FRED DE SAM LAZARO: THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS lists the Doulos as the world's oldest ocean-going passenger ship.
GLEN DORIS (Information Services Manager, MV Doulos): This is the oldest active wheelhouse in the world.
DE SAM LAZARO: Built in 1914, two years after the Titanic, it originally hauled onions from Texas to New York. It was turned into a luxury liner soon after World War II.But longevity isn't the Doulos's only claim to fame. It also claims to be the world's largest floating bookstore, not that there's much competition.
In the late 1970s, a German charity called "Good Books for All" purchased the Doulos to fulfill what it calls "a Christian mission" to bring literature to the world's poorest people.
Mr. DORIS: We believe that as a faith, God cares about people, and the whole person, not just the spiritual side, but also the educational side. We do believe that Christian books -- we do have a large selection, but the majority of our books are non-Christian.DE SAM LAZARO: Although Bibles are the best-seller among the 500,000 books on board, the large selection of secular titles has eased the way into many non-Christian nations, like this stop in predominately Islamic Sudan, its 101st country.
Mr. DORIS: I guess you could say that the kind of work we do is motivated by our love for God, but it is not something that we would push on other people.
DE SAM LAZARO: In fact, here in Sudan the Qur'an was displayed right next to the Bible -- as much for display as for sale.Mr. DORIS: They can get them anywhere here. Why would they come to the Doulos to buy a Qur'an? But we do want to show sensitivity. It's largely something to be sensitive and to show respect for the majority religion here.
DE SAM LAZARO: Customers we talked to said they appreciate that. The ship's Christian affiliation was not an issue.
ABRHIM KHLIFA (Customer, MV Doulos, through translator): It's not a problem. All books give knowledge.DE SAM LAZARO: Mostly they appreciate a chance to buy books that are difficult or impossible to find locally.
TAISIER AHRAYA (Customer, MV Doulos): I was searching for "Hamlet" for years, you know. I just found it. I was asking everyone, "Hey, I want Hamlet. Do you have this story?" When I found it I was so happy.
Mr. DORIS: Someone from Northern Europe, perhaps, might pay a certain figure, but then someone from West Africa, or say South America, Latin America, may pay a small percentage of that.
Mr. DORIS: We have a map on the world. This is just so we can find out where we are. Most people don't have to have a map in their main living room, but we have to because we have to figure out where in the world we are today.
GARY BARTO (Electrician, MV Doulos): It's really got a lot of things that I really love to do. I like to do the electrical work. There's a group of 300 people here that love the Lord, and because of that I thought I would really like to have the family overseas that I don't have at home.
DE SAM LAZARO: By the end of 2005, the Doulos crew expects to have gone around the entire coast of Africa.
