This evening we tasked the group to create their own "passport" - one that described themselves, their hobbies, passions, beliefs and values. We handed out magazines, glue, scissors and colored pens -- they applied themselves with great creativity. Later, the group took turns to show and describe their passports as a creative introduction of themselves. Not only did we learn that almost everyone loves pizza, but we also glimpsed their dreams for embracing diversity, helping the discriminated and the almost universal desire positively change the world. If only all passports could be so expressive and inspiring.
I think the final entries from the teens speak for themselves. As I close this blog for the YPG8 2009, I would only say that this has been a powerful experience for us all. Not only because we discussed important topics such as diversity, discrimination and environment. These 2 weeks have been extraordinary because we lived it as well. It is rare to find the opportunity to exist in such a loving, accepting yet stimulating environment. My hope and prayer is that all the participants of this project can continue the life they lived on board and work to change the world not only through their beliefs, but also with their behavior.
Wishing fair winds and new horizons to all.
Jennifer
All the teens wrote a final blog entry to share with the world their final thoughts of this incredible voyage. Their posts are below:
Alex
Hi, it’s Alex, for the past week and a half we have done everything from climbing masts to exploring islands to cleaning toilets and finally put together a three plus page document to hand over to the leaders of the G8. What I anticipated this trip to be was almost nothing like it actually turned out to be. Many of the things that I thought we would be accomplishing, the document, came true but not in the fashion that I would have imagined. I could have never imagined climbing the hills of the amazingly pristine Montecristo then coming back to the largest brigantine in the world to sit down and discus extremely relevant topics like the economic crisis and climate change. After looking back at what we all did as a group, what we accomplished, and where we’ve been, most of this trip seems like some surreal, perfect image of what the world should be. Kids of nine different nationalities, different languages and ideals came together to talk about world topics while simultaneously breaking barriers and making friendships. What the G8 leaders have to realise is that the goals that they are setting and the barriers that they will break today will shape what our world will look like in the future even when they are not in power. I find that the idea of the young generation speaking up is such an important concept because the leaders of today don’t have to live with the consequences of their actions. It is us, the young generation, which will have to deal with the problems that our leaders has set for us. Let’s be honest, most of the current leaders won’t live for another 30-40 years (if that) but the world doesn’t stop 40 years into the future. This is why our generation must convince the leaders that their dissensions should not be aimed toward a healthy, prosperous world in their life time but for all the life times to come. Our purpose here is to make them realise this. As this trip comes to an end I have a great feeling of accomplishment and happiness but I also have feelings of optimism that the world’s first YPG8 will make an impact on how the world leaders make their decisions.
Jacob
Hello, it’s Jacob again. First off, I would like to thank the educators and organizers for their hard work for making this trip a blast. I’d also like to thank the crew for their hospitality and all the other delegates for making the trip unforgettable. Over the past ten days I have learned and experienced so many things. It is tough to choose my favourite experience but it would have to be the trip to the island of Monte Cristo. I feel honoured to be one of only a few to experience the island. It is a beautiful place. The smell of the island is unforgettable. I also feel we have accomplished our goal with the document we have created with our solutions to the world issues. We have shown that young people can make a difference in the world today. I am proud to part of the first YPG8. We have become a very close group over the past ten days and I will miss everyone. I hope the YPG8 will continue so that other young people have the opportunity to make a difference and have as much fun as we did.
Dora
Hi, in these 10 days, I had a lot of fun. We guys developed as a very good team. I finally know what a real team is and how it works. I think, that for our G8 work, we made a very good job in only 10 days together, even if we had a lot of fun and free time. I think that we did a very good job because we worked as a team. We also saw a lot of interesting places, such as: the beautiful island of Monte Cristo, Tarquinia and Rome. I think that the place I liked the most was the Monte Cristo island. I can say that I spent a great time with everybody. They are all very nice and kind. I will really miss them a lot. I hope to see them again.
Liza
Hi, I am Liza again. These 10 days we lived on this beautiful brigantine with the crew team and educators. I think it was the best time in my life! We had so much fun together. I believe that we all became not only a team but a family. It is amazing how we could become so close and attached to each other after only 10 days! We started to trust each other and rely on each other and I suppose that is the greatest thing that could happen on this wonderful ship. I will not forget the time I spent there. I would like to thank our crew and all the educators for such a great job and all the participants, of course, for the nice time we spend together. I will miss all of you guys.
Jacopo
Hi, I’m Jacopo. These 10 days on a very beautiful brigantine of the Italian Army and with a wonderful crew and with very funny educators was great! We had a fantastic trip in the most beautiful places of the Tuscany Archipelago. Also, we had a fantastic experience as group even if we came from different countries and have different cultures! However, I think that for everyone it was a fun and beautiful experience – one that I’ll remember all of my life. Now I’d like to spend my last few hours on this boat with my new, “international” friends!
Rachel
I have too many final thoughts to voice them all. So I will try to sum up a few. Firstly, this was an amazing opportunity that was equalled by an amazing experience which I hope to remember for as long as I live. I have learnt so much about myself and about people . I think through this trip I have developed skills that previously I did not know I had. I realised that I can, perhaps, make a significant difference to the injustices of this world and I can get past some of the existing barriers. It has been an emotional journey but it’s well worth it. I’ve learnt that everyone is different and these differences should be treasured. But I think that despite our differences everyone in the world can come together and create change... and above all have fun.
George
Final thoughts; not so easy to write out, but somewhere in the region of what can only be described as the slightly dull word happiness. This trip, one which I know I will never repeat, has exceeded all expectations I had, largely as a result of this brilliant ship and all of our activities, but also as a result of the intense relationships I have built in such a short time. That fact, however, lends a huge sadness and deflation to the contentment I feel after this week. An aspect on this contentment can also be contributed to a slightly erroneous self-satisfaction. It really is not an easy thing to be able to go into a group of people, with entirely different backgrounds and even those with different or dis-abilities. The fact that we have been able to create an entirely inclusive group and have found common ground and interests is entirely commendable, and something that I will take from the trip and a principle I will seek to extend to and to advance whenever I can.
Melissa
The last day, a day we all will remember for a long time and which is full of different feelings. Happiness thinking about our fantastic trip through the sea and our “adventure” that made us understand things like the importance of the environment in our life and of collaboration and trusting each other in a group. Sadness because we know that we are going to leave all those people we have learnt to know and to love during these 10 days and because this long, magical trip like a wonderful dream is going to an end. I started this travel with the aspiration to demonstrate to myself that we’re not the lazy and indifferent generation adults say we are - and I think that thanks to our hard work on the document and to the determination we used to reach our goals and to conquer the other’s confidence, my demonstration has been successful. Memories of this trip will always remain in my heart and most of all I hope that the growth I had in this 10 days will be useful not only for me, but also for the people I live with during my daily life. I wish I could be up to making changes in my daily society as this trip has been able to do for me.
Stefano
Of these days I liked so much activities such as the game where we had to imitate some words! (Charades) Also I liked the game where we had to stand like statues to understand the issues about we were talking about. I liked the trip to the Monte Cristo island where I could see the flowers and a beautiful view! I have met many friends such as Jacopo (il romano), Antonio (il siciliano) e Melissa (la bellissima romana). I loved the trip to Rome where we saw ancient monuments built by the Romans. I liked very much this trip because I have never been in a brigantine of the Italy Navy and I would come back!
Rosella
Hello everyone. I liked the ship because I met many people. These people came from many countries, for example; Germany, Russia, France and Italy. I liked the spider web game, where we worked together to cross through a net with large holes. I liked the discussion about discrimination because I don’t like discrimination. It is not right. I learned to have trust and to get to know many other teens like me, and to see that we are all alike... but unique. I have a lot of trust in the people on board because I know that I can trust in them but I think that we can all learn to give more trust to people we do not know .
Clara
Hello, here I am again. I want you to tell about my final thoughts now , because we have to leave tomorrow. First I want to thank you all for the great time we had! I enjoyed that trip with you very much! I liked that we didn`t only write the document, but also played games and joined activities together. Through this we grew as a team of real friends. It was a good experience for us all to see that we can become a team in such a short time. At the end we knew that we can trust each other and feel safe in our group. Also the life on the boat connected us. Because we helped the crew and each other to sail and clean the boat or do the kitchen duty we all grew. I think that I will miss everyone and everything very much. I liked sailing the sea and just being alone with our group and the crew. In my opinion our final document is a success and contains all our opinions on the topics. We did a great job with it. I liked discussing the issues, but I had some problems in understanding all the English words. The people who come from the UK or the USA had a big advantage and were speaking very fast. I would have liked to say much more, but didn`t have enough confidence in myself. On the whole, it was a good experience for us all and I think that we will never forget this great time together with people from so many other countries who became friends.
Hazem
Hello everyone its me again Hazem. This is our final thoughts so its probably our last time writing and its also your last time to hear from us because tomorrow everyone is leaving so its our last night on board . It was a great experience on the boat. I met wonderful people like the crew, the educators, and last but not least my friends. When I first arrived, it was a bit weird. I didn’t know anyone. Within 2 days I started making friends, until I got to know really well the crew, the group and also the educators. The educators made the discussions easy and fun. Almost every discussion and activity was lively. In this trip I trusted everyone. I always felt safe and felt that I was at my house. This trip gave me an awesome experience - an unforgettable experience. Sailing on this boat was so much fun. Not because it was my first time sailing but it was surely the best experience I have ever had. I liked discussing all the problems of the world and voting and being separated into different groups. I just have to say it was an awesome, unforgettable experience. I will surely miss everyone on this boat… the Nave Italia.
Novisa
Hi everyone it’s Novisa. Its our final day on the boat. It’s the worst day of the trip - I’m really sad I’m going to miss every day. It has been amazing, I’ve made life-long friends and got contacts from all over the world. We’ve gotten so close these past 10 days its hard to imagine how it will be without them. These last couple of days were great: we had a trip to Rome, we travelled to Tarquina, and the UNICEF J* delegtion. When we went to UNICEF, our nerves were getting to us in such a huge scale. It was UNICEF. As we entered, we were serious and professional. Each and every one of us spoke with amazing passion and enthusiasm. Our document was a success according to a representative of South Africa who said,” That document was perfect! You couldn’t improve it anymore.” I am very proud to be a part of the Tender to the Nave Italia YPG8 I wouldn’t trade my spot on this program for anything. The last days are always the best moments but the saddest times. This experience was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so glad I shared it with these people. Thank you everyone… the crew, the educators and the group. I love this trip and I’m glad to have met all of you.
Antonio
This is our last day on the nave Italia. Now we are exchanging e-mail & mobile numbers. I’m really sad to lose my new friends. This is my fist trip that I wouldn’t return at home. With this holiday I know what is the really friendship. I know what means became a group. I love this ship and I hope that we can see again!! This night we have ours last party and tomorrow at night a lot of s go away and return at them life but I hope that this holiday give them a lot of happiness and friends like me. They give me a lot of sentiment like happiness or friendship. This is a really beautiful trip.
Amy
Well, tempus fugit! I really can’t believe how quickly time has past on this ship, and how much has happened in such a short time. All of a sudden I have friends across the world, I have seen a mystical island, and contributed to a document soon to be in the hands of world leaders. This whole trip has seemed almost surreal, and I believe I will look back on it as a period where I stepped out of time and normality and into a boundless area where new experiences and friendly faces compiled every day. I want to thank everyone both on and off the boat who made it possible for me to experience this, and hopefully someday we will all get a chance to meet again.
Janne:
Hello you all, it’s me again. I would like to tell you something about my last days here on board of the Nave Italia. I think the last days were also so interesting. There was our trip to Rome and the meeting with the J8 Summit.
But I also want to write about my feelings during the whole trip. I think it was maybe the most wonderful time in my life I’ve ever had. For me it is really important that I met so many new friends from all over the world. I’m so glad that I had the chance to join this trip. I also think that it is important if we want to change something in the world we have to communicate all over the world and do something for our future. I want to thank all the educators and the crew for this perfect trip and these perfect moments. I will be very sad tomorrow when we have to leave the boat and go back home. But I’m also happy to come home because I miss my mum and all my friends. I hope that I can take something from this trip to my country and I can share my new view of looking on some things with all my friends at home. So this was my last writing for the blog. I will miss all those amazing and nice people.I hope that this friendships will last for a long time even if we don’t see us (often). I want to end with the words that it was such a wonderful time here on board. Some of the best times of my life. A last goodbye from the german girl who is very happy that she met all those wonderful young people.
Anna
Hi, it is Anna. And now my final thoughts about the trip. So… to tell the truth, that was the trip of my lifetime. Many thanks for our educators, members of the crew of Nave Italia and for all of us. I still can’t believe that tomorrow we, the Young People G8, good friends, almost a family are leaving and going back to our countries all across the world.
…
And understanding in one word
Or in brief letters. It’s preserved
By trust and by respect and awe,
These are the words I am feeling for.
There’s no measure for such things!
For these all Nature flows and sings.
(“Friendship” by Elizabeth Jennings)
We spent 10 delightful days all together. I think, I will never forget this experience, I learnt a lot. And now I have a great wish to improve my English and German to speak more fluently with my new friends. Anyway, I think we will meet once again as scientists, economists, politicians, ministers or leaders of our countries…Who knows?! Hope to see all of you again and wish you all the best !
Florent
Here we go. Already the end of a such extraordinary trip, I have no words to describe it, most of all not in my language ! But I can try to resume it in a succession of more marvellous moments than the ones before. I am sure that I will remember this experience for all my life. I learnt a lot from myself, by my owns ways, but I also have been taught a lot, I have weove really strong links, the young people who were with me as the members of the crew… I understood the real sense of friendship, brotherhood and solidarity. I have learnt so many things, but it was great to teach the others my culture, my music, my food, and it made me glad. I will never forget all I have lived here, all I have done, all I have learnt, all the people I have loved, and I will use a word really strong in my own language, so strong that almost could use it : “heureux”. J’ai réellement éte heureux ici. Here I finish, because I have to join all the others, who are dancing outside, and you know what ? I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.
Giovanni
I think that if we help each other we can get to solutions that make sense. Otherwise we risk to lose ourselves in a world that doesn’t fit us anymore.
Niklas
The last day. It is difficult to describe how the feeling is on board. I think Stefano, one of the people with disabilities, said it the right way. Family! This strong bound between EVERYONE of us is incredible. We are one group, one team and became one family on board. Yesterday we visited Rome. After a little bit of sightseeing we went to the historic Piazza Campidoglio, where we read our document again and signed it. I must say, I was very proud what we worked out. Later on we met UNICEF’s Junior G8 delegation, and e shared our document with them. It was amazing. The way we presented the document was so full of energy and enthusiasm. When we finally presented out document to them, we realized how close we were as a team. We didn’t unite by countries but we simply united. That is how it should be in real life too. For me, that is one the most important things. When all the youth’s of the world stand up, the governments can’t ignore them anymore. That’s why I blogged so often. I think it was a great and once in a lifetime experience for me, but it should stop at this point. I now want to spread my experience, my points of views and what we discussed on board of the fantastic Nave Italia. At this point I want to say “thank you” to the Crew of Nave Italia, who were always very friendly and helpful. Also to all the people who are involved in the project. Now, I am coming to the end. THANK YOU RAGGA, JENNIFER, ALESSANDRO, LUIGI and LORENZO. You did a really great job and I can’t think of better educators. You guys had always a surprise for us and it was never boring! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I WILL MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Dott Antonio Amalfitano, Past President of the Rotary Club Civitavecchia, in the name of the International Fellowship of the Rotarians is awarding the Commanding Officer and the Navy crew of Nave Italia with the Paul Harris Fellow medal recognition to a form of an "award for exceptional service".
Liza and Anna give the Crest of their Russian local Rotary Clubs to the IYFR. The members of the IYFR were very helpful for the selection of the applications to the YPG8.
The teens are eager to catch up on all the news they've missed while at sea.
It's the last day and everyone is hurrying to finish all the work, cleanup and discussions so that we can have a good-bye party tonight. We finish the final document (posted on the blog entry below,) clean the ship, pack and amidst it all there is a sadness that tomorrow we will all go our separate ways. The teens realize what a unique experience this has been, and now we all feel like family. We order pizzas from a local pizzaria and eat dinner out on the midship deck enjoying the final sunset of this amazing YPG8 journey. After dinner there is a ceremony, with gifts and awards given to all the teens - on behalf of the Italian Navy, and Tender To Nave Italia. As they individually receive their awards, they give their signature to the final document. Now its time to P~A~R~T~Y!
After the award ceremony, the crew and educators hosted a dance for the group on the mid-ship deck. It was perfect weather and the sky was lit with a thousand stars. Around midnight we all went to the starboard deck and shared some final thoughts. Goodbyes are always hard, but educators Luigi, Ale and Ragga shared how they met each other over 10 years ago and live in different countries now but still get to see each other regularly.
Saturday morning was bright and clear. The Rotary Club of Civitavecchia helped us again with transporting the teens to the airport, train station, etc. The crew spent the morning cleaning and preparing to meet their next group of children in Porto Torres, Sardenia.
Liza, Hazeem & Clara cleaning
Ale & Ragga teaching Image Theatre
.
A serious discussion on discrimination.
Janneke, Niklas & Clara enjoying a relaxing moment.
Perhaps the only photo we have of all 5 educators in the same place at the same time! Jenn, Luigi, Ale, Lorenzo and Ragga.
Taking a quick swim and some sun on Elba Island.
Florent passing the apple to Stefano.
The fierce battle at the Fort of Michelangelo.
Solidarity - Alex & Giovanni
Group hug after the meeting with UNICEF J8.
Educator Luigi with his little brother Giovanni.
Stefano entertaining us all with a spontaneous song.
For the G8 group this was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience -- but the Nave Italia will continue its outreach to disadvantaged children utill the end of October 2009. Cudos to the crew and to their ongoing mission. Below are just a few photos of the crew.
Rosario, Matteo & Tommaso
Cooks Bruno & Gabriele
Claudio, Andrea & Massimo
Nostromo, Andrea & Antonio
Today – a day trip to Rome was planned allowing the teens to see some of the magnificent, historical sights of this ancient city. They had lunch and a relaxing swim at the Navy Officers Club. It wasn’t all fun and games, however. Today they were constantly revising and clarifying the points of their final documents in preparation for their afternoon appointment with UNICEF’s J8 group. The 2 groups of teens met in Rome to present their papers to each other and to discuss together the central issues they wanted to communicate to the G8 leaders. It was a wonderful experience and the teens chatted together at a reception afterwards. Both groups had done a fantastic job in presenting the major issues they feel need to be addressed. We all returned to the boat excited and energized to continue perfecting our document. Slowly but surely, it is coming together.
Educators Luigi and Ale finding a moment to "planfiy" the next session.
Group introductions
Our teens greeting the J8 members and sharing about their time on the Nave Italia.
Commandante Tedeschini presenting the UNICEF J8 with the Nave Italia crest.
The crew of the Nave Italia hand out gifts to the UNICEF J8 participants.
The teens mingling at the UNICEF reception.
The international language of foosball.
Back on the boat, the group is energized to finlize the wording of their document.
Today we had a day trip to Tarquina to see artifacts from the ancient Etruscians, dating back to 9000 BC. We were personally greeted by Mauro Mazzola, the mayor of Tarquina. He allowed our group a free tour of the Museo Nazionale Etrusco as well as a tour of the Palazzo Comunale (the historic government offices of Tarquina) with beautifully frescoed walls dating from the 1300s. Each member of the group was presented with a book about the Etruscan history and a set of art prints of the frescoes.
Mayor Mazzola, educator Ale and our translator/guide.
Viewing Etruscan tombs at the museum.
Taking in the gorgeous frescoes.
After a picnic lunch in a park (and a quick shoulder massage) the group began studying their final topic of the trip: International organizations-their function, relevance and what they can/can't contribute to our world.
Ale explaining the different types of international organizations.
Listening intently...
Afterward we replayed some of the games we played on Day 1 - the ones involving trust and teamwork. It is clear to see that this group has connected deeply, as the amount of trust the teens share has dramatically increased.
CLara falling backwards into the arms of her team mates.
More games of equilibrium - also requiring trust. Much improvement from day 1.
The teens were divided into the international groups of UNICEF, UNEP, InterPol, NATO, WHO, G8, G20, IMF. Their challenge is to research the positions of their organization and tonight there will be another summit. This time they were competing for a segment of an imaginary fund of 1 billion Euro for their organization and the groups that presented the most convincing agument for the money was awarded a segment of it.
Maila, thanks for all the encouragement you have sent us throughout this adventure. Each message means alot. Dora sends you a big hug and we all just wanted to say that you're the best!! Jenn
Watch the movie...
hoist sails.MPG (14,49 MB)
Hoisting the sails with the young people from l'Aquila!
The children and teens arrive from L'Aquila. The crew and our G8 young people meet them on the mid-ship deck.
We're lucky - there was wind! We put up the sails immediately.
The crew is always there to back us up.
There is a lot of sail to hoist!
Nostromo directs it all with his whistle.
It's guys vs. girls... and the girls won 3 out of 3. (the guys think it was a conspiracy between the crew and the girls)
Comandante Tedeschini & Comandante Secondo Zainet at the helm.
The children from L'Aquila try their hand at climbing the mast.
When we returned to the harbor, we were surprised with a puppet show and workshop by master puppeteer, Mauro Sarzi. Author Carlo Baldi gave each person in the group a signed copy of his book, "Ciao Capellone, a book written about the Sarzi family and their tradition of puppeteering" Thanks for your kindness Signor Baldi & Signor Sarzi!
The children from L’Aquila and our teens got to make their own puppet. Proof that one never gets too old to play.
Children from L'Aquila creating their puppets.
Our group enjoying the puppets, as well.
Afterward the educators and the ship’s crew ambushed the G8 teens with a surprise water fight, fortified by the ship's hoses and an arsenal of water balloons. In the end, it was a draw… everyone was soaking wet – but 1000 degrees cooler!
Let there be war!
What a gorgeous backdrop for a water fight. Civitavecchia's magnificent Fort of Michelangelo
Dinner outside on the mid-ship deck with a magnificent sunset.
Thanks as always to the crew for such great meals and service. They are always working behind the scenes to make this project a success.
Monday evening: After relaxing on the deck and enjoying a quick dip in the sea we enjoyed another delicious dinner served by the ship’s crew. Then the the group met in the main room to prepare for tomorrow. At the moment, the ship is sailing back to Civitavecchia and we hope to arrive early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is a special day. Twelve children who are victims of the L’Aquila earthquake are coming on to the boat, along with some social workers and the press for some newspapers. These children are from some of the families who lost their homes from the earthquake and are currently living in the tent city temporarily erected to house them until long-term housing can be secured. We started the evening with an interview with Stefano, one of our group who himself is from L’Aquila and experienced some damage to his family’s home. He shared his story with our group so that we all could better understand the difficult circumstances in which these children live. We then worked with the teens to place them in a leadership position for tomorrow, allowing them to use some of the games and lessons from the past week on board with these children. The crew of the Nave Italia will also join in and if there is wind we hope to put up the sails immediately. It will be a big day, but this groups of teenagers is excited to share this experience with our guests from L’Aquila and to connect with new friends aboard the Nave Italia.
Luigi interviewing Stefano about the L'Aquila earthquake.
Hoisting the sails with the kids of l'Aquila!
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.
Monte Cristo: blue, clear sky, sea – brilliant and crystalline, but above all- a silence that I’ve never heard before. It almost seems illogical to use the verb “to hear” when you speak of silence, but it is accurate. By now our ears are used to continuous sounds from the frantic life of the city and for me to be able to listen to total silence, interrupted only by the crashing of the waves in the distance and the songs of the seagulls, was a unique and unforgettable experience… exactly what has been demonstrated during this entire voyage. In fact, we don’t have technology or books that can teach us about other cultures in the same way that we discovered them during this trip. Besides the happiness to have had the opportunity to be here to help make a concrete change in the world, I have enriched myself culturally as well as personally during this journey. This voyage is more than a trip in a sailboat. It represents something more profound: a trip inside myself that makes me understand I don’t need a life of constant stimulation in order to find the little moments of happiness. Above all, I see that with hard work and a good feelings toward everyone – despite nationality or race - we can reach brilliant results as a group. Perhaps it is this that we should write at the end of the document that we’ll share with the leaders of our society and to the world.
Melissa (center) with George & Anna
Hi my name is George. I am from the UK. Montecristo seems a long way from home, which to me is a city called St Albans, about half an hour north of London, but not so far away from the idyllic islands image captured in countless novels and movies. First impressions centred around the scenic base of the TV programme ‘Lost’ mixed with a spark of recognition from ‘Muppet Treasure island’. To step onto the untouched white sand was for the first, and likely the only time, cannot be summarised in words; pictures can’t absorb the extraordinary smells that flared through our nostrils as we walked to a peak above the villa once owned by the Savoy royal family. This upward journey, of supposedly half an hour, was prolonged by constant photography and for good reason. To call the natural and isolated beauty of Montecristo moving can in only a small way summarise my experience of the day. It felt almost surreal to paddle in the clear waters the island after a long game of ‘Schiacciasette’ (volleyball for us non Romans), in which I won some small victory for Britain amongst stiff competition from the Italians and appalling history in the sport. Perhaps tainting the image of the shore was rubbish (garbage for Americans) strewn across the beach which bringing an element of realism to discussions from earlier in the week. The issue of the environment as a whole, although vital, has never really impassioned me in the way it does many people. Some of my YPG8 colleagues feel this passion and through discussion it became readily apparent that some people’s views on the environment and in particular its relationship to the economy at large differed from mine. Being a neo-classicist and a free marketer it really challenged me to try to justify my staunchly held opinions when faced with the issues of climate change and waste. To bring morality into the pursuit of happiness and profit is something that is important in a global society and now more than ever in Britain. Compromise between capitalist economics and the environment combined with asserted morality is not an easy issue but one which we have begun to discuss. The different opinions and ideological standpoints brought together on the ship are so vast that I am sure this discussion is by no means finished, and I look forward to its proliferation in the next few days.
Hey everyone I am Hazem. I am 14 years old and I come from Egypt. Today we went to Monte Cristo island - as in mount of Christ. We started sailing with the ship yesterday after lunch but unfortunately we couldn’t sail because there wasn’t enough wind , so we arrived the next day, which was July 6th. We ate our breakfast and started cleaning the ship as usual . Finally, when everyone finished cleaning the ship we all got ready to go on to Monte Cristo. We took the rubber dingy 5 people at a time until we all reached the beach. There we met two guards which were actually the guides who led us through the day and told us about everything on the island. The crew of the Nave Italia prepared meals so we could actually take it with us to Monte Cristo. We finally all reached the shore and went to eat our meals. After that we played a game called schiatccasette which is originally an Italian game like soccer. Then we went to the beach where we cleaned the shore because it was pretty dirty. It wasn’t an order or anything but we were good people so we did it without asking. This trip to Monte Cristo was organized by Capitain Giovanni because this Island is not easy to go to its not like other islands but thankfully he managed to let us go to there and it was a great pleasure. I really enjoyed this trip and would like to live there forever or actually buy the Island if I could.
Hazeem on top of Monte Cristo
Hi I’m Jacopo, I’m 15 and I come from Rome. I’m here to represent all people who suffer of Phenylketonuria like me. If you have this condition you cannot eat any proteins coming from animals because they are very dangerous for your body. Almost 4 months ago the doctor who follows me in Rome told me about the Nave Italia and the wonderful project of the Young People G8 and for me it was such a hit I immediately submitted the application. Now I’m here on the largest brigantine in the world. Here I met new friends from different cultures and from different parts of the world, we are a great team now and we are working on the G8 stuff. Every day is so challenging, we just never stop because we are very busy, if you want to make a better world you have to work hard. We have done extremely cool activities like free diving in the crystal waters of Elba Island and step class on the main deck with the great Nostromo. The many team games our instructors are engaging us with are thought for a purpose, often it is a good start for a new discussion item. Once a day we face some issues are affecting the world. Today we discussed how the financial crisis is affecting the whole world and we tried to share thoughts and look for solutions. Finally, everyone was given the chance to write a question to address to the political representative of the nations at the G8. I also loved when we were divided in groups and we were representing coalitions of states in an environment summit called Climate Change Conference, we were actually divided in USA, UE, B.R.I.C, AOASIS and G77. Every one of us is full of commitment to the YPG8 goals and I think this is a unique experience that I’ll remember for all my life.
Nave Italia drps the anchor in Cala Maestra bay in Montecristo -
During the night the captain and the crew navigated to Monte Cristo. When we awakened this morning, we were moored at the magnificent Cala Maestra Bay. I won’t blog much about the experience on the island as I know several of the teens will be sharing their experience first hand. I can only say that Monte Cristo Island is a protected nature preserve of Italy. It is uninhabited, and one is only able to visit the island after securing formal permission from Italy’s environmental office(Guardia Forestale). Thankfully, the Nave Italia processed the paperwork ahead of time and the entire group was given a tour of the island, culminating in a hike to the top of the mountain and a spectacular view of blue sea and fragrant vegetation. The natural vegetation of Monte Cristo is wild thyme, rosemary, cisto and elicriso. The scent of these plants fills the air and we could even smell the spicy, floral aroma 200 meters out on the boat.
Pasta is the main hit! Thank you Bruno and Gabriele.
Hi everyone. We have left Elba Island and are opening sails toward Montecristo Island. There is no internet connection around Montecristo and we will be in the open sea for much of the time so I will probably not be able to add any new entries for the next 1.5 days.
Here Stefano and Melissa climbing the masts
Round table discussion of economics. Not an easy topic for teens to grasp. The members of this voyage (adults & teens included) don’t have answers to the current financial crisis, but by the end of today’s session the youngsters had articulated a set of thoughtful and serious questions to today’s current world leaders.
Evening:
We went out on the upper deck of the ship and sat under a dark sky illuminated by a full moon and countless stars. To prepare everyone for tomorrow’s adventure on Monte Cristo Island, Ragga told the story of the Count of Monte Cristo and how his story connected to the island we were sailing to. Ragga is an amazing story-teller and we were eagerly listening to every word she spoke. The moonlight reflecting on the dark waves created a dramatic backdrop for this incredible story and we all headed to bed to dream of hidden treasure, love, revenge, secret identities, and a beautiful, mysterious island.
I am Rosella writing again. Today is July 6. After we left Elba island last night, Ragga told us the story the Count of Monte Cristo. The story starts with a poor man who is put in prison. He meets a priest who speaks of the island of Monte Cristo when there is a huge treasure. The priest dies and the man changes clothes with the dead man. By pretending to be dead, he is able to get free. He sees a ship that lets him work as a cleaner of the ship. One day the ship passes an island, but he doesn’t know that it is the island of Monte Cristo until the captain tells him. He pushes a small rescue boat from the ship into the ocean and he uses it to get to the beach. He go to the monastery because the priest told him that the treasure could be found in the ruins of the monastery. He goes to the monastery and starts to dig in the dirt. Finally he finds the treasure of gold and jewels. He reconstructs the ship and goes to France. The island has always been uninhabited, but he can buy the island with coms of the treasure money. Today we go in the Monte Cristo Island to visit. After we arrived at the island we went up the mountain and after we visited the house of the Savoia. We ate lunch and played volleyball. It was very nice.
Yesterday's activities consisted of: daily cleaning of the ship followed by apnea diving. After lunch, we traveled to Elba Island where we enjoyed a swim in the rocky beach waters. After a gelato, we headed into a shady grove of pines to continue our discussion of the environment. This time the discussion urged the teens to express and cultivate their own opinions of the environment and environmental policy. By the end of the session they had reached agreement on several points, which will be written into the YPG8's final document. It was amazing to see these teens speak so confidently and clearly about this complex issue. Pictured below - photos from the discussion on Elba Island.
Here is a brief interview with Antonio Sarnataro, the Nostromo, (the boatswain) a member of the Italian Navy's Nave Italia crew. Sometimes in the afternoon he has been organizing a step aerobics class on the main deck. On occasion, he has done 2 classes in a row to accommodate all the young people, educators and crew(!):
"Buon Giorno. Step class: it is one of the activities that we organize to help the teens to have fun. It's nothing more than that. It is beautiful for me to see them smiling. That gives me joy -- it's my energy."
Here below is the Nostromo who has suddenly found his second calling as ship step instructor:
Hi my name is Novisa. It’s the 6th day on the ship and its been amazing. I have done so many once in a lifetime things in the past days. I jumped off the bow spirit which is 10 meters above the ocean. We all went free diving seeing fishes and swimming up to 5 meters underwater without a tank. Those are just the extra activities. All of us have had very heated debates on international problems coming up with policies for our paper that will be presented when the trip is done. They even recreated an international conference with USA, BRIC, the G77, AOSIS, and environmental NGOs. Elba Island has been a dream come true. It is beautiful, the water is crystal clear and the sun is shining bright everyday. So far it has and will be an unforgettable experience.
Hello my name is Janne. I’m 16 years old and I come from Kiel which is in Germany. And I would like to tell you something about our day. Today we did free diving. I like it because when you are in the water and everything is quiet it is a moment where you can forget about everything else. But I think it is also a little bit frightening because you know that you are only a little piece in a very huge ocean. As a result I think that this was a very good experience for everybody who did it. In the afternoon we went to Elba Island. There we swam and we were on the beach. And with an ice cream or a drink in the hand we moved into the shadow. There we continued our discussion from last evening about the environment. But today we represented our own opinion and not the opinion of the BRIC, USA, EU, AOSIS, NGO’s, Business Alliance or the G77. It was a very fascinating and interesting discussion. And there were a lot of new aspects to talk about. One of them was that we thought about the population of the world and that the population is growing very, very fast. And when the population grows more and more energy will be needed. We talk about this and many other things which are important for the future of the world and for the future of our climate and environment. At the end we composed a few more paragraphs for our resolution. After another swim we returned to the ship. In my opinion it was a very great day because we combined a lot of fun and also interesting work. I hope I will have a lot of more beautiful days here on board of the ship. Pictured: Janneke (with Amy) at the environmental discussion.
Yoga & deep breathing exercises with Ale (one of the educators):
Here I AM! BACK IN THE BLOG! =) I didn’t write for 2 days so I’m gonna catch up today!
Day 3: 2 days ago we arrived in Elba Island at 1 o’clock. It is just like a dream, being on a 61 meter long sailing boot, the sun is shining and we are allowed to jump from the railing into the sea! After 3 days on board it was time to swim. I really enjoyed having fun with the whole group.
Later on we started the discussion about the theme of “discrimination” . The first impression was really great. We began with women’s rights. The discussion started by one teenager saying that the problem is, women’s rights can’t be released in lands where it is anchored in the cultural background that women don’t have rights. Many of the others didn’t share this opinion. But we knew that outstanding governments can’t be involved in changing the situations. IT MUST COME FROM THE INSIDE. Outstanding organizations can help then.
The evening: Continue of the dream! All of us were lying on the back of the ship and we were playing games from different countries, dancing and just having a great time!
In the evening we made a roll play about the Summit “ International Climate Change Conference” , which takes place in Copenhagen this year. We were split into groups like the EU, G77, USA, BRIC and so on and represented our facts. It was very interesting to see how hard it is to make a compromise with that everyone can live with.
Day 4: I jumped off the highest point of the Bow which is 9 meter! IT WAS SO AWESOME!
Day 5: In the morning we had to clean, like every day the ship, but afterwards we went Free Diving! I wasn’t able to get farther down than 4 meter but it was very beautiful. Florent and I saw something on the ground (9 meters under sea level) and he just took a deep breath and dived down there. It was just paper but it was cool to see that! Later on we took the small boat to get to the coast of Elba Island. There we went swimming and finished our conversation about the environmental. I noticed that at all our votes we had more than 80% agreement. We wanted that the EU, the USA and the BRIC make a binding contract for reduction of the emissions. At night we got an introduction about economic but we all were very tired so we went pretty early to bed.
Niklas helping exhausted Clara down the mountain.
Just a note to all our blog readers: I have posted (retroactively) a number of pictures from the activities described in the first few days on board. Even if you have kept up with our blog from the first, you might want to check back on the first entries to see the added photos. And here is a photo of today's free diving session... Thank you Carlo and thank you www.katabasis.it ! Cheers... Jennifer
Hello again, my name is Rachel. Yesterday the YG8 held a role-play summit. We all played different parts representing different groups of countries. We decided all the groups would not deny climate change (Global Warming). We realised that although solar patterns can define global warming, there are still other factors to influence it. For example CO2 and other green house gases. We discussed how humans can prevent the damage we are currently causing, by carbon taxes, carbon trading and renewable energy. Each person makes a impact big or small to Global warming and everyone needs to take action.
Hello! My name is Anna, I am 16 years old and I live in Perm (Russia). So this is the first time I am writing in a blog, but still it seems to be very interesting. Yesterday was really a great and delightful day, because yesterday we had a discussion on the topic of environmental problems (global warming, greenhouse effect). We were divided in 7 groups. I, Niklas and Clara represented European Union. Before the conference we had some time to prepare for the presentation of our opinions, so we searched the Internet for some information. You know, the most funny thing was that we started searching in English, so that we all 3 can understand. But eventually we came to a decision to find information in German and Russian. And, to tell the truth, that was more effective, cause we found more tables, graphics and facts. All in all we prepared very well and I think our presentation was great. I liked the discussion really very much. Firstly, we all are interested in environmental problems. And secondly, that was really very exciting to play a role of the diplomats and to represent the opinion of EU. I hope in next days we are also going to have such conferences and debates.
Hi everyone, my name is Rossella and I was chosen for the Nave Italia because I have Chromosome 22. Other of the group were chosen for other reasons. I would like to begin by explaining what we are doing from when we get up in the morning. We have breakfast at 7:30, (and don’t arrive late or you will have an extra chore added to your daily ship duties, like washing the dishes even if it isn’t your turn!) At 8:30 we clean the ship. Every day during the day we have various group activities. These activities include, for example, games which help us develop trust with the other team members. In the evening we talk for a while or we dance and watch the stars. This experience is very beautiful because it is the first time I've gotten to know people from other countries. Most of the team members aren’t Italian - therefore we must speak English. For example, I am sharing a room with a girl from Germany. I’m not an ace in English but I am beginning to understand the others and I am speaking a bit better myself. The games we play are to develop more trust, as I said before. When we play these games, we must be calm and patient. Now I can’t tell you about all the games we've played, but I can say that they were each very beautiful. One of these exercises challenged all of us to go through a web made of ropes -- without touching the cord. This was very fun because in the beginning, we didn’t have a strategy but then we understood that without a strategy we would not go anywhere. Some of my friends were scared to be lifted up, so we had to convince them to trust us to carry/push them through. Today there was an apnea diving instructor who taught everyone to dive under water. I didn’t join this activity, because the day before I had tried to go underwater but as soon as I saw everything dark, I became so scared that I returned to the surface faster than I went down! If I can return next year, I would be very happy... even if I know that it isn’t possible. Now I go to watch my friends swim. Greetings and kisses, Rossella P.S. We have to be very patient because there might be other people with problems.
Hello I am Jacob and I am from Canada. Yesterday we got to the beach on Alba Island. We were transported by a rubber dingy, four at a time. I was on the last trip over. The group had found us a nice spot under a tree to sit. As soon as I got there I went for a swim in the water. The beach was quite rocky. I saw my first baby octopus by the dock where we were dropped off. We swam for a bit and then the educators took use for an ice cream. Then we had a discussion about global warming in a shaded area up from the beach. Then we went for a dip in the sea to cool down. After that we did an activity. It was a learning experience for all of us. After that it was time to go back to the ship to prepare for dinner. It was a fun day on the beach.
Hello, my name is Clara and I am 16 years old. I come from Kiel, which is in Germany. Today in the evening we had our discussion about global warming and climate change. We were parted into groups which had to represent the EU, the USA, the AOSIS, the Business Alliance, the NGOs and the BRIC. The whole day was thought to prepare for the discussion and to get information about the opinion of the group you are representing. This was very interesting, but sometimes difficult, because you could not always identify with the opinion you had to take in the discussion. Nevertheless it was a good experience to do that. In my opinion the conference was very formal, so that you had the feeling that it was real. Because everybody was very concentrated, we came to good results. I liked the atmosphere and how we were speaking to each other. It was respectful and not shouting through the room or interrupting the others. We all were trying to find a solution, which is acceptable for everyone and which is to save our world. All agreed that we cannot look away, while we are destroying the earth more and more. I think it was a good experience for all of us to see the opinions of the different parts of the world and presenting them. On the whole I enjoy being here and speaking to other young people, hear their opinion and trying to find a solution together. I think our group is very nice and we all working together well. That’s very important for our results and the resolution. I hope that we are doing this with the other topics, which are still to be discussed, too. Pictured: Clara (left) with Niklas & Anna at the NI Environmental Summit
Ahhh - a quick dip in the sea followed by Nostromo's step aerobics class filled to capacity with the crew and the teens.
This afternoon Carlo Boscia from the Katabasis Apnea Academy arrived from Elba via rubber dingy. He gave us an introductory lesson on apnea diving (free diving). Tomorrow, if the weather allows, everyone will have the chance to try it!
This is the emblem of Nave Italia, every Italian Navy ship has one. It represents her soul. You here can see the vessel surrounded by a helping hand that represent the mission of nave Italia and you can read her motto "Sursum Corda" that means raise your hearts...
Every morning, we join the crew to help clean the ship. Pictures of these daily festivities are posted below. Spick and span!
Jackob and George in the background
Ciao a tutti ! I will begin by presenting myself, Florent, 16 years old, from the city of Cannes, in France. Today was a great day, with a lot of emotions and things learned. As every day, we started with a daily wash up of the ship, which teaches us the value of work. We have to take care of the boat because it is our second “home”. Then, because we are the “G8 Junior”, we focused on the environment, a very important subject nowadays, certainly the most important subject of our time. Actually. I am very worried by this topic, I am surrounded by this issue because it revolts me a lot. It was frustrating for me because I could not expose my point of view as I would like to do (although I had many, many things to say !), because of my deficient English. In fact, I was a bit shy. We had lunch after that, and then we went to swim in this marvellous bay situated at Elba Island. I swim often in my “normal life”, so it relaxes me a lot, and it is a great moment with the others. At about 16 o’clock, a man who practiced free diving, (diving without bottles in fact) showed us how to breath correctly, to use completely the capacity of our lungs. It was so interesting and relaxing that I fell asleep! At the end of the afternoon, we jumped from the top of the boat with Niklas and Alex, it was so fabulous this feeling of being in the air, thinking nothing. Finally, I would like to say that I really love these days passed here, with all this persons that I enjoy so much, all these games of cards, these meals, talking in an other language, these moments of detent and swimming, and I would like that it never ends.
Tonight we held the Nave Italia's Environmental Summit. It was a great success with all the delegates embracing their assigned roles with passion. There was heated discussion and it was clear that the groups had researched their positions thoroughly. Although it seemed the group could not find common ground, during the final break, the delegates clustered around tables and began passionate informal negotiations. By the end of the break they had almost reached their final positions through compromise, savvy negotiations and pure diplomacy. These behind-the-scene events mirrored real life and was something the teens put into action out of their interest in the issues - it was not scripted in our evening's summit. Below are some photos of the summit and the participating delegates. Below are posted some photos of the Nave Italia/s Environmental Summit and the participating delegates.
Ciao! My name is Amy Wipfler, I live in the Californian Silicon Valley, and have recently turned eighteen. After a morning of pastries and strong coffee, we started the day with a rigorous cleaning, which I believe will be one of many more. Having completed our chores, we held a series of meetings, both indoor and outdoors, as we continued to approach Elba Island. As we discussed issues related to diversity, I felt that we began to create closer connections, as previously we had only dealt with superficial facts such as favourite foods and our desired super hero. Because we were finally thinking about and discussing with each other the major problems surrounding discrimination, we were able to actually connect to each others backgrounds and situations at a deeper level. The next activity that defined my day involved a swimming adventure. Many of the other members of the group had been itching for the last thirty-six hours to jump from the very tip of the bow into the Adriatic Sea. However, none of these eager adventurers were able to perform this feat during this swimming session. You may think that this would be the end of all swimming for the day, as did I, and I had noticed music coming from the mid-ship deck, so I went investigate. It turned out that approximately a dozen of the ship’s crew were doing an aerobics workout to music. As I was a fan of the songs being played by the aerobics instructor, and I had little else to do, I convinced Clara to join the other crew members with me for the workout. It was extremely enjoyable, and since we had entered the workout halfway, the instructor offered to extend it for another half-hour. I found at the end of the half-hour, was that the captain had offered to allow all of our group who had performed aerobics to be able to jump off the tip of the bow. Only three of us had joined for the second half, me, Clara, and Antonio. I figured that I may never again have the chance to jump fifty feet safely from a ship ever again, and so I decided to go for it. What an exhilarating feeling! I had never before realized how easy it is for your body to change its form as you drop fifty feet with gravity tugging, and so the landing in the water was much less than perfect. While the back of my knees may sting for the next day or two, I wouldn’t have exchanged that feeling for anything. We then feasted on pasta and chicken for dinner, and it seems that the crew have a surprise for us this evening (I think I know what it might be, but no comments now). All in all a very full and fun day, sure to be followed by many others. Signing off! Amy
Hi, name is Alex, I’m 15 years old and I am from the U.S.A. For the last two days, we have been confined to the boat with the amazing crystal blue water just tantalizing us all. Today for the first time, around four o’clock - we were finally given the privilege to plunge into the crisp but refreshing water. This was a much needed break for everyone from the stuffy cabins. But don’t get the idea that this trip is a bunch of kids messing around on a boat. We have all been chosen to represent our countries and ideals through thought-provoking debates. Today was first day in which we have moved beyond getting to know and trust each other to learning about each other’s opinions and possibly challenging them. Our focus for today was discrimination around the world and how we can prevent and cure it. The way that we go about discussing these topics is not one that you would call conventional but it easily involves everyone and creates creative flow that broadens our range of thinking. Today we started our discussion by making a list of how people are discriminated against around the world and we started to create still-scenes of how we envisioned each act of discrimination. After sharing our scenes of discrimination and some critiquing, we began to make scenes of how we can abolish these atrocities and begin to embrace everyone as an equal human. Even though we did not engage in debates, this activity helped us to wrap our minds around what problems we are going to debate and solutions to those problems. After a quick break to relax the mind and body we dove into a somewhat “heated” discussion over specific scenarios and certain places of the world that are still subjected to major discrimination. Today was an especially good day for me because on top of having a great day swimming, I have a great sense of accomplishment that what we are doing during these two weeks _will_ make a difference and hopefully mark the beginning of a better & brighter world.
Giovanni age 14, Italy: This day I could express in just one word: amusing! Being with the young people gives me a joy never felt in my life! They are all nice and I would dare saying very available but also understanding just like myself! Sometimes problems come back but the solution is one only: to love each other!
This morning we began discussing the environment and global warming. We started with a scavenger hunt to build the English vocabulary of the essential terms. The teens were given a page of definitions – missing the actual term. They were divided into groups and hunted through the ship for the missing words. We watched a segment of "An Inconvenient Truth," which provided a simple yet visual summery of global warming. After that, we discussed the major entities involved in the global dialog on the environment (EU, USA G77, AOSIS, BRIC, NGOs, Business Alliance, etc.) Each group was given a fact sheet on one of the entity’s positions. Tonight we will have an Environmental Summit with the groups each presenting their position. The discussion will bring the youth to an agreement that will ultimately form the YPG8’s official position on Global Warming. This is an issue these young people are passionate about and we are all looking forward to the Nave Italia’s Mini-Summit.
Hello I am Jacob. I am from Canada. Today I climbed the mast. I was uneasy at first, but I did it. I overcame my fear of heights.
Hi my name is Novisa I'm from the United States of America. So far, this expericane has been great. Italy is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been too. The food so far is very good and the views are amazing. Today I climbed the mast -- that was really cool.
Today is hot and clear. We have arrived at Elba island and are moored far enough from the island to have a beautiful view of the coast facing us. This morning we presented an activity focusing on discrimination. The method is called image theater and required the group to create an image/scene portraying discrimination. Using fellow team mates, the group sculpted the human models into a realistic, but discriminatory image. Once the mental picture was secured in the minds of the group, they re-sculpted the image of discrimination/hate into one of acceptance/equality. The act of physically changing the posture and expressions of others is a powerful reminder of how we must work to change _our_ own views (and even our posture and expression) to stop the message of hate and discrimination existing in our world. Pictured below: 3 images of discrimination and 1 image of acceptance and equality.
I’m Melissa and 16 years old. I live in Rome but I’m Italo-Brazilian and I am very proud to represent Brazil at this grateful project. Today we climbed up over the net to the first seat of the main mast. It is 17 meter high. The view up there was just wonderful. For me it was very impressive that even the disabled got enough power out of the group that they climbed up there. During the morning we had our first discussion about the G8 topics. It was about discrimination. I liked that the educators presented the topic in an unusual way because they made a game out of it. It sounds stupid but with the game it was easier to talk about this topic which is very difficult and complex in the reality. That made it easier to talk about it in the discussion later. Now to the awesome part of the trip with a sailing boot. We stopped today close to the Coast of Elba Island. So we were allowed to swim the first time after the departure in Civitavecchia. I even jumped of the railing of the Bow. IT WAS 5 METER HIGH!!! After that we were lying in the sun and just enjoyed the time on the ship. But the best thing since we departed is the relationship to each other. We are coming from all over the world and just know each other for 2 days but we have the same goal: We want to change the world to a better one.
Ciao! My name is Rachel and I live in the UK. Apologies for the late start (I was in the ‘right part’ of the sea, just waking up at 3.00 in the morning for my flight obviously meant I needed to retire to my Cabin, which I’m sharing with Anna, who is one of the Russian members of the group) First things first: I arrived in Italy around 9 or 10 or 11 maybe…still adjusting to the one hour time difference! The group trickled steadily into the airport over the next few hours, and I decided I might need an Italian phrase book, so bought one from the shop…have not yet opened it and am getting by on my Spanish. Language is a big element of this trip. The Americans, other Brits and I are highly advantaged, and everyone else is amazing at English…why is Britain so behind on language? On the first day, we played a few name games. They were all really great ways to learn people’s names, but admittedly I still have problems pronouncing a few. We also made personal passports… which lead me to learn how many people are ‘Passionate about Cars’. Today was pretty busy too, the press were running around taking many pictures under the sweltering heat! We also played a great game. I got to sit on top of many peoples arms. Okay, so you must be thinking ‘What?!’ But really I did, We all had to fit inside a hula hoop and there are 20 of us. We used trust and balance by everyone having a partner, holding their wrists and leaning far outwards. The only place I (‘a small and light pizza’ according to one of the educators) could fit was sitting on top of everyone’s arm. Another task was leading a partner blindfolded around the boat… much easier said than done, but again the game helped build trust and team skills that we very much need to sail this boat. The boat itself is beautiful and I have so far not experienced much sea-sickness (*Touch Wood* of which there is a lot of, some of which I have polished. Wooop Shiny!) Got to go now
My name is Niklas. I’m 17 and I come from Germany. On the first day, I have already had very strong experiences. In the morning we played a game where we had to trust the people we have known for only one day! After this game we had to use our new knowledge to fit as many people as possible into a hula hoop. I’m proud to say that 14 people fit in there! One girl was on top of all us others! IT WAS CRAZY! But there were volunteers who just stayed outside to balance the mess! It felt that 20 young adults from all over the world became 1 team! This feeling was very intensive! Later that day we were in groups of 2. My team mate was Alexander from USA. I put a band over his eyes so he wasn’t able to see anymore. Then I had to lead him through the ship, upstairs and downstairs, over ropes and through doors. We just met 24 hours ago but he trusted me, in the true way of its meaning. . . blindly. Later, I had to trust him like that and it is definitely not as easy it sounds! Going blind through an unknown ship! I am really looking forward to start talking about the G8 topics because I already talked with many teenagers on board about it and there many good ideas.
Giovanni, age 14, Italy: Dimentico il futuro Ricordo il presente Per me questa esperienza su nave italia in cui sono stato una volta con la mia classe per una gita mi ha lasciato senza parole all’idea di tornarci! L’idea di farmi nuovi amici non ha nessun problema anzi tutto il contrario! Se io non conoscessi altre persone ti immagini che noia sarebbe la vita passata in solitaria! Fortuna vuole che io ho degli amici con cui stare! Aiutare gli altri per me vuol dire: - farsi molti amici - mettersi nei loro panni o discorsi - sapere cosa vogliono e cosa io dovrei fare per loro - devo essere forte e dominare me stesso riguardo agli impulsi Come m ha detto poco fa mia mamma altro non ho da fare se non godermela
Activity: Spider web: The goal of this game was to develop teamwork. A "spider web" of rope was constructed on the mid-ship deck with numerous holes, some high, some low, some larger than others. All the teens were placed on one side of the net. They were given the challenge to get the entire group of 21 onto the opposite side of the net - going through the holes, without touching the ropes. They had to build a strategy considering who went first, how to put members through the higher spaces and to anticipate how the last 2 people would get through the web without assistance
Activity: Experience what it feels like to be blind and what it feels like to trust someone to "see" for you.
