this vision for a better city and feel empowered to turn words into action. Today you will open your eyes for things that you didn’t have time, the mood or even the courage for and really see the needs of your neighbours. You will perhaps even learn more about yourself as you may find yourself in a situation very different from your regular life and outside your comfort zone. For one of my first projects with Serve the City, I had to help clean the stock room of Nativitas, a soup kitchen for the homeless. I thought the job was pretty boring and quite disgusting as we found dead mice under the refrigerator. At the time, I was part of the cast of a filming team from the US that was making a documentary on Serve the City in Brussels and Moscow. Since I couldn’t fake my enthusiasm for the cleaning project, I honestly admitted on camera that I was not very happy with this experience as I would not even usually clean my own place myself. Yes, I was a self-centered, spoiled young girl who was more thinking of having a fun time than of the added-value my efforts could have for Nativitas. Thank God, I had a great team leader (Osama) who finds joy in everything he does. I can assure you I have changed in the meantime, otherwise I wouldn’t be participating in this Spring CLEANING, I repeat CLEANING Focus Day. After this first experience, I thought playing with refugee children seemed much more fun. At the time we didn’t have monthly focus days but I started organising monthly volunteering projects at the refugee center, the Petit Chateau to which I invited my friends and colleagues. It was great to play football in the courtyard, bake waffles (with beer instead of yiest which was my dear husband’s secret contribution), make music and sing with the children led by my former colleague David Nilson who used to be a pop star in Sweden. The children made quite an impression on me. Many of them could speak several languages as they had been living in different places – the often painful reasons why they had to leave their home country were not marked on their faces and their openness to embrace whatever life brings to them, was very inspiring. A few years later, I joined the team that traveled to Malawi to visit the villages to which we had donated wells and to see whether Serve the City could be started there too. The most striking experience was our visit to a crisis nursery where babies that were left abandoned on the road or babies with HIV were taken care of. We played with them and showed them affection. Leaving them behind was the hardest thing to do.  I remember a little boy crying and reaching out his arms to me when I put him back into his crib. Heartbreaking. So you may think, what difference do we make as we come into people’s life and then leave again? We don’t know but we should never underestimate the impact we may have through the role-model effect. One day the person you serve, may become a volunteer. That is Serve the City’s aspiration, that kindness and love go viral. A serving revolution as Carlton would say! Speaking about love, you are all here today because you believe or would like to believe in it. Love is a leap of faith. You’re crossing the invisible lines of this city trusting that it will all be ok. Today you will be the connecting link between different communities. That other person is not a stranger, he or she is your neighbour. With generosity, kindness and an open mindset, you will bridge the gap created by fear of the unknown. For that we will need courage. It is funny how these T-shirts that you are wearing, have a superman/wonder woman effect. Talking to a homeless guy in the street, suddenly becomes so much easier. Inspired by this collective bravery, I got encouraged to apply it more in my daily life. Every morning when I go to work, there is a homeless man sitting in metro station Porte De Halle. Over the years, we have built up a relationship of nodding and waving. I give him some coins from time to time as well as reindeer socks for Christmas. One day I was waiting for my metro to arrive at Trone and he came to me. He took my hand, kissed it and the only word he could mumble was “respect”.  He made my day! As you know, our core values are humility, compassion, respect, courage, love and hope. This is what you will bring to Brussels today. Thank you! Janine De Keersmaecker” Again, thank you to everybody who was able to join us. We appreciate all you do!