Winter Newsletter 2003

You have been kind enough to show interest and support for our efforts to bring something positive out of the killing of Daniel (and so many other dynamic young people) in Bali four months ago. We thought that we should bring you up-to-date with our progress. We have been pleasantly surprised by the support that we have received from friends and family (perhaps to have been expected!) but also from so many others in the yachting industry, the British Government, other Trusts and Charities etc. etc.

It seems that our aim to positively influence young people away from narrow minded or extremist teachings by offering them places on Training Ships with other “voyagers” selected from a wide range of cultural and religious back-grounds has caught the imagination of many in these times of cultural, religious and political division. We may seem naive to some, but surely there is an increasing need to find ways to get to the sources of terror and to re-direct the potential recruits in more positive directions, for their own sakes and for ours?

We have made quite a lot of progress over the past few weeks.

  • Since our first meetings with the Sail Training Association (STA) and The Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) we have had continued support and good co-operation from them.

  • Claire Braden and Jun Hirst went for a week on the JST ship “LORD NELSON” in the Canaries to learn how this really works on board – please see their separate report on our website – it certainly wasn’t yachting!

www.encompasstrust.org

  • Last week Mandy, Jun and Alex spent a day on board the STA Barque “PRINCE WILLIAM” to get a better understanding of their operation and also to have a more detailed meeting with their youth leader to prepare for the first trial voyage now confirmed for 22 July – 1 August, 2003 from Waterford (Eire) to Portsmouth. It was a very cold and windy day but all three went ‘up and over’ the rigging in 35 kts of wind so feel that they have some feeling of what is involved. The lesson learnt from both of these trips on “LORD NELSON” and on “PRINCE WILLIAM” was that we cannot bring our ‘voyagers’ directly onboard after a long flight from the tropics and we are now looking into providing a day or two of acclimatisation with other activities before they board the ships so that they gain the best benefit from their time onboard.
  • The Charity Commissioners invited us for a meeting in London and were surprisingly helpful. They have put us on a ‘fast track’ for registration which should reduce the usual period of several months down to just a few weeks.
  • We have had active support from Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary; Tessa Jowell, Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Patricia Hewitt from the Department of Trade and Industry.
  • We had a very interesting meeting at the Foreign Office with senior officials from both the Foreign Office and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. They are offering detailed help with the visa process for bringing our ‘voyagers’ into the UK but they are also directing us towards a whole range of possible Government funding. All quite complicated and it will certainly take some time and effort to secure this, but nevertheless encouraging.
  • With the help of Nick Braden in Boston and the British Consul in Boston, George Ferguson, we have been offered the services of the Consul’s lawyer Philip Burling of Foley Hoag to act for ‘ENCOMPASS’ on a pro-bono basis. We are now proceeding with the formation of a Charitable Corporation in the US (501 c3) which should be up and running shortly. This will be registered with the IRS and will enable us to collect donations that have already been promised and to start fund-raising on a larger scale in the US.

As soon as the new US Corporation is able to receive funds in a fiscally efficient manner, we shall also announce the names of the founding Trustees of the US Corporation who have kindly agreed to support us at this stage.

  • We are now investigating the requirements and the costs versus benefits of registering a Foundation in France to give fiscal benefits to Donors, but these are not as valuable as in the UK or the USA.
  • Perhaps most important of all, we now have a representative working for ‘ENCOMPASS’ in Jakarta. Heroe Soeprapto came to us with the recommendation of the British Ambassador in Jakarta, Richard Gozney. Heroe has a very appropriate background with ‘outward bound’ activities in Indonesia including The National Authority of Sailing Associations, The Indonesian Climbing Association, etc. and he was also involved with Operation Raleigh in Indonesia and worked with the National Geographic and Camel Trophy. He is accessing the Conservative Muslim Boarding Schools in Java to select candidates for us to assess. Heroe is very ‘pro-active’ and if this works out well, we expect to develop secondary land-based activities in Indonesia, that we may use as a basis for future selection of ‘voyagers’ for the more expensive International Training Ship voyages.
  • Our program has been formally recognised by the Government of Indonesia.
  • Jun Hirst and Alex Braden plan to visit Jakarta from approximately 9 March to formalise arrangements with Heroe Soeprapto on behalf of the Trust and to select the first “voyagers”. They will also start the process of passport and visa applications. We shall meet with the Minister of Politics and Security on behalf of the Indonesian Government and with other government officials and Muslim groups in Indonesia to explain our aims and to request their support – should be a busy week! We expect to interview 200% of the candidates that we require for the first voyages.
  • We are now working to find good youth leaders and to secure sources of candidates for voyages from other cultural backgrounds including Israel, India, America and Europe to ensure a rich cultural mix on subsequent voyages.
  • Our website is looking a little smarter these days – and will look even better shortly – thanks to Angus MacKirdy.
  • We now have a new logo and letterhead – thanks to Jessica Samuel.
  • But thanks also to the many others who have offered logo design, web design, etc. Eventually we hope you will agree that what we have chosen is simple, clear and gets the’ENCOMPASS’ message across.

Otherwise, life goes on. The UK Memorial Service for the British victims in Bali takes place at Southwark Cathedral on 12 February, 2003. We are told that this will be very family orientated and any guests need to be pre-registered for security reasons. It is four months already.

The Taipei Baboons will be holding a Tournament and a Reunion “Nick Farr Jones” Dinner on 15th February in Taipei. They are continuing their excellent support for all of the families of their team members lost and injured in Bali and we thank them again for their real team spirit and we wish them well.

From our own resources and many generous donations already received we are already committed and funded for the first two voyages 22nd July-01 August 2003 and 24th September-04 August 2003.

We are now approaching other sources to raise the more substantial funds required to carry the program forward with Phase II being a minimum of five international voyages planned for 2004 so that we can develop our experimental program from this year into a full and imaginative program for 2004 successfully opening up the minds of several hundred boys and girls to other cultures and to the world around them and at the same time developing their characters and leadership skills.

Phase III being to secure the more serious funding required to buy or build a Sail Training Ship dedicated to this purpose which could be located more conveniently close to the areas of actual or potential cultural conflict.

We are also looking for airline sponsors (to help bring our voyagers to join the ship) and clothing manufacturers (to keep them warm in Northern climes…...)

Substantial donations are of course welcomed but pledges for smaller, regular payments are also essential for the long-term health of the program.

Although we are all ‘committed’ and to some extent ‘dedicated’ to this program, we all continue to work hard and even to play hard as Dan had learnt to do so effectively and had in turn shown so many others how to combine these essentials with energy, humour and style.

Posted Monday February 10, 2003