CROSS-ACTION BETWEEN THE BELEM FOUNDATION, THE CANNES FOUNDATION AND PARCOURS DE FEMMES
June 15th, 2021: The Belem Foundation and the Cannes Foundation join forces to offer to twenty children from the Cannes basin, followed by the local association Parcours de Femmes, the opportunity to visit the Belem, a monument of French heritage.
With the reopening of the Belem (June 12, 2021), this visit was an opportunity to offer to the children followed by the Parcours de Femmes association a return to cultural life through a special experience on this magnificent three-masted vessel.
The guided tour, by the captain of the Belem himself, transported these children a short moment into the fascinating history of this legendary three-master. An opportunity for them to get out of their daily life, to go to Port Canto, to discover this French monument, and to let themselves be carried away by the current of culture, history, and the fascinating world of sailing.
A simple but strong moment, and above all highlighting the importance of collaborations between the different structures that may exist. It was therefore the moment to thank:
- Mrs. Apolline Crapiz, representing both the Mayor, and the administrators of the Cannes Foundation,
- Mr. Aymeric Gibet, captain of the Belem and also representing Mrs. Christelle Hug de Larauze, general delegate of the Belem Foundation
- Mrs. Céline Mathian, director of the Parcours de Femmes association
- Parents, having brought and allowed their children to attend this visit
dmittedly, the start was a bit chaotic. The public tours have just ended and our tour is supposed to start but some children are still absent. The captain then asks us to go on board and specifies the protocol, everything exudes rigor and structure. Yet once on board, once the speeches are over, the mood changes dramatically. The atmosphere and the tempo are in fact totally dependent on the captain, who controls everything that happens aboard his three-master. Then begins the exchange with the children with the explanations, the stories, the details. So yes, we are at the quay, yes the visit lasts only an hour and yet. It’s a moment that piques the interest of some of these children. The adults also eventually go back a bit to childhood … It must be said that the boat reminds us some memories of pirate stories! And this is the whole point of this project: to allow these children to get out of their daily lives, to open doors for them, to make them discover the many stories and journeys that this three-master has known, to make them dream too, and maybe give birth to vocations in the nautical world.
