Who mourns those who die on the streets? (NL)
! Please note: As an exception, this session will take place on the second Tuesday of the month due to the holidays!
Sharpen your mind at lunchtime with hot topics and a warm bowl of (vegetarian) soup. Engaging speakers analyse current issues from a Brussels perspective. Complex topics are explained in an accessible way. Afterwards, there’s time for questions and comments from the audience. Food for the body and mind, every first Tuesday of the month!
Who mourns those who die on the streets?
“My metro station became a dormitory, then a deathbed,” wrote author Yelena Schmitz recently in *De Standaard*. The occasion: a woman who died at Bockstael metro station on 13 April 2026. In her column, Schmitz invites us to reflect on the people who die alone on the streets.
Street worker Josef Terlaeken from DIOGENES outlines the reality of people who live and sleep on the streets. What does their daily struggle look like? What responsibility do politicians bear? And why does attention to homelessness seem, year after year, to be limited to winter, when the temperature drops?
Following a spoken word performance by Kavena Gomos / Le Dauphin, we will conclude together with a moment to honour, and mourn, those who die on the streets.
About the speakers
Yelena Schmitz is a Brussels-based writer of books, plays, essays and a regular fortnightly column in *De Standaard*. Her book *Hotel Kosmos* (2024) was shortlisted for the 2025 Boon Literature Prize. Her work has previously been honoured with the Fintro Prize for Dutch-language Literature, the Korte Golf Radio Prize and the Deus Ex Machina Prize. She collaborates with a wide range of creative artists and is known for her ability to make major themes accessible to young readers.
Josef Terlaeken is a street worker at the non-profit organisation DIOGENES, which helps people living on the streets in Brussels. They do this through street outreach, with the aim of building bridges between the street and the rest of society.
According to mythology, dolphins are peaceful and cheerful. The same is true of the passionate Kavena Gomos / Le Dauphin. Don’t simply call him a rapper or slam poet, but a poet-artist, because his art is, above all, poetry. He is a member of the slam collective SLAMEKE and seeks to discover, create and breathe new life into the beauty in all things.
Practical information
Everyone is welcome from 12.15 pm for a bowl of vegetarian soup, in collaboration with Atelier Groot Eiland
The speaker will begin at 12.30 pm
Afterwards, there will be time for questions from the audience
Registration is recommended but not compulsory
‘Tussen de Soep en de Feiten’ is a collaboration between Brussels Academy, CCV, Citizenne, CM, Curieus, Davidsfonds, huisvandeMens, Humanistisch Verbond, Internationaal Comité, Louis Paul Boonkring, Masereelfonds, Mensen & Wetenschap, Muntpunt, Odisee, OKRA, UCOS, Vermeylenfonds, VUB en Willemsfonds.
Schedule
Place
REGISTER HERE
https://icontact.muntpunt.be/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=24821
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