For ‘One day I will be somebody’, historian Jan Bleyen listened to the experiences of Manso, his former student of Dutch: how he left Sierra Leone as a boy, became a man and has been living in Belgium for ten years, without papers.
‘Every time someone helps you, it is difficult. You are dependent on other people, and I don’t want that.’
By giving Manso the floor in peace and quiet, Jan Bleyen tries to understand him without judgement: how his friend gives meaning to his world by doing and not doing things.
‘Sometimes you can trust an animal more than a human being. I see that here in Belgium, and I saw that in Africa.’