Shall we talk about Kelly de Vries for a moment

Because there she was. With a ‘bang’, I can say. I had read something about her before, she started a foundation in Ghana where her father was an ambassador. I looked at her name and thought about the life and the suffering behind it when I saw her under the full-page obituary. I had never heard her speak. Until last night.

2021 was supposed to be the year of Tanja Groen, the missing eighteen-year-old girl who rode her bike to her room and never came back. Bike disappeared, no trace. As if she had been magically taken away. Peter R. de Vries formed the foundation De Gouden Tip in an ultimate attempt to bring Tanja home. In any way possible. It was the subject of his first tweet of this year. And ultimately also of his last tweet ever. Tanja.

Peter R. is no more. That left a big gap. Not only for Kelly, but also for so many around him. People he supported. For whom he jumped on the barricades between right and wrong. Everything to strive for an equal and just society. When Kelly stood by her father's bed and knew that he ‘would not come back to us’, she took his hand, told him he didn't have to worry. That it would be alright with the foundation. That's why she officially took over his role yesterday.

‘I am not my father, but I do resemble him. Many people know that he had a tattoo on his leg with the text ‘On bended knee is no way to be free’ along with my brother's name. What few people know is that there was also a tattoo on his other leg. With my name on it. And that tattoo reads: ‘Someone who is just like you’. I continue his search, I have his DNA.’

At the end of her speech, she broke down. ‘My father should have been here today.’ But she straightened up, looked directly into the camera, and urged everyone to give that golden tip. ‘We are happy to pay out that million. Preferably today. For that one golden tip that leads to the return of Tanja.’ And then she concluded. ‘You never have an alibi to remain silent.’

Peter R. de Vries did a lot of good in his life. Leaving us a daughter like this ranks high, very high on that list.