Press Club Brussels Europe #WeLoveBrussels | Page 5

Benfica’s football games. This is the place, at least
for those who come from this country, where
you can find the little things that make you feel
the saudade an untranslatable Portuguese word
expressing simultaneously a mix of nostalgia and
happiness. David was born in Beira, Angola, and
grew up in this former-Portuguese colony until
1975. Following the Portuguese revolution, he had
to run away with his family to Portugal. At the
age of 14, he lost everything and had to come to
Europe. When he turned 18, he fell in love with a
girl and decided to go Brussels, where she worked.
32 years later, they are still in love. 
This man worked hard: he was a truck driver,
working more than 16 hours a day. Today, he runs
a restaurant all by himself in a country where he
didn’t speak a word of the language at first. He had
to fight to earn what he has today. If you ask David:
“how was it?” he will tell you that it was hard but

he’s now living a dream, his dream. He will tell
you that Brussels gave him everything and that
he never felt any animosity from the locals. If you
ask him if he wants to go back to Portugal, he will
tell you “no way”. Don’t get him wrong; David loves
Portugal, his home country. However, his family,
his sons and possibly grandsons are in Brussels.
Why should he go back to his country? 
When you think about it, the “Davids of Brussels”
also live in a bubble. Not the same bubble where
the others expats live in, but still. It is his bubble.
According to your community, your life style and
most importantly, your history you will discover
various bubbles in Brussels. This is why I am
living in the most exciting city in Europe that can’t
surrender to brutality. We are still shocked by the
moment of terror we lived last March 22. But we
cannot surrender. Throughout this magazine we
will remind you why #WeLoveBrussels. n

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