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:::HALEWIJN Memorial Trust Fund:::

Halewijn was a man who had the privilege to live and experience two Worlds. Brought up in Spain, he came from a financially endowed family. Nevertheless, his father taught him that wealth had to be earned, subsequently he learnt at a young age how to be self-sufficient.

As a youth, he had an insatiable appetite in quest of new Worlds. He ventured into new territories in which he encountered an array of different cultures, traditions and peoples.

In Africa he traversed North Africa starting from the East and later on from Morocco he travelled through the Sahara and Southward. He came face to face by societies hitherto completely removed from his own experiences. Which whet his appetite even more not only to interact with the people but to delve into their story.

A keen listener, you can only imagine how these stories may have made him laugh, cry, reflect or debate at times but he was certainly moved by the numerous conversations he had be it with children, teenagers, women, men, the elderly or many who became acquaintances after meeting “in the street”.

On settling in Kenya in the tour industry and with family, the ever present social and economic inequalities and marginalization faced by the many he encountered on his journeys heightened his compulsion to have a positive impact in these societies. In this regard, he became proactively involved in numerous societies contributing to the needs as he was approached.

These contributions ranged on the larger scale from the building of a public campsite presented to the community; training of coxswains on powerboats; to repairing local fishermen fiberglass boats; conducting lake rescues, to the more singular such as financial assistance for education, health and general assistance in kind, for example contribution of a boat engine with fuel tank to the local fishing community.