The Netherlands is a country about the size of Garissa county in Kenya with a population of 17 million people. Space is premium and in some places graves are rented and can be reused after a 10 to 20 year lease and the remains are cleared after the time expires.
There is a special breed of women about to exit the scene with an endless capacity to care for others. They are the forgotten grandmothers whose weary hands are holding up our bright skies. They are the discarded ladders that took us over the walls erected to stop our progress and on whose bent backs, we built modern and prosperous lives.
A man I hardly knew, a father I had but never had and would never have was suddenly no more. If there was ever any hope of forming a relationship with him, that flicker of hope had disappeared into pitch darkness.