"The official name of this Egyptian vessel is 'Alhadj Djumaa'. Alhadj means a wise old man who has been on pilgrimage, and Djumaa means Friday. It departed Egypt on the 25th of July 2013, headed for Lampedusa. It's only about the size of an apartment (12m by 4m), but it carried 282 passengers – 217 Eritreans and 65 Ethiopians. Written on the back: road of safety, way of peace.

The boat was seized the day after departure by the Italian authorities, who later gave it to us.
Nonetheless, we still want to reunite the boat with its original owner. The current crew still searches in their network and on social media for the original passengers and captain, sharing photos of the boat in WhatsApp groups and spreading their message.

In between the oil barrels, life jackets and clothes left behind on board, we found a book of sheet music for guitar. Using this book, 'Method Modern Guitare - Par Joseph Ichkhanian', our resident guitarist will sometimes play a song during a cruise or crossing."

We don´t know much about the history of our smaller boat, except that it was picked up by the Italian coast guard on August 29, 2014, about 18 miles southwest of the Sicilian town of Portopalo. The name of this small boat has yet to be unraveled, however, "Hedir" is written on the side, which means 'thunder' or 'roar' or 'powerful woman' in Arabic. Our only other clue to it's history was a pair of diving goggles which were left on board.

At just 6m long, it's well suited for slipping through the canals and under bridges. Since all new vessels in Amsterdam have to be electric, we refitted this former refugee boat, so now it moves along silently. "