1917, The Last Push To finance the war effort during WWI, France balanced money printing and war bonds. The war bonds were not a novelty, and had been used since the French revolution in every national emergency situation. No “whatever the cost” then, but “mobilise your savings for victory!”. Different...
Mélanie Vogel, representative for the French living abroad, quoting from the results of a global study among French non-residents, December 2024: The attachment to French citizenship is particularly strong […]: 82,6 % […] consider their nationality important. […] the basic foundations of [French] identity are French culture (86,5 %) and...
To my utter surprise, the small piece “What drove pith helmets extinct” has generated quite the reaction. It means that pith helmets are still lurking in our collective mind. To this day, they remain bipolar symbols of adventure/oppression and discovery/exploitation. Let me take you through the 4 examples I own. If you...
“You never enter the same river twice” ~ Heraclitus the Obscure aka Heraclitus of Smyrna That was tradition. It was their tradition. Theirs. They just knew each other’s exact thoughts as they happened: glimpses of Zanzibar, Dar-Es-Salam, Conakry… So many harbours, so many colours, so many times. They were standing side...
Katanga remains a primeval mystery to me. Oh, you can set foot there, travel through it, and yet the depth of its reality never ceases to fascinate me. Tucked in a wallet, neatly folded in equal squares was an intriguing shape, with words and sentences. A good luck charm. A...
The massive red brick church on screen was one of the traditional cues of The Old Movies. It was the kick-off of memory, the bravura moment of the retelling of ‘what-we-did-in-Congo’. A breeze of sighs, dreamy smiles and fleeting nods. Nostalgia started oozing from the walls. Smiles we did not...
For my entire life, until 5 years ago, pith helmets were just colonial helmets to me. At least, until I needed one to round off a fetching steampunk outfit for a Comic-Con. Afterall, a pith helmet remains the purest evocation. Adventure. Exploration. Discovery. Just stick one of them on any...
Diamonds, copper, cobalt, uranium, … Name it, and Congo is likely to have it. The country, shrugging off civil war, regains its rank of second biggest producer of copper. Congo produces 2 thirds of the world’s cobalt today. Yes, that metal, for lithium batteries et alii. The metal of the 21st century. ...
1940-1955 The triage of memories continues. Albums pile up. They get thicker. Now covered in heavy bordeaux faux-leather, they look like spell books waiting for a lectern, and a priest to officiate. Out with the earlier scrapbooks, the glued and stringed pages. In with the temple tomes and careful order....
1914-1918 War Memorials that list in every village strings of similar names, as if entire families were decimated in one event. They were. Signs for cemeteries and ossuary’s of every nation pointing in every direction at every crossroad. Barren fields still peppered with ammunition, squelching mud still spitting out the...
August 16, 2024
My Heritage | Travel Trunks and Suitcases
August 2, 2024
August 9, 2024
From Ghent to Likasi, the Heart of Darkness
September 20, 2024
August 30, 2024
November 15, 2024
November 1, 2024
WWI in Soissons, Henri Penotet and the Big Bomb
November 8, 2024
January 3, 2025
My Heritage | The Story Starts with Africa
July 26, 2024