Chantal van Rossum
Crew
Chantal is 45 years old and lives with her family in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is a mother of 3 children of 8, 12 and 15 years old and married to her husband Matthijs.
She tries to do sports three times a week, occasionally plays the piano and likes to read. Although she is not a trained sailor she sometimes sails with friends and in the past she was in the navy for two years.
Nine years ago she started working for the police department of Rotterdam. She was ambitious, but one year after she gave birth to her son, she was diagnosed with MS. Despite that she is still working at the police department with great joy.
According to Chantal, it is the result of something her daughter said: "my mother can’t do everything, but then we do other things or we do things in a different way." This has taught her that there is always a solution as long as you open your mind.
In february of this year, suffering from a schub, Chantal was looking for a purpose in her life, a helping hand to find herself again. She came across Oceans of Hope on the internet, and that was it.
The sea has always given Chantal a feeling of strength. The endless, uncontrollable character of the sea can be scary sometimes, but not if you trust your ship, the crew (family and friends) and yourself and she wants to find that inner trust again.
Also in the navy she had a powerful experience that in collaboration with others you can achieve much and how it feels when your role in the collaboration is indispensable. Together you are strong enough to cope with uncontrollable situations.
In the visiting harbours she wants to share this great feeling with others, learning not to be scared of the endlessness and thinking in opportunities instead of impossibilities.