WEST Belfast musician Joby Fox has begun a fundraising drive to replace a vessel that has saved thousands of lives in the Mediterranean Sea over the past ten years.
2025 marks ten years of Refugee Rescue’s life-saving mission in the Mediterranean. The project began when Joby teamed up with Jude Bennett to fill a vacuum of search and rescue during the height of the refugee crisis in 2015 after volunteering on the shores of Lesvos in Greece.
Refugee Rescue has over the years gathered invaluable experience and know-how in professional search and rescue at sea and are now among the top search and rescue teams in the world.
Refugee Rescue’s vessel MoChara, which was generously donated by London artist Jake Chapman in 2015, is no longer seaworthy and has been decommissioned after having rescued over 25,000 people in distress at sea during those ten years.
The anniversary also marks the beginning of a fundraising drive to replace MoChara with a new vessel so that its essential work can continue.
Joby Fox, co-founder of Refugee Rescue, said: “The story of MoChara is a testament to the collective effort of ordinary people who refused to look the other way. We will always stand for human rights and safe passage for those in peril at sea. The world we live in today needs people to stand up for the sanctity of life.”
As part of the fundraising drive, MoChara will be featured in an art exhibition ‘If This Boat Could Speak’, commemorating a decade of lifesaving work only made possible by donations and voluntary efforts. The exhibition will highlight the significant impact MoChara has had on those it rescued and its contribution to the global fight for upholding human rights. The first exhibition will take place at Lost Farm contemporary art festival in Denmark in Summer 2025 before going on tour to the UK and Ireland.
You can make a donation at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/replacement-rescue-vessel/
