Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Doulos in the Gulf

We haven't heard a lot from Daniel this week, but assume that 'no news is good news'. From the brief messages he's sent, it sounds as if he's having a wonderful time on the Doulos, and keeping very busy. I've set up some Google alerts for myself to find out what the local press are saying about the Doulos and its book fairs - if anything - when it arrives at the various ports, and so far it's all very encouraging.

Before the ship left Abu Dhabi, where it was moored just before Dan joined, this enthusiastic report was made on the GulfNews.com site by the Indian Ambassador. It's just had a fortnight in Sharjah, where this report was written in the Khaleeh Times, including an interview with the Captain.

It's now at Doha, in Qatar. The Gulf Times gave this report about its tumultuous welcome, and today they gave this report on the first day of book sales.

Even living in Cyprus, where there are at least a few bookshops with English books (albeit hardly any English library books) I appreciate all the more how important it is for people in the Middle East to have a wide selection of books, both in their own languages and in English, at the excellent prices charged by the Doulos. After a couple more ports in the Middle East, they sail on to India, where poverty is high and books even more rare.

1 comment:

Lora said...

I didn't realize that they served such a wide group of people. They definitely seem to be well appreciated.