by Kevin Walker, NAMMA MARE Training A top priority of the developing strategic plan for NAMMA is the focus on training to attract and retain people in seafarers’ ministry. This continues a trend developed in the last few years: NAMMA has prioritized training at its conferences and seminars, and also taken up management of the […]
Stefan F. Lindberg and Lennart Johnsson. Dreaming of a Better Life: Humans as Commodities. Stockholm: Wall & Vivien, 2017. This book is a collection of stories and photos of migrant workers around the world, intended to humanize the workers and help us understand their stories as they themselves understand them. Launched at the ITF Congress […]
by Carolyn Graham, PhD and Captain Kunal Narayan, MSc The International Labour Organization (ILO) is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019, and with good reason. Like a storm-tossed ship, it has weathered many internal and external adversities, some so great that its continued existence seemed in danger, but it has nonetheless survived. For those of […]
Rachel Slade, Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm and the Sinking of El Faro. Ecco, 2018. On October 1, 2015, Hurricane Joaquin brought down the El Faro along with every member of its 33-person crew. Boston-based journalist Rachel Slade’s Into the Raging Sea depicts this tragedy in slow-motion, helping understand how a number […]
By Susan Huppert, NAMMA Transitions can be a navigational challenge. But for these newly established chaplains finding fulfillment in a new role proves to be profitable. Three professionals who shifted from their previous positions to the world of serving seafarers discuss how they became chaplains to a collection of transient people on the water. Contrary […]
From March 5-6 in Tampa, Florida, NAMMA partnered with the International Port Welfare Partnership (IPWP) project for a seminar on developing port welfare committees to support seafarers’ welfare. More than 35 individuals participated in the seminar, with representatives especially from seafarers’ welfare organisations that supported crews serving in the Caribbean area. The IPWP is a […]
Louise Beech, How To Be Brave. London: Orenda Books Press, 2015. 370 pp. This book is a tapestry of two stories compassionately woven together by Louise Beech. The narrative combines the present-day story of Natalie, a mother coping with her young daughter’s diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, and the wartime story of Colin, a merchant seafarer […]
MARITIME MINISTRIES TRAINING CONFERENCE The Apostleship of the Sea, The Mission to Seafarers, and other Ecumenical Partners held at Mary MacKillop Place, North Sydney, 11 -14th February 2019 BUILDING BRIDGES: CONFERENCE SUMMARY by Mr. Graham Miller, Manager, The Mission to Seafarers Townsville, Australia When I first saw the Conference program sheet, I immediately noted […]
Committed to his church and seafarers, Chaplain Marshal Bundren continued to pull alongside ships on the South shore of Lake Michigan in his 15-passenger rust bucket until December. That’s when things took a surprising turn. Reed Wilson, second officer aboard the M/V Burns Harbor, one of only sixteen 1,000 foot long self-unloading freighters in the […]
When the Titanic collided with an iceberg twenty minutes before midnight on April fourteenth, 1912 the world became aware of the importance of the humble ship’s lifeboat. Many of the passengers and crew could not escape the sinking ship and drowned because at that moment in history it was not a requirement to carry sufficient […]
