From 9 May to 23 June 2022, the association launched its new Project: The Boat Project. The aim of this project is to make the Mediterranean a place of meeting, sharing and living together, based on the 10-year experience of the Beit Project in Europe, while at the same time, innovating in different aspects: 8 young people aged between 20 and 25 from 8 Mediterranean port-cities – the “Companions of the Mediterranean” – will embark on a sailing boat for a school year and will sail from one port to another, bringing their experiences of the sea and the messages of pupils from the other shore to local pupils at each stage.
All this will be done in the heart of a nomadic school which will allow them to live together, developing partnerships with local associations for a period of 3 weeks in each port.
In order to prepare for the big launch next September, a pilot format took place for two months, full of experiences and learning. Five young women, “Compagnons de la Méditerranée”, sailed from Marseille to Barcelona and Bastia on a traditional sailing boat, a beautiful schooner from Ajaccio.
At each stage of the project, students from different secondary schools met, listened to the stories of the “Compagnons”, discovered the messages drawn on marine flags by the students of the previous city and worked together on various topics related to their own perception of the Mediterranean. Some of the exchanges were based on the role of women at sea during the Barcelona stage or the plastic pollution in the Mediterranean during the Bastia stage. All these topics were addressed from a common perspective, leading to the perception of the other, not as an obstacle but as a real asset.
During this adventure, our association was able to develop strong partnerships with different organisations, such as the Museu Maritim de Barcelona or the associations Bokrasawa, Mare Vivu and Grande Zot, thanks to which each one brought a local vision of the Mediterranean.
