Have you had negative experiences with the black and white thinking to which you refer?

"Personally I have always been spared from it, but my skin is light. During my studies I once went to a nightclub with some friends. I just went inside but after a while I noticed that my fellow students had stayed at the door and I didn’t know why. It turned out that the doorman would not let them in, probably because they had a different skin colour. Being a bit lighter than my friends, I was simply allowed in, but they were not welcome. When I asked the doorman why they weren’t allowed in, he just kept saying “because”. That was a real wake-up call."

Did you feel welcome when you moved from Aruba to the Netherlands and then to Belgium?

"Yes, absolutely! When I moved to the Netherlands after secondary school, I was welcomed very warmly. When I enrolled at the academy there, I was the only girl in a class of 15 boys but everyone was extremely friendly and hospitable. I was cared for very well, including by a lot of people outside school."

"But one very important factor is language. If you speak the language, it is much easier to integrate. Without language, you can’t communicate with people properly, and that is essential! If you can’t communicate, you allow prejudice to take the upper hand. I speak four languages, so I have always been able to communicate with people. Most native Arubans speak Papiamento, but they speak Spanish to other South Americans, Dutch to the Dutch, and English to other tourists. You see? That is also a form of hospitality."

What did you think of M’s initiative to do a project about ‘hospitality’?

"I thought it was great! I have met so many new people with different backgrounds and stories thanks to this project. I also discovered that there are many different perspectives and interpretations of ‘hospitality’. What some people think is ‘hospitable’ is not hospitable at all to someone else. You can definitely see those differences in the exhibition."