Variety Cruises announced a partnership with the Explorers Club to expand education in Lamin Koto, Gambia.

According to a press release, the goal of the partnership is to innovate and expand the Lamin Koto School and make it a prototype for education in the region. The company launched the Lamin Koto School in Gambia in 2011, in order to make education more accessible to remote areas. Variety Cruises has continued to support the school ever since.

As part of the expansion of the school, Variety Cares transformed an abandoned building into a museum named “The Rose Museum”, in honor of its founder Triantafyllos Venetopoulos whose first name means “rose” in Greek. 

The museum will exhibit significant 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 among other items. Other educational materials include maps, books and compasses donated to the museum from a variety of sources including Variety Cruise customers. 

Constantine Venetopoulos, brand manager of Variety Cruises, said: “To be able to showcase items of historic significance, including components of NASA spacecraft, 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.”

Richard Garriott, president of the Explorers Club, said: “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 inauguration of the Rose Museum will take place during the seven-day Rivers of West Africa Cruise, departing on  December 23, 2023.