“This is the first time that I have boarded a rescue ship,” Bene admitted to InfoMigrants with a smile. It’s a surprising admission from her. If you saw how busy she was on the ship, and listen to her talk about her exact role on board, you would think you would be dealing with a veteran of the Aquarius. “Bene,” as the crew calls her, has been doing humanitarian work for only three weeks. Her work with SOS Mediterranee began at the beginning of the month. Her ease on board the ship is explained by the fact that she been trained to navigate boats at sea. “I’ve been sailing boats for 20 years,” she told us. Now we understand her situation better. Not only does Bene love the sea, but she is also a boating expert since she attended Glénans, a famous French sailing school. Now she carries the title of “Deck Leader” on the “Search and Rescue” team of the SOS Mediterranee. She coordinates all the activities on board the vessel during a rescue mission. "I make sure everything is ready if we encounter a dinghy." Bene is familiar with the migration crisis due to the Italian media. “Our country is often the main focus of the subject, one often talks about Lampedusa and of the Mare Nostrum operation. I wanted to do something and make an impact,” she said. She doesn’t have a partner or children and doesn’t see the remoteness off the mainland as a problem. “I have to stay six weeks aboard the Aquarius, which isn’t a big deal. The long periods of being away from home make me feel like I lived abroad.” “I felt there was a need in them for life to resume” During the interview, Bene told us about other aspects of herself. She is trilingual, and has mastered Italian, English and French perfectly. She is also a literary scholar. “I was a researcher in French literature at the University of Milan.” On her night table in her cabin on the ship, there are two novels, one by Haruki Murakami and the other by Joseph Conrad. “I also brought a third book about pirates, but it is lighter and less serious,” she adds laughing. Before working on the Aquarius, she had also worked as a volunteer on an ambulance in an Italian organization in Milan. There she he improved her knowledge of first aid. Beneditta has three major assets on the ship: social experience, maritime expertise and language skills. There are tragic moments on the ship, such as when a dead body was brought on board in mid-April. But that same day there was a more joyful moment.  “At the end of this same rescue, there was a moment of respite on board,” she recalls.“Nigerian women took a a drum and began to play and dance. I felt there was need in them for life to resume.” she says. Bene doesn’t know how much time she will continue to sail on the Aquarius. “I don’t feel like I am doing a job here. I am working here because I want to be here” She wishes that in the future there will be no need for her and this rescue boat. "I hope this migrant crisis will end and the migrants will no longer need to be saved at sea" Author: Charlotte Boitaux Translated from French by Wesley Dockery