During the commemorations marking the decade since the Brussels terror attacks in which 35 people were killed emergency services personnel, relatives of the victims and survivors of the attacks all addressed those gathered. One of them was Larissa Scelfo, the widow of Cibuabua Ciyombo:
‘Belgium has not done enough to protect my husband and other victims.’ With these stark words, Larissa, expressed her anger during the commemoration of the attack at Maalbeek metro station.
In her speech, she remembered her husband, but at the same time launched a scathing attack on the system which, in her view, had failed. ‘The lack of organisation was distressing, but the lack of humanity was even more distressing. You’re not prepared for that.’
She spoke about the days immediately following the attack. ‘On the first day, we were sent home without being offered any alternative.’ ‘The nurse at the military hospital shouted at me: 'Madam, there’s no point in getting worked up. Either he’s dead and there’s no point, or he’s alive’.’
‘Imagine finding out only three days later that your husband is dead because you see his name on a list hanging on a door’.
Finally, she addressed the policymakers attending the commemoration. ‘I ask you all to put your egos aside and, before making a decision, ask yourselves whether you would make the same choice if it had consequences for yourself or your own children. I ask you to choose peace and empathy.’
One of the survivors who addressed those gathered was Béatrice de Lavalette
The young woman was barely 17 when, exactly 10 years ago, she was critically injured at Brussels Airport. The doctors believed she had little chance to survive. She eventually lost both her legs, but pulled through. On Sunday she took the floor.
‘It would be a lie if I said that this life is easy. I wake up every day with memories of the horror. My body is burnt, bruised and mutilated. I wonder if this constant invisible pain is worth it. But then I remember the moment I was lying on that floor, bleeding. I said then: I’m not going to die here.’
That refusal to give up is what brought her here, she said. Today, she is not only a Paralympic athlete, “but also a sister, a daughter, a friend, and above all, a survivor”. “It is not my choice what happened, but it is my choice what I do with it. I choose to live, to fight for what is right.”
Mother and son, who were at Brussels Airport 10 years ago, together pay a musical tribute
On Schuman Square in Brussels Valerie Vervoort, together with her son Liam (10), paid a musical tribute.
What makes this so special is that they were together at Zaventem Airport 10 years ago when the bombs exploded. Liam was barely 5 months old at the time and was in his mother’s baby carrier, where she protected him during the attack.
Vervoort sang, whilst her son accompanied her on the cello.