Today, December 7th, Sophia turned 31 years old.
Born at home, at 1.43pm, a beautiful baby with wide open eyes. That baby turned into a lovely girl and then a beautiful young woman.
On October 28th, 2015, she was last seen in Murchison National Park in Uganda. Since then nothing has been heard from her.
A smiling face on a mantelpiece, surrounded by flowers and light.
A piano is silent.
An incomplete family, even more so on festive days.
That girl on the mantelpiece, with her big smile and those beautiful eyes,
Where is she?
The world remains strangely empty without her.
The world is strangely empty without you
There is so little left in it
The sky is always so annoyingly blue
Why? What’s the point?
The blackbird is softly singing in a tree
For me he doesn’t have to bother
The world could be full of happiness, but now:
Empty, without you
Author: Annie M.G. Schmidt (1911 – 1995)
We will keep fighting the difficult battle to find out what happened to Sophia, to get answers to our many questions.
We shall continue to do everything that is possible, for Sophia.
Doing nothing is no option, hope springs eternal and when nothing is certain, everything is possible.
Marije Slijkerman
Gerard, Max en Jan Koetsier