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Pictured: Lakis Venetopoulos greats locals in Lamin Koto.
With a commitment to leaving each destination visited better than they found it, Variety Cruises is pairing with the Explorers Club to expand education in Lamin Koto, Gambia.
ATHENS, GREECE – Leading small ship cruise company Variety Cruises is known for its mission to create “A Better World at Sea.” Through the Greek, family-owned organization’s philanthropic arm, the Variety Cares foundation, they’re also creating a better world on land, investing in the communities that live in the destinations that the cruise line visits, and upholding the foundation’s three-pronged mission to deliver Clean Seas for All, Gender Equality for All, and Education for All.
The Lamin Koto School project
In 2011, honoring Variety Cruises’s groundbreaking itineraries in the rivers of West Africa, the company launched the Lamin Koto School in The Gambia. After discussion with the local communities, and under the leadership of the late Lakis Venetopoulos, previous leader of Variety Cruises and second-generation of the owner family, they launched the community-run school in order to make education more accessible to remote areas and enrich living conditions while respecting local traditions. The company has continued to support the school ever since maintaining the legacy that Venetopoulos started.
The year 2019 brought the inauguration of a new building, with Variety Cruises supporters Tony and Tiffany Reiner and Marco Maranghello in attendance. In 2020, a new well was installed, in order to bring clean water to the village of Lamin Koto and its surroundings. In 2020, Variety Cares partnered with Inside Out, a participatory platform that helps individuals and communities to make a statement for what they stand for, by displaying large-scale black and white portraits in public spaces to raise awareness, build community, and support education and clean water in the area. (Some of the results of that partnership can be seen on the walls of the school above.) Although West Africa itineraries were put on hold during the Covid pandemic, the Lamin Koto School remained in the hearts and minds of the Variety Cruises family, and the school continued to thrive with their support.
The collaboration
December 2023 marks the triumphant re-launch of Variety Cruises West Africa routes, and to celebrate, Variety Cruises has the great honor of collaborating with the venerable Explorers Club in order to innovate and expand the Lamin Koto School, so that it may serve as a prototype for education in the region.
As Richard Garriott, the president of the Explorers Club explains, “We were inspired to join forces with Variety Cruises to work towards our goals to promote scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space through research and education, and our projects are geared towards achieving that mission.”
The Museum
As part of the expansion of the Lamin Koto School, Variety Cares transfored an abandoned building in Lamin Koto into a museum that will further boost the local community. Designed by ADD, the institution is named “The Rose Museum” in honor of its founder, the late Triantafyllos Venetopoulos, the second generation to helm Variety Cruises, whose first name means “rose” in Greek. Honoring his spirit, and the values of both Variety Cruises and the Explorers Club, the museum will be dedicated to exploring the world outside its walls. It will exhibit significant, unique objects donated by the Explorers Club, including a piece from NASA’s spaceship, a flag of the Explorers Club that went to space, and a piece of a comet, alongside maps, books, compasses, and other educational materials donated to the museum from a variety of sources including Variety Cruise customers.
As Constantine Venetopoulos, Brand Manager of Variety Cruises, observed, “To be able to showcase items of historic significance, including components of NASA spacecrafts, to our visitors and patrons, is truly in line with our organization’s values. We aim to create a cultural exchange between our guests and the communities we visit, and are incredibly grateful to the Explorers Club for their generosity and support in helping us achieve our goal to truly go deeper with our adventures by small boat.”
The inauguration of the Rose Museum will take place on the 6th day of the 7-day Rivers of West Africa Cruise, December 23, 2023. Attendees celebrating the occasion include Richard Garriott, President of the Explorers Club, and Filippos Venetopoulos, CEO of Variety Cruises.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
