| Princess
Ange married in Sibbe (The Netherlands) |
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There was not much interest when John van Dorland (32) and Ange Compaoré (30) recently had their church wedding in Sibbe. Some friends, acquaintances, family members and a hand full of villagers populated the church. Still, this was not just an ordinary wedding. Ange is after all a Princess from African 'Burkina Faso'. Ange's life story reads like a thrilling novel. She is the granddaughter of her tribe's King. When Ange was three years old, her father passed away. According to local tradition, her mother had to marry her late husbands brother. For that matter, this brother was already married and had ten children. "When my mother refused to marry him, she was banished from the village. I was now regarded an orphan, because only the family on my fathers side was recognized, not my mothers family." Ange was now part of her uncles family and had an Catholic upbringing. Yet, she was never baptized. When she was twelve years old, she had the chance to go to Paris, France, to receive a sports eduction. After all: she was very talented on the high jump. her family refused to let her go. Everything changed when she met John van Dorland. "I was in Africa on behalf of my topical forestry training. It is there that I met Ange. Later on I went back to Africa for a year to complete my studies. During that time we shared house together." Ange's family opposed to her marrying a white man, but Ange went to Holland along with John. "I had set up a tourist visa for her," recalls John. "In 1994 we had our legal marriage in Apeldoorn (The Netherlands). Next, Ange went back to Burkina Faso for eight months, she could not get a staying permit, because I was still busy with my education and above all unemployed." Eventually, Van Dorland got a job and Ange was able to come and stay in The Netherlands. They lived in a caravan in Apeldoorn for a year, because they could not find proper housing. "Sometimes it got so cold that I suffered from perniones (a condition of the feet and toes)", Ange recalls. "Sometimes I just could not hack it anymore". Next, the couple lived in an apartment in Apeldoorn for a year, and after that they stayed in Le Mans, France, for a while; because of Johns job. Having stayed in Apeldoorn again for a short period, both Ange and John ended up in Zuid-Limburg (a southern province of Holland), because John got a job working for Philips in Hasselt (Belgium). At their new residence in Sibbe, their son Auke was born last year. Ange decided not only to have Auke baptized, but herself as well. "Last year, in September, I phoned priest Vernooy of the Sibbe church. He was very keen and came to our house every Sunday for my confirmation classes to prepare me for the actual baptism." On July 6th, exactly 8 years after their legal marriage,the day had come. All in one church service, Ange was baptized, she received Holy communion, confirmation, her son was baptized and the church wedding solemnized. Ange's godmother, by the way, is a teacher at the Stella Maris college in Valkenburg, where Ange used to work as a cleaner. Soon Ange, John and Auke will move to Lelystad (The Netherlands) because John has accepted a job at the Philips establishment in Amsterdam. Source: |