{"id":6636,"date":"2015-03-11T11:54:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T09:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/?p=6636"},"modified":"2015-03-11T11:54:04","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T09:54:04","slug":"henk-van-kessel-appointed-knight-of-the-order-of-orange-chipata-zambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/11\/henk-van-kessel-appointed-knight-of-the-order-of-orange-chipata-zambia\/","title":{"rendered":"Henk van Kessel appointed Knight of the Order of Orange, Chipata, Zambia."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Henk-van-Kessel-Knight-02_A\"<\/a>Awarded for<\/em> those with special merits Henk van Kessel was appointed Kinght of the Order of Orange for his service to the Zambian people and Church over the past 62 years.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Jean-Luc Gouiller, Kalongwezi, Chipata, on 10th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2015<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The ceremonial decoration took place on 21st<\/sup>\u00a0February 2015. Henk remembers well the name of the Lady Ambassador: \u201cGera Sneller\u201d. She cares for three countries: Zimbabwe where she lives as\u00a0an Ambassador, Malawi and Zambia. She came by road to Chipata as a tourist.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

She arrived at our place in mid-morning. I welcomed her, then presented Henk the hero of the day, the Auxiliary Bishop Mgr. Benjamin Phiri, Fr. Christopher Sakala Parish Priest of the Cathedral and Fr. Jacob Zulu in charge of communications in the Diocese. Then the whole Kalongwezi community was presented, plus of course Toon van Kessel from Lusaka – Henk\u2019s cousin, and\u00a0our cook Evarista Zulu.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Knight<\/a>The Ambassador told us a little about her, and then it was the time of the ceremony, simple but pleasant. Toon recalled the life of Henk and especially his sixty two years in Africa, all spent in what is presently the\u00a0Diocese of Chipata, an extraordinary length of time indeed. Toon ended by saying: May be Henk has not done very great things, but he has done plenty of small things in a great way.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Ambassador expressed her pleasure to be the one called to decorate somebody with such a life in Africa. Then everything was ready: Henk was decorated as \u201cKnight of the Order of Orange\u201d.\u00a0 Some\u00a0pictures were taken, which a little later were already presented as a souvenir to him and to the Ambassador.\u00a0The whole time Henk was at his best. Indeed, even if he was not ready to travel far away\u00a0for the decoration, he very much appreciated it. And we all enjoyed to be witnesses to his decoration<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed be the Lord for such a life and such a day.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To end it all, after a gift or two to be added to the feast, lunch was the occasion to go on talking, listening to some experiences from the Ambassador and talking\u00a0ourselves about our past and present life in Zambia.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A question remains: what is the historical background of being a<\/span> \u201cKnight of the Order of Orange\u201d<\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

The first thing to remember is probably that, after a long history, it is said that the people of the Netherlands (the Low Lands), managed to organise themselves as a Republic in 1579, with Guillaume d\u2019Orange. After many changes along the following centuries, the Netherlands finally became a State of its own in 1830, under the Kings of the Family of Orange. \u2026 until nowadays. No wonder that the name of being a \u201cKnight of the Order of Orange\u201d is very appropriate.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t