Back in November last year I spotted an advertisement on the Greenpeace International website looking for volunteer deck hands to serve on the Greenpeace ships. I had known about the Rainbow Warrior and the work that she did for some years, having seen the occasional story in the press, and my understanding had grown when I joined Greenpeace as an activist with my local network, so this opportunity seemed too good to not at least apply for, which I did!
Then, months later in May, in the middle of my essay submissions for university, an email popped into my inbox that I had not been expecting...an email from Greenpeace International offering me the chance to join the crew on one of the Greenpeace ships! Wow! I immediately replied, trying to maintain my professionalism and conceal my excitement, to say I would still be interested. I thought that this would just be the beginning of the process but, when I spoke to the Crew Manager a few days later, I realised the plans were much more imminent; they wanted me to join the boat the following week!
The initial plan was for me to join the Esperanza, but I was unable to get my seafarers medical certificate in time, so instead the office decided to fly me to Japan to join the crew of the Rainbow Warrior! Unfortunately I ended up in hospital on my birthday a week later, which meant I could not fly to join the boat in Japan....and as a result I thought this was the end of the road for me. 3 days later I was given a clean bill of health, and contacted the office, who rearranged my flight to join the boat two weeks later in Incheon, South Korea.
The next two weeks were the longest two weeks of my life, just sat at home waiting for the day of my flight to arrive, it was so frustrating! The day eventually came, I say goodbye to my friends, and family and on the morning of 5th June, my mum drove me to Manchester Airport to catch my flight! I have never been more excited about anything in my life.
I got on the plane, a small one, for the first leg of my journey to Amsterdam and touched down at Schipol just over an hour later. Then I got on a much larger plane for my flight to Incheon, and set off on the longest flight of my life, over 10 hours in the air! I landed in Seoul at 11am local time and was taken to the boat by the local agent, after dealing with immigration and passport control.
We turned the corner into the port and I got my first glimpse of the Rainbow Warrior. She was more beautiful than I ever imagined! There is something about her that gives you a feeling of hope, pride and overwhelming sense of shared achievement, that you are about to become part of something big, something important and as always for a very important cause.
I have spent the past week getting to know the crew (the crew changeover has taken just under a week), learning my job and finding my way around the boat, as well as making a huge banner for the ‘Nuclear Free Korea’ campaign we are currently supporting. I have been assigned the job of being ‘chief garbologist’ as well as my daily duties as a deck hand, which means I am responsible for all the recycling and rubbish produced by the ship!
I am so proud to be here, as this is the last voyage of the Rainbow Warrior II, and, at the end of our tour, she will not sail for Greenpeace again, the time will come to say goodbye and thank you, as we begin to prepare for the launch of Rainbow Warrior III, the first purpose built Greenpeace ship and ecologically and environmentally friendly working ship to be built anywhere in the world.
We are still fundraising for the new ship, which you can help to build by visiting http://anewwarrior.greenpeace.org . We set sail tomorrow, and say goodbye to Incheon Port, and this will be the beginning of a whole new adventure. For now I will say that to be given the opportunity to serve on the Greenpeace ships, let alone it being Rainbow Warrior and that this is her final voyage is the proudest achievement of my life and that it goes to show a little determination and persistence can pay off eventually...if it didn’t I wouldn’t be here now!
To be continued...
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