Hans Deventer
4th December 2006, 03:49 PM (15:49)
Found this on a blog of a girl my son has listed as a friend. She wrote the following:
My mum found this story in the homeless newspaper from Duisburg. She translated into Dutch for the magazine I make, and I like it so much that I translated it into English for my blog.
All foreigners leave!?
A few days before Christmas. A few men came walking over the square of a small town. The stopped in front of the church and painted slogans on the walls. “Out with the foreigners” and “The Netherlands for the Dutch.” Rocks were thrown through the window of a Turkish shop across the church. Then they left quickly and it was quiet on the square again. Here and there, curtains were lifted and doors opened, but it all went so quick that no one had seen what happened.
“Come, it is enough. We’ll leave.” “Where should we go? To the South?” “Yes, that is still our homecountry. It gets worse and worse around here. We will do what is written on the wall: out with the foreigners.” And really, in the middle of the night everything in the little town came alive.
The doors of shops opened and there they came: the cacao, the chocolate and bonbons in Christmaswrapping. They wanted to go back to Ghana and Western Africa, that is where they belonged. And then the coffee, back to Uganda, Kenya and Latin-America. Pineapples and bananes went back into their packing-cases, and so did the grapes and the strawberries from South-Africa. All the sweets left, the ‘pepernoten’, the almonds and the cinnamoncookies went to India.
It was almost morning when the flowers from Colombia left. An airplane came to return the gold and precious stones over the whole world. In the morning there were traffic jams everywhere, since all cars wanted to return to their own land. None of them stayed. Trucks filled with electronics and clothes crossed the border on their way to Asia and the far East. The tropical wood broke out of the houses and some furniture with them.
After three days, just before Christmas, the peace returned. No foreigners anymore. The Christmas tree was still there and so where the apples. Silent Night could be sang again, but you needed a license, since it is originally from Austria. Just one thing did not fit in this story. Joseph, Mary and the Child stayed. Three Jews! “We stay”, Mary said, “if we leave this country as well, who can show you the way? The way to common sense and humanity?”
My mum found this story in the homeless newspaper from Duisburg. She translated into Dutch for the magazine I make, and I like it so much that I translated it into English for my blog.
All foreigners leave!?
A few days before Christmas. A few men came walking over the square of a small town. The stopped in front of the church and painted slogans on the walls. “Out with the foreigners” and “The Netherlands for the Dutch.” Rocks were thrown through the window of a Turkish shop across the church. Then they left quickly and it was quiet on the square again. Here and there, curtains were lifted and doors opened, but it all went so quick that no one had seen what happened.
“Come, it is enough. We’ll leave.” “Where should we go? To the South?” “Yes, that is still our homecountry. It gets worse and worse around here. We will do what is written on the wall: out with the foreigners.” And really, in the middle of the night everything in the little town came alive.
The doors of shops opened and there they came: the cacao, the chocolate and bonbons in Christmaswrapping. They wanted to go back to Ghana and Western Africa, that is where they belonged. And then the coffee, back to Uganda, Kenya and Latin-America. Pineapples and bananes went back into their packing-cases, and so did the grapes and the strawberries from South-Africa. All the sweets left, the ‘pepernoten’, the almonds and the cinnamoncookies went to India.
It was almost morning when the flowers from Colombia left. An airplane came to return the gold and precious stones over the whole world. In the morning there were traffic jams everywhere, since all cars wanted to return to their own land. None of them stayed. Trucks filled with electronics and clothes crossed the border on their way to Asia and the far East. The tropical wood broke out of the houses and some furniture with them.
After three days, just before Christmas, the peace returned. No foreigners anymore. The Christmas tree was still there and so where the apples. Silent Night could be sang again, but you needed a license, since it is originally from Austria. Just one thing did not fit in this story. Joseph, Mary and the Child stayed. Three Jews! “We stay”, Mary said, “if we leave this country as well, who can show you the way? The way to common sense and humanity?”