This was after I had joined a fairly long queue of people who had also suffered the same predicament.
So how was I going to cope with the situation? It was not my first time though, but it had been a long time since I last lost my luggage. On two occasions prior to this, I had to wait for days for my luggage.
These were in 2009 when I travelled to Berlin, Germany, for a Newspaper Management Course and in 2010 when I attended a workshop in Bamako, Mali.
Thankfully, when all was done and it was certain that I was going to live my first or maybe all days in Denmark without a change of cloth, I went out to meet worried Hanne (pronounced Hannah) my host, still waiting to pick me up to my hotel.
Thanks Hanne. It might have been double agony or tragedy if I had missed you on top of it all, after my almost 24-hour our travel.
I left home on Saturday, March 29, at 6:15 p.m. and arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark after 6 p.m. and the hotel at about 9 p.m.
It was quite a wonder that all my senses were working when I entered my room at the First Hotel Twentyseven.
No change of clothes
Work began in earnest the next day, which was a Monday, with a visit to two NGOs — one in the morning and the other later in the afternoon.
But there was still no news of my luggage by evening and I still had on the shirt I wore from home on Saturday.
Did I have a choice? I guess not.
Thankfully though, I was able to get a shirt and underwear with the little money I was given for my meals and got a toothbrush from the hotel, so I was ready to go and I braced myself for the worst.
To make matters worse, apart from having to go two days without my belongings, I was due to travel to Brussels, Belgium, without news of my lost luggage.
Next day, we were leaving for Brussels and still there was no news from the airline about my luggage. Na wa oh!
Yet, I was somehow optimistic that my luggage would be found, but the when was the matter.
Would it arrive when I was in Brussels or would I get it before enplaning for the EU-Africa Summit? Only time and patience would tell.
Found at last
I finally found my lost luggage at the last minute before boarding the flight to Brussels, Belgium, where I would report on the 4th EU-Africa Summit that attracted many African and European leaders.
We had a smooth flight and got to Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union, to cover the summit.
After going through all the security checks, I had the opportunity to report on the fourth EU-Africa Summit in Brussels, Belgium, on the theme: “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace”.
It was attended by about 49 African heads of state and government, including Ghana’s then President, John Dramani Mahama, and 29 European Union (EU) heads of government, who discussed peace, trade, security, investment, climate change and migration, among others.
High-level participants
High level attendees at the summit included then Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan; Cameroonian President, Paul Biya; Head of State of Transition of Central African Republic, Catherine Samba-Panza; President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza; Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Nabil Fahmy, and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Eritrea, Osman Saleh Mohammed.
Arrivals from Europe included the President of Bulgaria, Rosen Assenov Plevneliev; Prime Minister of Finland, Jyrki Katainen, and Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evangelos Venizelos, among many others.
Leading the two blocks were the President of the European Council, Van Rompuy, and President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on the one hand and the African Union (AU) President, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mrs Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini Zuma, on the other.
Special guests at the summit included the then United Nations Secretary-General, Ban-Ki Moon; President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, and the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, Pim Van Ballekom.
Others were the President of the Pan African Parliament, Bethel Nnae meka Amadi; Vice-President of the European Parliament, Miguel Angel Martinez, and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European External Action Service, Catherine Ashton.
Speaking on his arrival at the summit, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said: “We expect that at the end of the summit the relationship between the EU and Africa would be enhanced – It becomes stronger and stronger in terms of our economic development and also in terms of our commitment to maintain peace and human security in Africa.”
Summit
Addressing the 2014 summit, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini Zuma, urged Europe to partner Africa in an industrialisation drive so that it could contribute more meaningfully to the world’s economy.
“With a growing and young population, Africa needs a skilled revolution, and to scale up investments requires research, technology and innovation,” she said.
To be continued
