Hello, I am Anita. I was born on December 17th, 1966 in Mechelen, Belgium. I am married and have two wonderful children.

I work as a secretary in a non-governmental organisation. Main objective in that organisation is trying to fight poverty in the Third World and in Belgium. In addition to the sensitization work we do in our country, the support to our partners in the Third World stays important in the building of concrete solidarity. We prefer initiatives which originate at the grassroots, which are backed by the community and which strengthen people. Those who come and ask our organisation for support, we do not consider beggars, but partners who know the local situation better than any other person. We assume that people in the Third World must formulate their needs and search for solutions themselves. Therefore, we attach so much importance to formation initiatives.

In my spare time I love to play volleyball, read books (very much enjoy fantasy books), love to watch movies, play with my kids and of course my new discovered interest making 3D graphics using several programs like Poser, DAZStudio, Bryce6, Vue Esprit, Photoshop.

For those who are not familiar with Belgium here is a map and a bit of my counties history.

Belgium is a small, highly developed and densely populated country (10 million of inhabitants) at the cross-roads of Western Europe. Belgium is one of the founding members of the European Community, and its capital, Brussels, is also the capital of the European Union. It is a federal state, with 3 relatively autonomous regions: Flanders in the north, where the language is Dutch ("Flemish"), Wallonia in the south, where the language is French, and the centrally located Brussels, which is officially bilingual. Belgium's rich history has left impressive churches, town halls, castles and works of art, dating back to the early Middle Ages, spread around the cities and country-side.

Belgium has possibly the highest "quality of life" in the world, as testified by its excellent food, housing, health care, education and infrastructure, its world records for high productivity and low poverty.

The "peaceful anarchism" of Brussels architecture may well be the feature that best characterizes Belgium as a whole. During its history of over 2000 years, the region has almost continuously been occupied by foreign powers: from the Romans to the Spanish, the Austrians, the French, the Dutch and the Germans. This has made the Belgians critical of any form of authority, and laws, rules and regulations are not taken very seriously.

An anecdote illustrating this attitude was reported by a British officer commanding Belgian troops during the first world war. Whereas soldiers normally are supposed to follow orders without questioning, the Belgians would first ask why they were supposed to do something particular. Only after they got an acceptable reason they would execute the order. This stands in contrast to the often absurd manoeuvres undertaken by British, French and German troops, where thousands of lives were sacrificed in order to gain a few meters of terrain. This attitude may explain why the losses in human lives were much smaller among the Belgians than among other nations, even though a large part of the battles took place on Belgian territory ("Flanders' fields").

Belgium has, since the Middle Ages, always been one of the richest and most developed regions in the world. Just look at the historic churches, town halls, and pieces of art, in cities such as Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp to get an idea of the wealth during the mediaeval and Renaissance periods, when only the North of Italy could rival its splendour and artistic development. During its second golden age, the half century before World War I, Belgium was in absolute terms the fourth economic power in the world. If you take into account that the other industrial powers had a 5 to 10 times larger population, the achievement is impressive. This wealth was not due to natural resources, which are practically absent, but to industrial production and trade, which is facilitated by Belgium's central position in Western Europe, and the presence of many land and waterways.

What all Belgians have in common is a love for the "good life", which they find in their excellent food and drink, comfortable housing, reliable medical and social services, highly developed traffic and communications infrastructure. Belgians are not the type wanting to impress other people with their achievements, or to convince others of their righteousness. They tend to be rather reserved or introverted in their first contacts with other people, but are sincerely warm and friendly once you get to know them better. They are happy when they can enjoy a safe and comfortable life, together with their family and friends, and they put a high value on privacy. They have a clear aversion towards moralizing, towards telling other people how they should or should not behave, and they take "live and and let live" as the basis for their philosophy.

The things that are especially noticed by foreign visitors are the excellent food, and the very dense concentration of restaurants and pubs, everywhere in the country. Not just the quantity but the quality of restaurants is exceptional: Belgium is the country with the highest number of Michelin stars (the most acclaimed gastronomical distinction for a restaurant) per head of the population. Given this overwhelming competition, it is not surprising that Belgium is the only country in the world where the fast-food giant McDonald's has been consistently losing money. Belgian cuisine, which is related to the French one, but with some very distinctive touches, offers many dishes worth trying. A well-known speciality are the Belgian chocolates which are sold all over the world. And then there is the national dish, "French" Fries ("frites"), which, according to legend, were invented in Belgium, not France, and which are supposed to be better here than in any other place in world.

The beer is a national speciality: there are hundreds of different types with distinctive tastes, which are all served in their own specially made glasses. Beer, for Belgians, is about as important as wine is for the French. It is a pity that the international marketing is not better developed, because everybody drinks Dutch, Danish or German beers, whereas the Belgian ones (which are much richer in variety and taste) are known only by the real beer lovers. Recently, though, Belgian speciality beers are getting more and more popular, not only in the neighbouring France, Holland and UK, but even in the USA.

Capital of Belgium is Brussels, underneath you see a picture of the Market Square.