LEEUWIN Ocean Adventure are crossing cultural ties on the high seas.
On March 12, 40 participants aged 16 to 25 from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) or refugee backgrounds will take part in the inaugural Future Connect voyage.
Tabitha Syokau was originally from Kenya before she moved to Perth in 2017.
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READ NOWShe will be joining the voyage as a facilitator and said she was excited to be a part of it.
“Australia is a multicultural country, so it’s really important to understand and respect different beliefs and cultures and learn how to work together and live in unity,” she said.
“I am from a CaLD background now living in Australia, so I think I’ll be able to relate to many of the participants on board, provide them with support and mentor them throughout the voyage.
“I’m looking forward to hearing other people’s stories and learning about their culture and background.”
Leeuwin Ocean Adventure chief executive Carol Shannon said the new voyage was inspired by training ships in Ireland and Norway with a similar program.
“A review of the ethnicity of Leeuwin Ocean Adventure participants and subsequent volunteers indicated that there was not proportional representation of young people from the diverse ethnic mix that makes up the youth community in Western Australia – it was time to do something about that,” she said.
“Accessibility to Leeuwin Ocean Adventure’s powerful, positive and empowering youth development voyages is a key objective.
“The ‘magic of Leeuwin’ in building respect and tolerance, social confidence and courage underpin Leeuwin’s extraordinary value to the community.”
She said they had started to seek funding for a second voyage in 2020.