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Crossing borders together, individual commitment ..
Crossing borders together, individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Start date: Jan 15, 2016,
End date: Dec 14, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Title: Crossing Individual borders Together“ Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Our project intents to give young people the opportunity to develop themselves as individual and be part of a team. The setting will be a Tall Ship which we will have to sail, safely from harbour to harbour, between three different countries. The strength of this project will be that these young people, we, will have to work together, we will have to work with different cultures, social backgrounds and genders in our team. And together we will have to cope with the everyday duties and problems on board a ship. An active project, which will get the participants working both physically (setting and lowering sails, being on watch day and night, hikes when on shore) and mentally (social, historical, cultural etc questions, inspiring assignments and visits to two European capitals). The Tall Ship intended for this project will be the Morgenster. It will involve 38 Europeans (aged 15 - 28), from the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, France and Denmark. To meet the objectives set out by this project, we have put together an extensive and inspiring list of activities, which will take place on board, but also in the cities they will visit. The ports to be visited will be The Hague (NL), Antwerp (BE) and Lisbon (PT). On the ship, with the participants of 5 of the EU countries, a very small EU will emerge. We will live together with different languages, we will work together on achieving a goal, we will have to comply to rules set out for all of us. In the three harbours we will visit, we will organize activities to see/find the influence Europe has on these cities. The big question to becoming the team that will sail the ship is “Will our differences impede us to work together?” Discussions will lead to “Are we actually that different? And can we use these differences to work better as a team?” Wile we experience the cultural difference and similairities, not only from our different nationalities, but also from our different backgrounds, we will discuus topics around the unity of Europe. We feel that the EU is under pressure as a whole, where solidarity is fragile. We want to improve that solidarity between us by discussing the values of the EU (and our own) and how can all contribute to the future. In the long run we hope to become more conscious and aware EU citizens with friends all over Europe. We hope to gain practical knowledge of sailing and the life at sea and we hope to gain more understanding of other cultures. Combining the sail training program on board, with the cultural exchange activities, creates a unique possibility for us to learn about themselves, teamwork, and intercultural differences and similarities.The methods of Sail Training, developed by the STAN one of our partners and the methods of coaching and evaluation will be used to facilitate this. These methods focus on responsibility, team spirit and norms & values. We will develop our teamwork and leadership skills and learn how to deal with challenges, wether they are physical, practical or caused by cultural differences. We will cross personal boundaries, never to go back again.