Home Aboard: Bringing Comfort to Refugee Boats

Overview

For many fleeing unsafe and unstable countries, home has become one of the cruise ships docked in Rotterdam’s harbors. While the idea of living on a cruise ship may seem idyllic, the reality is quite different. Residents face shared facilities, no personal space to cook, mandatory weekly check-ins, and the constant uncertainty of being relocated at any moment.

Our collaboration with Stichting Mano aimed to bring creative workshops to the residents of these boats. Through creativity, we provided them with a brief sense of homeliness and an opportunity to express themselves in an otherwise challenging environment. While we can’t solve all their problems, our goal is to offer moments of relief and connection through art.

Activities

Children’s workshops – Both indoor and outdoor sessions take full advantage of the weather. We facilitated creative play with activities ranging from t-shirt stenciling and zine making to designing their dream playgrounds.

Adult workshops – We organize creative workshops, public events and gallery tours for adults.

Refugee trainees – We launched a train-the-trainer program for refugee volunteers. Through this initiative, volunteers progress from observing the workshops to leading their own sessions within a few weeks.

Onboard craft cupboard – We noticed that residents deeply appreciate access to art supplies during our workshops, so we stocked a dedicated storage space with basic craft materials. The cupboard is refilled after each workshop, ensuring that Stichting Mano can continue providing creative resources to residents even after our workshops.

Summary

Our Refugee Boat workshops seek to create a safe and imaginative space for those who have been displaced. Through a series of creative workshops, we provide moments of joy, connection, and self-expression to residents of the boats. The children’s workshops focus on playful, hands-on activities, while the adult sessions offer more in-depth creative exploration.

A key aspect of the program is empowering the residents themselves through the train-the-trainer initiative. By training volunteers to host their own workshops, we create a sustainable model of artistic engagement that can continue beyond our time there. The introduction of the craft cupboard ensures that creative opportunities remain accessible to residents after each session.

Though the program cannot resolve the larger issues that refugees face, it provided meaningful moments of relief and personal empowerment through creativity, contributing to a sense of community and homeliness in an otherwise transient and uncertain living situation.