MARTIN’S MISSION IN PERU
Deepest Devon is not the usual spot to meet a llama, but that’s where
Martin Wooller came across a sociable one called Scooby.
The next time Martin
sees one of Scooby’s relatives may well be in Peru in October when he
leads The Mission to Seafarers Machu Picchu Challenge 2002, a
sponsored fundraising trek to “the lost city of the Incas.”
Martin,
62, the Mission’s volunteer support manager based in Exeter, made friends
with Scooby at Roseland Llamas in Stockleigh Pomeroy.
“We got on quite well,” said Martin, “but Scooby didn’t seem very
interested in joining my adventure in the Andes.”
The highlight of the two-week trip is a four-day, 24-mile walk at altitude
to the Inca citadel. “It’s the altitude between 2,000 and 5,000 metres,
not the distance, which will undoubtedly provide the challenge,” said
Martin, who is based at the Church of England society’s office and shop in
Topsham, Exeter.
Martin
is married to Josephine and they have three children. He sings tenor in
the choir at St Peter’s Church, Budleigh Salterton, where he lives. He
joined the Mission ten years ago after retiring from his underwriting job
in the City of London, and a varied careers as a master mariner,
submariner and professional diver.
He is one of 12
trekkers who have each pledged to raise £2,500 in sponsorship.
Martin said there has never been a greater
need for funds to support the work of the society, which cares for the
spiritual and practical welfare of seafarers of all nationalities and
faiths in 300 ports worldwide. “When I was at sea in the days of the
great liner companies,” said Martin, “the Mission’s flying angel centres
were safe places for young seafarers in foreign ports. Nowadays, longer
trips, shorter stays in port and smaller, multinational crews, mean that
contact with home is the prime requirement for seafarers.” Mission centres
provide telephones, email and internet links.
The
trip also includes visits to the capital Lima and to Lake
Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.
Further trek details are available from Gillian King at The Mission to
Seafarers, 3 Arundel Road, Littlehampton, BN17 7BY Tel: 01903 726969,
or email m2ssr@fsmail.net
The
Mission to Seafarers (formerly The Missions to Seamen) is a missionary
society of the Anglican Church.
It cares for the practical and spiritual welfare of seafarers of all races
and creeds in 300 ports throughout the world. Working through a network of
chaplains and staff, on average each year it makes 91,000 ship visits,
welcomes 849,000 seafarers to its centres, visits 1,300 seafarers in
hospital and helps in more than 1,000 justice and welfare cases.