In July 2018, Hanibal indicates that he wants a (language) buddy. Around the same time, Henk also contacts Welkom in Utrecht. He, in turn, wants to be a (language) buddy. Both are in their fifties and both have a family. The difference is that Hanibal comes from Syria and Henk from Utrecht. And Henk does not speak Arabic and Hanibal does not speak much Dutch yet. But Henk is going to help him with the latter. Three months later, a broadly smiling Hanibal and Henk attend the information day of Welkom in Utrecht at Plan Einstein. The two seem to get along very well. Henk is very nice’, says Hanibal in Dutch. I like to meet him. In the meantime Henk has visited Hanibal’s family in their home, eating there and talking about anything and everything. ‘I talk to Hani every week’, says Henk. ‘I now know the whole family and there is a nice click.’ The contact gives Henk new insights. ‘I become very interested in the issues of the Middle East, I read the newspaper differently and I hear a lot from Hanibal about what he had to leave behind. It opens my eyes again to the madness of war.’ Meanwhile, the two men go swimming every Wednesday evening. And they talk Dutch then, too. Because that is what it was all about, after all.