Posted by Veron ·
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goes by the name veron (english) or wanting (chinese). a definitive leo born august 1, 1984. a solo traveler. loves cats, coffee, sensual music, yummy food and technology. when she's not at her job as an IS developer for the government, she's likely to be out dining, or visiting an interesting art gallery or event.
not long after getting off the plane, i was already on board another huge craft. this time it’s the world’s oldest active passenger ship, the doulos, which is even older than the titanic! it docked at Singapore two weeks ago and i had the opportunity to do a quick tour around.
the entire crew on board the ship is made up of volunteers who do not get paid for their work. it is pretty expensive to maintain a ship, especially one that sails round the world. one of the ways in which the doulas gets its funding is through donations. another way is through book sales. a book fair on board has books going at rather low prices. the idea of shopping on a ship is quite a novel idea, isn’t it? my interest and curiosity certainly was piqued!
the doulos sails round the world to spread the word of god as well as to help needy people. i spoke to a few crew members who were all from different countries! apparently there may be more than thirty different nationalities among the crew at any one time, all of different race and profession. amazing isn’t it? people who can’t be more different banding together with one single goal.
i have already registered as a volunteer to work on the ship. hopefully they would give me a chance to be part of this meaningful expedition!
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Interestingly, doulos also means slavery. Found that out as I was looking for Doulos in wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doulos View all comments by uzyn
Yes, these few days, I know of 4 blogs that have Mr Pinocchio / Frosty Snowman in the blogs. LOL..
Good on you girl! for volunteering to serve on Doulos. I did not get to visit Doulos when it docked here. View all comments by Keropok Man
Haha that’s pretty hot for a snowman! I wonder why all the blogs are featuring him all of a sudden. He’s been around for some time, since VivoCity opened. View all comments by Veron
interestingly, the ‘doulos’ means ’servant’ or ’slave’ in greek ;) View all comments by tinkertailor
Oh! Thanks uzyn and tinkertailor for pointing that out. Slave of God, I presume. View all comments by Veron
I also had the pleasure of visiting Doulos again this time. I think the last time they docked in SG was close to 10 years back? I was still in school then LOL! View all comments by Trish
i heard about this ship on the radio.
they had a carpenter’s workshop at the deck.
they once sailed to sudan and taught the people there simple english like apple and orange.
the volunteers then asked what the locals ate and they replied nothing, or water. they probably haven’t seen or ate an apple or orange before in their lives.
the ship’s really meaningful! View all comments by wY
Hi Trish, the Doulos came to Singapore in 2001 too. I was also still in school back then. My friend and I had run into an ex-teacher who told us to go check out this ship. But we had no idea what she was talking about until 5 years later :) View all comments by Veron
wY, awesome stuff on the ship. I am so hoping to be able to go on board one day. To be able to help so many people and travel around the world at the same time, I can’t think of a more fulfilling thing to do. View all comments by Veron
I saw this ship when I passed by Vivo City some time back. It looks out of place from all the other ships, but I thought it was just some foreign ship allowed to offload its passengers without going through immigration.
Only now did I realise the significance. View all comments by pkchukiss
The Doulos just docked on Hong Kong tonight (I live here), my school is going to see that ship. We got special passes and all that cause we’re an International Christian School. (I’m in grade 7) we also have 60 10+ graders chosen for volunteers when the doulos is docked here in Hong Kong. I can’t wait to see it tomorrow!. View all comments by Emmanuel
We are in Durban, South Africa and are hoping that wonderful vessel will soon dock in our port.
My wife is trying to find out the ships itnerary, as we need a new supply of reading material again. I SAY GOD BLESS THAT SHIP.
I have got so many wonderful books and cd’s from her. God is good all the time AMEN.
aLLAN STAGG View all comments by Allan Stagg
Your post made me nostalgic :)
There is a book on the Doulos which you can read or download freely by visiting the following URL:
http://www.thedoulosyears.blogspot.com/ View all comments by Mike
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