courtesy of: The Morning News
by Rosalie Klein
Staff members of the Aruba Historical Museum were pleased to welcome HRH Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, wife of HRM Queen Beatrix’s youngest son, HRH Prince Contantijn, to Fort Zoutman on Tuesday evening, April 3, for the inauguration of a revived and revamped Bon Bini Festival. The Bon Bini Festival is a charming introduction to island culture and traditions in music and dance, from folkloric to carnival, staged at Fort Zoutman every Tuesday evening beginning at 6:00 PM.
Princess Laurentien was joined by Aruba’s Minister of Social and Economic Affairs & Culture, Michelle Hooyboer-Winklaar and Minister of Justice and Education, Arthur Dowers, for the unveiling of an attractive plaque, in Dutch, marking the occasion.
HRH Princess Laurentien has been a vigorous advocate of literacy programs and laws in Holland; she was visiting Aruba for the launch of the Papiamento version of the children’s book she authored, “Mr. Finney and the Other Side of the Water,” which was very much inspired by Aruba’s concern about climate change and effects it will have on island nations
Greeting the visiting princess and her family at the door of the museum were not only the cast and crew of show along with museum and Fort Zoutman staff, but they were very pleasantly surprised and amused by a larger-than-life Mr. Finny, a dolphin/human hybrid who is the main character of her books. His search for answers to hard questions about the environment and the damage it has been done, are charmingly woven into her children’s tales, simultaneously encouraging reading and a concern for the eco-system.
