A home back home
In relationships, it’s easier to make a clean break than to drag the separation out forever. Talking to Walter Thiebaut of Vlamingen in de Wereld (Flemings in the World), I realise now that this is true for all kinds of relationships, including the one you have with your country.
Flemings living abroad have an organisation devoted to their welfare
“Immigration has changed,” he explains from his office in Schaarbeek. “In the beginning of the 20th century, when people left for Detroit, for instance, they went there to start a new life; the intention was never to come back. Today, people go work for a company, and they come back a few years later.”
Although at the outset this sounds easier, “the problems that are linked to that are more complicated,” explains Thiebaut. He is the president of the organisation that, for more than 40 years, has been helping ease the emigration pains of Flemish people. “Social security, pensions, where do I pay my taxes…we help people with these questions,” he says – questions that arise because the link to their homelands are not broken, they are simply on hold.
If you become a member of the organisation – €50 a year – you are also entitled to legal assistance should you run into trouble in your host country. “It’s about taking care of your people who have migrated,” says Thiebaut.
To that end, Vlamingen in de Wereld also communicates the needs of their members to authorities. For instance, they were largely responsible for the law allowing Belgians to obtain double nationalities. They are now working to change the law that allows Flemings to only vote in federal elections and not regional elections when they are abroad. And eventually, they even hope to have a representative in parliament. “In France, people living abroad have five seats in parliament!” exclaims Thiebaut. “I would like to see Flanders have at least one representative looking after the Flemish abroad.”
How many would be represented, though, is not readily apparent. Until 1999, Belgians abroad did not have to register at a Belgian embassy to vote. So “people just left,” explains Thiebaut, and the foreign ministry doesn’t know how many never came back. In the last election, 120,000 Belgians abroad voted, but the ministry estimates that the total number abroad is about half a million. That would mean about 250,000 Flemish live abroad. Vlamingen in de Wereld have 35,000 in their database.
In fact, when a catastrophe happens, like the tsunami of 2004 or the recent earthquake in Haiti, the news agencies call Vlamingen in de Wereld to get contact information for Flemings living in the affected area. These emigrants are an excellent source of first-hand information for local news. But they also know that, in such an emergency, someone back home has their backs.
