About me

Hello. My name is Sylvie. I am 44, Belgian, mother, wife, gardener and webmaster.

In 2008, a miracle happened in my life and I started to walk the Camino from home.

I crossed (parts of) 6 European countries and it took me 6 summers to walk about 4500 km to Santiago (indeed, I didn't take the most direct path !).

I describe my routes to Santiago on my blog (in French) http://www.radiocamino.net

In August 2014, I arrived at Cabo Fisterra, the end of the world.

"And now ?", I thought. At that precise moment, I saw the peace totem with this simple but huge prayer: "May Peace Prevail On Earth"...

After 6 years walking for myself, I felt the need to walk for "the others".

Walking to Assisis, the city of St. Francis in Italy, was my first idea. But concretely, at my small level, how can I make this very abstract sentence "walking for peace" come true ?

I strongly believe that all men and women are equal, that we all are brothers and sisters. We might have different religions, but we all share faith. All religions have the same message : love, love, love, unconditional love for all Human Beings.

I am deeply sad to see that, in Europe, we tend to close our borders, our doors and our hearts to the others. The "foreigner", even if he or she was born and raised in our country, is seen as a threat. We fear each orner instead of trying to know each other.

This growing racism is the cause of many wars. Racism is the exact opposite to unconditional love taught by all religions in the world. 

It became obvious that I should not only walk, but concretely "do something" while walking.

I imagined that I would give everyone I come across a peace sign (like shaking hands and saying "Peace with you"), but this would look pretty weird and I would have to spend my time explaining people that I didn't want anything from them.

Christelle, a friend of mine, taught me about "Free Hugs". Yes, this is a great way to show unconditional love to the others, just offering love, without forcing anyone.

This is how I decided to give "free hugs" on the camino

I hope to start my peace march in Santiago, on Saturday, July 4th, 2015.

Walking from Santiago on the Camino Frances is a unique opportunity to meet (and hug!) hundreds of different people, from all over the world, each day.

It is not clear to me yet wether I'll walk to Assisi, Rome or home, but I still have 2000 km (from Santiago to the Italian border) to make a decision!

Follow my camino for peace on the blog...