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Father Damien came half-way ar
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Molokai and Belgium have two things in common. Firstly, it is their petite size and striving for individuality and secondly, it is the shared admiration for Belgium's countryman, Father Damien, who soon became claimed as one of the most influential people to arrive in Molokai.
Like Molokai, Belgium too is unique in its pursuits and products.
Belgium is home not only to the European government, but also to some of the world's best chocolate, several hundred varieties of flavored beer and the world-famous Belgian waffles.
Glowing with pride, typical Belgians of the modern era are visibly impressed with all of the culinary feats that the country has brought to the world, including French fries, which as any Belgian will argue are a misnamed dish, pointing at the many fry stands lining the plazas of Brussels.
The mistake in naming it after its southern neighbors, a Belgian student explained, came about when American soldiers were passing through Belgium and encountered the crispy potatoes, and falsely assumed they have hit France.
Perhaps it is the continuous fight over its identity that has given birth to such patriotism in a country that, like a beaten soldier, constantly had to get up to fend off yet another superpower from taking a piece of it.
It is richly shrouded in history, not atypical for smaller European nations. Like many others, it has struggled throughout the centuries to become its own state, having to defend itself to greater powers.
Finally, after centuries of others wanting to usurp power from the relatively petite nation north of France, the Belgians declared independence in 1830. The country has come a long way to achieve this sovereignty as it first had to free itself from such superpowers as the Austria-Hungarian Empire, followed by a quick overpowering by the French and finally the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in the early 19th century.
Due to its resulting cultural mosaic, Belgium has given birth to many great minds, including the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, the inventor of modern-day road asphalt Edqard De Smedt or the surrealist artist Rene Magritte.
Still, it was Father Damien, who was named the greatest Belgian of all time in a nationwide poll three years ago. Perhaps it is the ever-present connection to religion that has inspired the Belgians to award him this title. Belgium's inclusion of religion also found its way into the aforementioned production of beer, initially a drink concocted by monks to lure in pilgrims.
Pater Damiaan, as is the Dutch name for Father Damien, much like his birth country had to struggle to be able to follow his calling. Born Jozef De Veuster in Tremelo in 1840, his future seemed to be wrapped around his father's small farm. In order to pursue a life in a commercial profession, his father sent him to college.
However, Jozef knew that his true vocation was elsewhere and convinced his parents to allow him to join the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus Fathers) at Louvain.
This was at a time when the country was still bathing in the leftover shadow of the religious and political disputes between south and north several decades earlier.
Jozeph's chosen Louvain too was a home to one of the three universities that in 1825 was hand-picked by Protestant King William I for it to be taken away from the Catholic influence. Granted, this created tension between the religious and political players, enabling the Roman Catholic Church to retain a significant role in the country's politics from thereon.
During his business studies, Jozeph's brother, Father Pamphile, was ordained a priest and as such was set to go to the Hawaiian Islands for a mission. However, he fell ill and Jozeph was to take his place on the mission.
It is said that prior to his departure from Belgium, he had asked Blessed Mary for allowing him 12 years of missionary work.
Father Damien was ordained a priest in 1864 upon his arrival in Honolulu, only to volunteer to go to Molokai seven years later, upon learning of the dire situations that sufferers of the Hansen's Disease faced in Kalaupapa.
It was during his 12th year of missionary work on the peninsula that he was diagnosed with the most virulent type of the disease, which eventually claimed his life in 1889.
To allow both Belgium and Molokai to save a piece of the Blessed father, his right hand is buried in Molokai, while the rest of his remains are left in Louvain.
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