"Regimes change, lifestyles evolve, but the sea and the port are always there. Humans continue to cross the sea, to live from it and often to die there. As for the Church, she has also sought to be close to the lives of seafarers.
Our port of Pointe Noire was created in 1934 as a point of access to the territories of Middle Congo, Gabon, the Obangui Chari and Chad. The port now serves 70 million people and is called “the Ocean Port of Central Africa”.
Father Lelo, second right, makes a ship visit. Pictured with him are the ship's captain, right, seafarers and port workers. |
AOS began serving in Pointe Noire in 1978 when Father André Birraux, a Son of Charity, opened a Stella Maris Centre in the heart of the port. Today, AOS Pointe Noire comprises a chaplain and lay people who work together regardless of race or religious faith, according to the spirit of ICMA.
On 30 August 2003 at the Bishop’s House, the AOS team established the National Committee for the Welfare of Seafarers in the Congo. The committee includes employees from maritime, oil tanker, and port associations. These work together with the AOS team to defend the moral and material interests of the People of the Sea.
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust has given us valuable support. In August 2005, we received a grant of US$113,442 in order to construct a really first class seafarers’ centre. Construction began on 15 October 2005 when the government minister responsible laid the first stone. All of the port and municipal authorities of the city attended the ceremony.
The building work is now finished. Services available to seafarers include hospitality, Internet access, a café, medical assistance, postal services and religious services.
Father Lelo, second right, shows the site of the seafarers' centre to the minister and visiting dignitaries. |
In May 2006, the ITF again gave us another grant, this time of US$25,000 to buy a minibus. We use this for our ship visiting programme and to provide transport for seafarers according to their various needs.
Since then, regular ship visits have been made by the chaplain and personnel from AOS and the Welfare Committee. This partnership of the port authorities and AOS is a powerful movement at the service of the seafarers of the Congo. We warmly congratulate our port authorities for the open co-operation.
In September 2006 we began visiting artesanal sea fishers. In the fishing village, the majority are fishers of different countries including Togo, Benin, Cameroon and Nigeria."
Artesanal fishing boats |
click here to read more about artesanal and traditional fishing
Congo is known formally as the “Republic of Congo” and locally as “Congo- Brazzaville”. It is situated in Sub-Saharan Africa, on the Equator, with a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Congo has land borders with five other states including the similarly named but politically separate Democratic Republic of Congo. Official languages are French, Kituba and Lingala.
Congo has a population of around three and a half million. The majority of these live in the two major cities of Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. Natural resources include crude oil (petroleum). In the 1980s the GDP of the Congo grew rapidly although civil war in the late 1990s slowed economic progress. Peace agreements were reached in December 1999.
The AOS minibus parked on the docks in Pointe Noire.
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