since september 2006, the rotterdam fisherman was permanently situated on the “charloisse hoofd” on the southern bank of the river maas: 10 meters high with a fishing rod of 22 meters, the fisherman has been built by 300 students from professional schools from inside and outside of rotterdam, the netherlands.
the project has shown that students from professional school are very able to inspire each other, learn from each other, work together and achieve results that inspire many others. the rotterdam fisherman project has drawn a lot of attention and still continues to do so. the project was based on enthusiasm. looking at pictures you can see many happy faces.
at the end of april, this year one of the members of the board of the city of rotterdam, alderman hamid karakus, presented the idea to build a second fisherman meant as a gift for istanbul. the idea immediately got a lot of support. again students from professional schools will be able to show what they are able to, resulting hopefully ingaian in many smiling faces.
rotterdam and istanbul are connected more or less by the same waterways. from rotterdam you can follow the river rhine, the river main, the main-danube canal, the river danube and the black see to istanbul. in that sense the fisherman will pass many cities and countries on its way to istanbul. students from istanbul, from citiies along the waterways and from rotterdam are welcome to participate in the project.
it is again challenging to work on a large project: this time even involving many european countries, to connect many different people and create a framework for a project that will connect a.o. Rotterdam as an European Youth Capital in 2009 and Istanbul as an European Cultural Capital in 2010. the work has started, the networks are growing, the first sponsors are available.