Filipino students from all over Belgium get together in an event welcoming newly-arrived Filipino students at the Governor’s Residence in Ghent, Belgium, 28 September 2024.

The Philippine Embassy in Brussels and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Flanders, Belgium held a welcome event for newly-arrived Filipino students in Belgium on 28 September 2024.

Both old and new students from universities across Belgium, including KU Leuven, Ghent University, University of Antwerp, Antwerp Management School, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, UC Louvain, University of Hasselt, and the Institute of Tropical Medicine, convened at the Governor’s Residence in Ghent, and over Filipino food, renewed acquaintances, established new links, and exchanged views and advice on studying and living in Belgium.

Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General Pablito A. Mendoza, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Ma. Filonila Alcaraz-Arguelles, and Honorary Consul General Ronny de Blaere offered words of motivation to the students and invited them to the activities of the Embassy and the Honorary Consulate. Together with student representatives, they encouraged the students to look out for one another and not to hesitate seeking mental health support when needed.

Honorary Consul General de Blaere then gave the students a short walking tour of Ghent’s historical center, including the plaque marking the area where once stood the house that Jose Rizal lived in during the publication of the El Filibusterismo in 1891.

The Embassy also held a mobile registration for Overseas Voting during the event, in which fifty-five (55) students were able to register or transfer their records.

Filipino students line up for the mobile registration for Overseas Voting at the Governor’s Residence in Ghent, Belgium, 28 September 2024.