Portia - ship volunteer

Posted by bex — 9 March 2007 at 11:22am - Comments

Part of the Trident: we don't buy it tour blog

portia.jpgPortia - volunteer
UK


The hospitality of Glasgow jails is a far cry from that of the Amazon, where I was working before joining the Arctic Sunrise as assistant cook come deck hand.

In Brazil, I spent my days winding down Amazonian rivers on a hospital boat that belonged to Brazilian NGO Health and Happiness, which provides health care and education to remote riverside communities. I spent the warm Brazilian evenings giving the crew English lessons on the top deck, teaching them songs like "head, shoulders, knees and toes".

Somehow I seem to have traded in bikinis, alligators, piranhas, tropical fruits and equatorial sun for rolling waves, grey skies and, in prison, a diet of sausages and beans swimming in grease.

Prison interludes aside, the Arctic Sunrise does have its own very special allure; mostly an extremely enthusiastic international crew with rich stories and experiences. I joined the ship five weeks ago in Amsterdam, and I was very quickly made to feel a part of the team - eating, working, playing cards, watching films and feeling sea sick together. Ship time seems to be a different dimension to shore time; every day on the water feels comparable to a week or so on dry land, in terms of intensity of experience. Strong bonds of trust and respect are forged very quickly.

I'll have to wrap up now – I’m down to do the midnight to 4am watch, which means I have a night of patrolling the ship and checking for fires and unwanted guests ahead of me!

Portia, UK

Follow Greenpeace UK