A container which is normally used for transporting goods around the Mediterranean countries will leave from Gozo following a tour of the island. The container with then move on to European towns, to convey a message of intercultural understanding through language visually composed by the children from three countries participating in the project ‘Port & City’ under the European Union programme, Comenius.

This message will be seen through the drawings of children from schools in Gozo, La Spezia and Bastia and were then transferred onto three sides of the container by Italian artist Gabriele Landi and Valeria Tognoni. The drawings focus on places and traditions associated with the locations of the children. For Gozo, some of the pictures include, the Azure window, Ggantija, the Citadel, stone walls, the thrushes and the Maltese flag and cross, they are all shown on a blue background and surrounded by prickly pear leaves.

The project originated in schools from La Spezia in Italy in 2002, with the aim of promoting cultural exchanges between schools located in the Mediterranean countries. Besides giving students an opportunity to know more about other regions, this project also aims to deliver messages through a different language such as the arts, thereby recognising diversity as a reflection on resource and value. Now many schools from European countries participate in the project and each year a different container is launched with messages related to selected themes. Many Gozitan primary school students submitted drawings for this project with the participation of the Sir M. A. Refalo Centre for Further Studies, in Victoria.

Children had an opportunity to attend the inauguration of the container by the Minister for Gozo, Giovanna Debono, in the presence of the heads of schools and teachers involved, including seven foreigners. Also present were the Principal of the Gozo College and officials from the Education Division, Gozo. The Minister praised the initiative of the Gozitan schools involved in meeting the the objectives of the project, which will also serve as an advertisment for Gozo as the container travels aound Europe. The children also had the opportunity to open up some surpise gifts that children from Italy had put inside the container for them.

The container project, named ‘Port & City’ got under way this year on the 28th of September, when the container left the terminal of the Gulf of La Spezia enroute to Malta . From there it was transferred to Gozo with the help of two operating companies.

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