In 2016, 3800 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean according to the UN. A human catastrophe that is reacting. Concerned, Sophie Beau decides to engage in helping migrants and founds the SOS Méditérranée association in 2015.
At the origin of the project, a man and a woman
They did not know each other, but on either side of the Rhine they had the same desire: to avoid drowning those who tried to reach Europe on fragile boats. It is through a friend that Sophie Beau meets Klaus Vogel. He's a sailor. It has operational know-how, is a consultant in the social field and knows humanitarian networks.
A crazy project
Sophie, supported by her family and her 4 children from 10 to 20 years, deploys an energy of Titan. "We believed technically without knowing if we would find the means. A crowdfunding campaign quickly enabled him to reach the goal of 300,000 € to hire a boat, the Aquarius, for a month , and to set up a medical team in partnership with Médecins du Monde. "Our budget is 98% made of donations and this generosity of citizenship reveals that many people do not know how to intervene, to make themselves useful and there it is really concrete". Sophie Beau has found a way to help her neighbor. A good example.
A successful initiative
Between April and October 2016, SOS Méditerranée carries out a dozen rescue operations . Each time hundreds of men, women (sometimes single teenagers aged 13-14 fleeing Nigeria), infants (a baby was born on board) ... were rescued by the Aquarius which will be all summer between the Libyan coasts and Sicily.
