Hi my name is Dora and I was chosen for this project because my mom is part of an association called AIDELL 22, where parents who have children (like me) who have had a heart operation support each other. I am very happy to be a part of this experience – the Young People G8. In the morning, after breakfast, we clean the ship. We are divided into 5 groups, and I work with three other teens, Florent, Niklas & Anna. Our group is the group that works the least, but I am always available to gie a hand to anyone else who needs help. We have done a lot of different activities. The one I liked the best was the lesson on apnea diving. This lesson was divided into 2 parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part was very interesting, but I have to say that I enjoyed the actual diving much more – where I even dive under water to 4 meters depth! Another activity that I enjoy a lot is the step class that is given by the Nostromo. He gives a lesson whenever we have enough extra time in the day. Today, (July 6) we are all going to the Monte Cristo Island. I hope to have fun and feel always all right. It is really beautiful to stay here on this ship. The other teens are very friendly and I don’t want to go back ome. I would never have thought to have so much fun. I believe that living on a boat for 10 days is a very unique experience.
Dora & Luigi trekking down the mountain of Monte Cristo.
Dora & Ale on top of the mountain.
Liza practicing yoga on top of Monte Cristo
Hello, my name is Liza, I am 17 years old. I live in Russia in Krasnoyarsk. Today we went to visit the most beautiful island I have ever seen Monte Cristo. My impressions of that island are only positive. The island is absolutely gorgeous and picturesque. It seems that nobody has been there before. The one thing that made me worry is the rubbish. The island is clean but in the water you can see some rubbish that comes from the sea or from the different boats so people always have to clean the island to keep it beautiful. This situation made me think how selfish we are. Someone always pays for our selfishness. It is not so hard to keep your garbage with you until you will have the right place to put it rather then to pollute someone’s territory.
Clara, Rachel & Janneke
Listen to the absolute silence ... Grazie Lor-ZEN-zo!
Ragga: Our ever-faithful videographer and ever-energetic educator.
Finally came also my turn, I am Luigi, 26 years old from Genova, Italy but living since almost 3 years in Berlin, Germany. I am one of the so called “educators”. Actually we feel that this definition fits our role. It was not hard for us to planify the activities to propose our young people crew, we simply took inspiration from the topics of the real G8 agenda: society (diversity and discrimination), environment (sustainability and global warming), economy (financial crisis and globalization). Then still something which well….you’re going to see. Being an educator in this project is a major challenge; e-ducare means in latin “extract”, “bring out” and this is exactly what we try to do. We are not teaching anything and not giving any lecture. We actually provoke the young people, inviting them to ask themselves questions, not to ignore the problems of the world, which the international community must finds answers to. I would like to mainly focus on the topic we went though yesterday, because I studied economics and I am very interested and active in this field. The activity has been structured as the following: after a short introduction video, which aimed to provoke about some incoherencies of the present model of consume, we asked them to try to define what does “economy” meant for them. I was amazed to see how many deep and smart points came out from the common brainstorming. Then in the afternoon we wanted to explain them what had happened with the financial crisis, which starting June 2008 is still affecting most of the countries this year. It was a big challenge for us to find a simple and funny way to go though this theme. So we thought of letting the young people meet 5 characters, which would give them personal and different points of view of the crisis. Those characters though would answer the young people questions only if they could first go over some challenge (like singing a song, answering a quiz, solving riddles…). So Jennifer was playing as the business woman leading a company (Nave Italia Ltd) which does not receive credits anymore from banks, can not pay suppliers and does not receive payments from customer: her main characteristic was being worried. Ale was playing as the just married young man, who first obtained a mortgage but that after having lost his job could not pay back his debt: his character was showing frustration and pessimism. Then came Ragga, the investment banker, who explained how she managed to cheat on investors and make huge money, her character was showing cynism. Lorenzo was on the other hand the desperate one, crying and feeling completely lost: as investor he explained how after saving a whole life he had lost everything on share markets. Finally was my turn to play, as the “Monte Cristo State Prime-Minister”. I must admit that I had fun playing this role. Basically my character was pointing out the incoherency of having been a liberal, promoting privatization but due to the crisis having to nationalize banks, insurance companies and other businesses, by buying them with public funds (as it happened in USA, UK, Germany…). My character was then showing uncertainty and doubtfulness. This has been finally our proposal to the young people for our document: we felt we could not expect from them answers and suggestions about the world economy, as they have been sharply doing regarding the environment or other social topics. How can you pretend from the young generation an answer, when first those decision makers look like not having a clue on which direction to take? Therefore we proposed them to put in our document just questions they would like to address the G8 presidents in L’Aquila and they came up obviously with many interesting points. Will actually the G8 presidents try to answer, as not only our young people on board Nave Italia but the whole world expects? Luigi
Lorenzo - the sad investor
I am 16 and my name is Stefano. I say hello to Ale who helps me and is nice too. I live in Aquila. Here my friends are: Antonio, Iacopo, and an Egyptian boy , Hazeem. To live in a boat and to put up the sails is fun. Today I saw the island of Montecristo, Ragga told us the fantastic story of a sailor and a treasure. It was like Jurassic park… I went sightseeing it with my new friends, I went to a museum of wild life and plants. I cleaned the boat with my new friends from many countries. The Captain let me clean my bathroom and also the bathroom of the main room. I also hovered the lower lounge. I like to use the loud speaker of the boat to call “dinner is ready”, “breakfast is ready” , “lunch is ready” and the Captain says I am doing a good job. Pasta and chicken are good, I liked the spinaches too. I learned how to make some mariner knots… I like this sail ship because it looks like the one of the Caribbean pirates. But I would like to go back home to have a long quiet shower, here I can't. At home I shower for two hours, even three. I put on shampoo and soap as much as I want. Pictured: Stefano with Comandante Tedeschini helping to translate.
Group on Monte Cristo Island
Jenn enjoying a moment of utter silence.
Hello to everyone. My name is Antonio, I’m an Italian boy from Sicily and in a few minutes, by a simple application on the internet, I was catapulted into this beautiful experience of the Young People G8. Who could imagine that in such few days I would find myself in the middle of so many great friends from all over the world – and they are all so friendly. Between all these great people is my new friend Florent, who only has the misfortune to be French! Ah! This experience that I am living in these days is wonderful and will be unique in my life. Here, in this beautiful ship, the Nave Italia, we are all searching for all that is possible. We are searching for solutions and hoping to give life to our ideas to change our world. The number of people in our group is 20 and they are from Europe, USA, Russia, Egypt etc. I think that this is the true spirit of collaboration which should help us construct a better world. Personally, I came to know of this beautiful experience through the President of the Rotary Club of Trapani. He knew of my desire to become a diplomat and when I received his email, I started my application that very night. The possibilities that this experience can give me are so many fold. I can see the world when I visit the homes of my new friends and they can do the same. In these days we are having many activities, games and great discussions, etc. One activity that I liked very much was the apnea diving lesson. In fact, I dove to 6 meters. This experience will be one that I will never forget.
Antonio working on the blog.
