::: Jade Sea Journeys Staff Tribute :::

Back at the company premises, losing Halewijn who was like our father is one of the most difficult things we have to go through. There are no words to express his influence in our lives especially some of us who have known him for over 15years.It is through his example that most of us have learnt to be hardworking, strong, and face life head on when the going gets tough.

Halewijn strongly believed that if you worked hard, treated people right and with a little luck from God, you could have a good life. We knew him as a teetotaller who openly hated liars, drunkards and thieves.

Sometimes he could come to the workshop and emphasise the virtues of honesty and hard work with hands and legs while growling like a bear but at the end of it sit with us and laugh with us. He never kept grievances to his heart.

As we gather here today, although we miss his physical presence, let us not grieve but celebrate his life and share our memories because his spirit will continue to live in us.

Halewijn was a perfectionist who never left anything to chance. He was very strict but it's all because he valued the company and us too. We did safaris with him in Kenya and across the border to Ethiopia by road and by boat through Lake Turkana.He always had a solution to every problem and had his ways of making things simple. He was a talented person who was not a boss but a colleague, down to earth. You could come to the workshop and find him in his blue overall stained with oil just like all other staff. Halewijn was an engineer, driver, carpenter, boat builder, motor vehicle body builder, coxswain, Chef, tour guide…. the list is endless

He was a trainer who coached, mentored, and taught us many things in and out of the tourism industry. He was also a social man with a high sense of humour.

His sudden death was a shock and big blow to Jade Sea Journeys Family. Though Halewijn has left us, his legacy will go a long way. He has left behind a dedicated, well-trained and experienced team who are committed to moving the company forward together with his immediate Family and ensure that his dreams for the company are fulfilled.

MAY HIS SOUL REST IN ETERNAL PEACE.