Xu Xu's Brazilian Affaire
My name is Xu Lijun, people call me Xu Xu - I come from Beijing (China) and work there as Greenpeace GE assistant campaigner. This is my first time working on ship and also the first time I have been in South America.
I came here to let people in Brazil know that Chinese consumers don't like GE food. They want all GE soya exported to China to be labelled so they can make an informed choice.
I feel strongly that understanding is so important for everyone. Jane Goodall said: "Only if we understand, can we care; Only if we care, will we help; Only if we help, shall all be saved."
Brazil
To me, Brazil is really mysterious it is almost similar in size to China. When I arrived in Sao Paolo after the long flight I immediately observed the surrounding environment, and found that the plants there look like those in Xiamen, probably because most of the plants found in Xiamen are imported from Latin America.
Diaco, the action campaigner from the Brazilian office, tells me that I am the first Chinese colleague who visits their office. I'm so lucky! Isabelle, the Greenpeace International GE Campaign Director introduced to me this month's plan for me and how we are using Arctic Sunrise to launch a journey in Brazil to campaign against GE soya.
The situation in Brazil is really bad, GE soya was banned several years ago for environmental and health reasons, but in the southern part, there are smuggling of GE soya seeds. China has particular relation with soya because it is the home to soya. But can we prevent the GE soya import amid the huge bulk import every year?
Life in onboard
Arctic Sunrise is much bigger and beautiful than in a photo. When I arrived the male crew shake hands with me, while the females have kisses. I briefly introduce myself. The happiest thing was the allocation of my small room. Victor, the mechanical engineer from Ukraine, shares the room with me. It's small but really cute: it has double-decked bed, a small sofa, two drawers, a small table and a washing sink. So much stuff are incorporated in an area as small as 5 sq. metre, and only as high as 1.8m. It is difficult to imagine I will stay here for a month. Really wonderful!
I have done some boat training, which is so professional. The commander, Medi, comes from Tunisia. In the morning, he introduced the structure of inflatable boat, the process of floating on water and safety precautions. Every action has to be safe, routine and quick. The most important thing is the team spirit and smooth communications, since we are on the same boat.
I have also learnt a way of knotting, which was taught to me by Rossano and Timo. This is called "eye knot". This is quite useful on board. This type of knot is very tight, which is even tighter when using. And it is very beautiful, looks like an eye.
Everything here is new and exciting for me, and every colleague here is so kind. I want to try all kinds of job in the ship, it is very nice to work with different people and talk with them at the same time. Thank God for letting us have a country like Brazil, with less population, huge forests, and the artistic soccer and Samba. I hope that this will continue to be a pure land away from GE!
