My life has been much more diversified than that of Mr Smith in the UK, Monsieur Dupont in France or de heer Jansen in the Netherlands.

After my studies at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam I began my 35 year professional career in the European Commission in 1964. In addition to my work in the Commission, in 1970 I started giving lectures at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) for 34 years. In fact, all along my professional life I followed two full time careers.

Born as a real “flying Dutchman”, I always wanted to discover the world: its history, cultures and people and to admire the beautiful landscapes, nature, flora and fauna. The travel virus manifested itself  since my childhood.  Once I started working at the Commission as well as  the VUB the opportunities for travelling increased more than proportionally. My voyages brought me to most of the countries in Europe and later on more and more countries in the other six continents.

Apart from my professional activities I spent quite some time and energy in developing my good citizenship or personal social responsibility.  As a member of the Lions Club since 1981 I have been involved in social projects in Belgium as well as in different African counties and the latter with a strong emphasis on Tanzania. In 2002 I was also the co-founder of Close the Gap and in 2009 of WorldLoop.

The combination of my frequent travelling together with my hobby of photography resulted in a large archive of pictures of many different subjects.