Adventures on the High Seas
Thrown together on the high seas, fourteen Cypriot young people accomplished something that is next to impossible on land—they met, got to know each other, cultivated a common interest and then worked together to survive. Supported through a grant from the USAID funded Bicommunal Development Program (BDP), the fourteen Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots set sail on a ten-day “Voyage of Understanding” aboard the Stavros S. Niarchos, one of the vessels used by the UK-basked Tall Ships Youth Trust to teach young people from conflict settings how to sail and how to get on in life.
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| Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot Youth Set Off on a Voyage of Understanding |
Before embarking on the voyage, most of the Cypriot participants had never even met a young person from the other Cypriot community. Besides teaching the participants how to sail and exposing them to young people from other parts of the world, the “Voyage of Understanding” gave the Cypriots the opportunity to see that they have the same desires and goals, including living peacefully together on a reunified island. During the voyage, the participants kept an unedited bicommunal diary. The diary shows how the adventure was able to change the way people feel.
One Cypriot, Christina, writes, “Living for ten days on board made my whole life and beliefs to change. I thought that deep inside the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots were different. But after I got to know them better I understood that we are just the same. We were some Cypriot teenagers that enjoyed their berth on Stavros S. Niarchos with their hearts. I’m sure that we’ve created friendships that will never be forgotten. At the airport it was so hard to leave them behind that I burst into tears on my way home.”
The Cypriot participants flew from Larnaca, Cyprus on July 12, 2005 to join the ship in Gaeta, Italy. They were joined by 31 UK and three Italian young people, 12 volunteer and six professional full-time crew members. After a day of training, they set sail towards Corsica. From Corsica they sailed on southwards to reach Caglieri on the southern tip of Sardinia. On July 21, they set sail north-eastwards back towards Italy and finally arrived back in Cyprus on July 25, 2005. During their voyage, the worked together and quickly became good friends.
Mehmet wrote in the journal, “It is very exciting to be on this ship. We are having good times with other people from all over Europe and this voyage gives us the chance to make new friends and learn new things, exactly about how to sail a ship and group work. Being out on the yards and trying to open the sails is the most exciting thing that I have done for a long time.”
All of the participants found this bicommunal event to be a rich and rewarding experience. The group has plans to stay in touch through emails and cross-border visits. The Bicommunal Development Program in Cyprus (BDP) is funded mainly by USAID and also by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and administered in Cyprus by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The BDP is dedicated to the promotion of peace building and cooperation in Cyprus through the implementation of projects of common interest to Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
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