8th September 2012

By Oasis Armada Crew

Guest Writers for Wake Up World

On September 1st 2012 at 10:15am, the first Oasis Armada boat set sail from Jarna, Sweden, headed South on the quest for a better world. It was pouring rain, but the motley crew of four recently graduated from the International Youth Initiative Program (www.yip.se) were determined to keep their promised departure date.

Onja Hardorp from Germany is the owner of the boat. “I had the idea, the dream, to create the Oasis Armada and so decided to do everything in order to make this dream come true. So I bought this cheap sailing yacht.” With the help of people from all over the world, and over $2,000 donated to the project, we are now on our way.

As we sail south towards Portugal, we will be connecting with different organizations, businesses and initiatives that are working to create positive social, environmental, political or economic change in this world. We will be living as self-sustainably as possible, in the spirit of abundance, and using gift economy.

Oasis Armada envisions a world where all things on earth co-exist in harmony ­ where we as humans have sustainable relationships with our environment, and with each other. We are aligned with the permaculture principles of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Finally, we see that we can act as a catalyst towards reaching this vision by practicing what we preach, and by sharing our experiences and skills in order to awaken, inspire and empower others. Alex Forsyth, one of the two female crew members talks about her vision for the journey;

“My vision is to connect people and places as we sail, leaving a positive impact on each place we visit, whether its a connection with one individual or a positive impact on an entire community. I am passionate about raising awareness of the potential of gift economy, its benefits, and it’s magic. Finally, I hope to spread ideas about reconnection to the earth, world, each other, our food, our homes, our careers and our lives.”

As of now, Oasis Armada and her crew are sailing towards Gotland, an island outside of Stockholm in the Baltic Sea. They are headed for the Ojnare Forest, a unique and extremely diverse land, which is currently being threatened by a large mining company called  Nordkalk. A huge group of people from many different places, ages and backgrounds have gathered to try and protect the forest.

After Gotland and the Ojnare forest, Oasis Armada’s future is unwritten. We are hoping that it can be co-written, with people just like you! Please contact us with any information about organizations, projects, or initiatives between Sweden and Portugal that are working for positive change in our world. We hope that as the word of our project spreads, more and more people will join us, and that soon we will have an actual armada, a fleet of ships sailing for a better world.

The  Crew

Who are we and what are we doing?

As a team we have been swimming, sailing and training together on and off for the last few months. We have also been working individually on different areas and projects. Below is a short introduction to each of us.

Onja  ~

I had the Idea, the dream to create the Oasis Armada and so decided to do everything in order to make this dream come true. So I bought this cheap sailing yacht and am very much looking forward to start this project. I was very inspired by Edgard ´s OASIS games that empower people to do what they really want   to do and making them experience that together that they can built their dreams without money in a short amount of time. This link shoes a small oasis game I helped to organize in a Swedish school:  http://oasissodertalje.withtank.com/the-oasis-game

This is one thing I am keen on trying next to other actions like stopping a clear-cutting and mining in Gotland, bin diving and seed swapping. I am also captain of my 27 ft. Sailing boat. I love to travel without polluting and have cycled through Europe and sailed around Denmark. I hope to inspire people to create a more beautiful world that their hearts know is possible. Let’s do it now – we are the people to make this change!

Thomas  ~

I am  originally  from Auckland, New Zealand. However  I have spent the past year studying at the International Youth Initiative Program, based in Sweden, in order to develop my skills in social entrepreneurship and positive change making.

My background is in Natural Medicine, specifically Ayurveda, Yoga and Massage Therapy. I use these tools, as well as many more, to achieve my goal of empowering communities and individuals.

Other skills I have developed which help me in this work include using facilitation Oasis Games; socially and environmentally focused consulting with businesses and organisations who are in need of some help to operate more effectively; Personal and group mentorship; making short films; building websites and utilising social media.

During this trip I want to show how easy it is to live a low-impact lifestyle, and still have the time of your life! I am excited about the challenge of living and working on board a relatively small yacht for a decent period of time and I can’t wait to get back onto living on the water!

Noemi  ~ I am an American and Israeli citizen. My vision is..
..to tell people’s stories, people who are growing their own food, people who are living sustainably, people who are facing the reality of border control.
..to implement the idea of gift economy.
..to learn to live on the sea and sail.
..to learn how to use celestial navigation.

AJ  ~

I could write pages about it, but I think a very simple way to sum up my view of the world would be to say ‘Question Everything’. I fell, literally, in love with the sea a long time ago, having lived on the coast for most of my life and been body boarding for about 5 years. I’ve done plenty of traveling in my time but only gave up flying a couple of years ago. Since then I’ve discovered how much more joyous and exciting it is getting around overland, and I think it’s about time I find out how it is over the ocean!

On my overland travels I began to see how much waste our kind generates, and soon realised how easy it is to live off that, and so I’ll be sharing my dumpster diving knowledge with the crew and with anyone who’s open to it. I’ll also be videoing parts of the trip.

Alex~

I was born and raised in Alaska, before moving with my family to California. I am excited to join the Oasis Armada team and create positive change.

My vision is to connect people and places as we sail, leaving a positive impact on each place we visit, whether it’s a connection with one individual or a positive impact on an entire community. I believe in leaving places better than we found them, hopefully incorporating some Oasis Games as we go. I am also inspired about collecting stories from the people and places that we visit, as well as individual growth in respect to my own skills and knowledge about sailing, fishing and self-sustenance. I am also passionate about raising awareness of the potential of gift economy, its benefits, and its magic. Finally, I want to spread ideas about reconnection to the earth, world, each other, our food, our homes, our careers and our lives.

Pieter:

I am born and raised in Belgium but I have been studying for the last year in Jà¤rna Sweden at the Youth Initiative Program.

This last year for me was all about self-development and finding what I really wanted and it reinforced in me the believe  of  learning in different ways, studying through experiencing. With this mindset I will go out and start with the oasis armada project and see what it will bring.

Oasis Armada from Oasis Armada on Vimeo.

To stay in touch with the Oasis Armada, please visit www.oasisarmada.wordpress.com