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 In Forssa we were pleased to hear the life stories of elderly people. In Antwerp we reflected on the situation of children.

On Thursday afternoon, November 5, 2009, we left in three cars -on account of a railway strike- to visit the Antwerp Palace of Justice, which was designed by the renowned architect Richard Rogers.

The object of our trip was to see the temporary exhibition, intended as a tribute to the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1989 by the United Nations. Only Somalia and the United States abstained from voting.

75 pillars for 20 years of children's rights

75 pillars, each 2m high on a 40x40cm base had been painted by hundreds of children and youngsters from ages 6 to 18, all of them pupils of the 75 classes of the Municipal Academy of Fine Arts of the city of Hasselt, under the direction of director Luc Steegen.

The direct cause of this exhibition was a Unicef campaign on malnutrition as a worldwide causal agent of child death. The pillars were positioned in an awe-inspiring arrangement in the promenade hall of the courthouse. The four sides of each pillar were painted in one of the basic colours, red, yellow, blue and black and white, giving the total exhibit a uniform basic character. The incredible creativity of the makers was revealed in a terrific colourfull diversity.

We all were quieted down while we walked in the midst of these high, imposing pillars, and possibly -hopefully- the other visitors -especially the lawyers and judges- will feel small again, perhaps learning something from the children.

As a matter of fact, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a powerfull human rights tool, which is often applied in this building.

During the exhibition (October, 23 till November, 18) a permanent stall of Unicef demonstrated, among other things, the condition of children in developing countries:

•              Programmes concerning nourishment, health, baby alimentation, the importance of drinkable water, hygiene, education, the improvement of the situation of girls in some developing countries.

•              The Millenium Goals of the United Nations.

•              The Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Later that day, during a visit to the Antwerp pedestrian's tunnel under the Scheldt, I experienced the resilience and the permissiveness of our group. Part of the group audaciously went up all the way at the far end to enjoy the view of the city, while the others patiently waited 30m below the surface in order to go back together.

Other anniverseries of note:

•              November 24, 1959 (150 years ago): The Origin off Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, by Charles Darwin

•              The famous painter Renoir said that impressionism wouldn't exist without the invention of the paint tube 150 years ago.

•              Just born: De Wilde Black: a new kind of black that is a 144 times blacker than ordinairy black, invented by and named after the Belgian artist Frederik de Wilde. He is now looking for a whiter than white.