The Brussels Showcase Saturday, 21 January 2006

IT was nothing but sheer joy and excitement when I received news that I had been nominated to attended a seminar being organised by the European Union headquarters in Brussels. The seminar was on "EU development policy on HIV/AIDS and poverty reduction".
The excitement was heightened when I learned that I was nominated from a group of six journalists who applied to participate in the seminar. And so two days after the official presentation ceremony, which was the first public function carried out by the new EU Head of Delegation in Ghana, Filiberto Ceriant Sebregondi, I left first for Malta where I was to attend another seminar organised by the Commonwealth Press Union.
At about 6 p.m. on December 4, I arrived in Brussels and quickly jumped into a taxi to check into the hotel hosting participants for the seminar.
As I left my room the next morning to get into the lift from my room on the third floor of the hotel, an African head popped out of the adjoining room and asked if I was attending the seminar to which I gave a quick response because I was simply dying to see someone African. He introduced himself as the Malawian participant and in no time we were talking like old friends.
At the hotel lobby sat two African ladies and the moment I heard, "are you guys cormin for the EU seminar" I knew that I was home — my Nigerian colleague already announcing her presence. With her was a beautiful young woman from Namibia.
So four African journalists ready to roll. We still had to wait another day before other colleagues from Zimbabwe, Uganda and Botswana joined us for the first part of the seminar which was only for the African journalists.
We used the European Journalism Centre (EJC) for most of our meetings. The Centre is nice and is used by journalists mostly covering the EU. It has several offices, an Internet café, a media centre for radio interviews and a restaurant.
The staff at the EJC were simply a delight to be with and were so helpful. Oscar who was the co-ordinator of programmes lined up for us was such fun to be with that we could always not wait to see him approaching the hotel’s lobby beaming with smiles to take us out for the day’s programme.
On the third day of the seminar, journalists from the new EU states joined us and it was amazing how we took to each other in a matter of minutes. They were from Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Cyprus, Malta, Lithuania and Slovenia.
The seminar itself was very educative and gave room for a lot of open and frank discussions between participants and European Commission officials who showed a lot of openness and discussed topics dispassionately.
Apart from the official work, we shared a lot of time together jumping on trains and going to see what was happening in town. Sometimes we missed our destinations and had to re-connect trains and we had a lot of fun.
Overall, the seminar will be remembered for one thing- the collaboration between African and European journalists was gratifying. It was a good learning experience. It was therefore not surprising that before we left Brussels, John who represented Cyprus gave us a treat at a pub where we ‘cooled off’ late into the night and although some of us were visibly struggling to stay awake, it was time well spent and shared.
Brussels was a trip well enjoyed and thanks to the EU delegation in Ghana which made it possible for me to experience another European showcase.