Oodles of books on Doulos
The M V Doulos has been docked at Rabaul Wharf for the past 2 weeks. This is the world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship. She is now owned by the German charity organisation Good Books for All, and travels the world selling books, running programs and doing charity work.
The queue of people waiting to get on board.....
.....the rest of the queue which continued out of this picture !!
Up to but not including last Friday, 30 000 people have lined up in the heat and the ash on the Rabaul Wharf, to get on board to buy books. We have no library and no book stores in this province so people here are "book-starved". Thanks goodness for this organisation and the more than 300 people from 52 countries who have volunteered to work on this ship. We salute you!!
We were lucky enough to have morning tea on board with the Australian captain Ashley McDonald and his lovely wife Alison. They and their 3 young children have been travelling the world on board Doulos - what an amazing adventure for them all.
Anchored in Rabaul Harbour, with the volcano erupting beside them, will be something I'm sure they will always remember.
22 comments:
The "V" shapes in the first 3 pics really caught my eye.
a very interesting thing--a book ship.
This a very interesting idea: a book ship.
I guess they will not forget their stay in Rabaul, but maybe brought some good news to people down there.
A quite interesting post.
I love your blog, it's so different. I'm going to link it at mine. Great photos as ever, Jules. Must be great to go aboard and browse the books and things. What did you buy, in between your delightful meal?
What a great idea this is. It is like the bookmobile that was in an old school bus that came around to my village when I was a kid during World War II. I assume they take book donations. I will look them up.
Amazing. The queue is stunning. Thirst for books indeed...
What a fantastic thing to do... it really made me think about how I take books for granted. Not to have access to them is something that as never ever crossed my mind.. I will google this ship and find out more. We have loads of old books. We normally let them build up and then pass them on to others, maybe somewhere local collects them for something like this.
A great post Jules..
I just found this about the visit.
http://www.mvdoulos.org/
Neat stuff.
I learn so much from your part of the world!
Great story and wonderful pictures!
Great photos and sure is popular by the looks of those crowds.
Well reported
Is that volcano Ever going to sleep? Hope you're alright! Stay safe...Wonderful ship and their mission!hughugs
A "Boatmobile" what a fantastic idea. This is a volunteer idea for me to ponder when I retire.
Hi All
Donna - this afternoon the volcano stopped, and it has begun raining - first rain since the ash which is great - hopefully we will be clean and fresh again!!!
Lyn - I actually didn't buy anything as it was soooo crowded. I just took photos instead.
Oh well i bet it was fun in any case.
Jules, my friend, only in dreams and Travel Channel I've been near Papua New Guinea.
And please do believe me that if and whenever I go to Rabaul there were will be a portuguese looking for the Mcleans in order to deliver a nice Oporto wine bottle!
What an amazing story. Never heard of this ship or the project. May look into volunteering on board since I don't know where to move to next anyway :)
Very interesting post and nice efforts by the volunteers.
Great to see that ashes are gone with the wind and books came by sea... Always two, if by sea... ;)
That's an interesting post with beautiful pictures!
Also loved to see your «snorkelling» conference! ;)
Have a great week!
Gil
What a fabulous story. Not heard of this and so pleased now that I have. Those photos are super showing the queues. How everyone much appreciate this ship.
Thanks for telling us all this and am sure you enjoyed your time with the Captain and his family.
Great stuff!
Amazing and thrilling. So many people so hungry for books and willing to buy them. What a charitable service.
I've been on the Doulos in the US. What a great service! I'm so glad they made it to PNG! I hope they were going on to Papua, Indonesia--my former home!
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