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Victor and the Pope
Dec 3, 2004 16: 31 EST
A few days ago, Kenneth Crutchlow from the Ocean Rowing Society was over in NY from London and we had dinner at the usual spot in Little Italy.
We talked about exploration, of course, and that's when someone mentions Victor Mooney.
"Do you know where he is now?" asked Kenneth. "Dunno - Buckingham Palace, perhaps?" we joked.
Kenneth wasn't laughing. "The Vatican."
"Wha?!"
"The Pope, he is seeing the Pope tomorrow."
Victor's story is amazing. Out of the blue; donned in a striped suit and briefcase in hand - Victor paid us a visit last year. He said he had a dream: To retrace the route of 8000 miles taken by slave ships from Goree Island, Senegal (West Africa) to New York City. How? He'd row it! Had he done much of it before? Nope, but that wouldn't stop him.
So we cheered him on a bit, introduced him to Contact 2.0 and made a story. That's when the pics began to arrive: Victor on CNN, Victor undressed with Mayor Bloomberg, Victor with Hillary Clinton.
Yesterday, the latest - Victor and the Pope.
ExWeb staffers are a bit divided. "But he hasn't really done anything yet," says one. "But he is not lying about anything either" says another - "More power to him."
"We are all going mad" says a third.
As for Victor, he's having a ball. Check his site for more pics with celebs. A few months from now, the row will begin. And that will be another story.
Victor Mooney is preparing for the journey of his life. The African-American rower aims to retrace the route taken by slave ships from Goree Island, Senegal (West Africa) to New York City, an 8,000 mile test of endurance that Victor will row solo beginning February 1, 2005 – the start of “Black History” month in the U.S.
The goal of Victor’s voyage is two-fold: The first is to retrace the route of the slave ships and raise awareness about a time in history when millions suffered the horrors and indignity of slavery. The Brooklyn-based rower will depart from the “Door of No Return” - the place on African soil where able-bodied Africans, chained at the neck, last viewed their homeland before being transported to the New World as slaves. An estimated 20 million Africans passed through the port of Goree Island in the mid 1500's and the mid 1800's. He will row along the Middle Passage route from Goree Island to Brazil to the Caribbean Islands; thereafter, reaching the Florida Keys. From that point on, he will head Northerly along the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean and is expecting to reach Manhattan at some time in August.
Victor will be using Contact 2.0 software to send live images and dispatches from his voyage, allowing him to bring history lessons alive for educators, students and anyone with internet access.
As part of the effort to raise funds for “The Goree Challenge,” Victor is seeking 20,000 “passengers” to “Take a Seat on The Goree Challenge – The Middle Passage.” In exchange for a $10 gift, each participant will have their name imprinted on the 24’ rowboat. Additional proceeds will be used to benefit AIDS organizations, which is Victor’s other primary goal.
Moved by the life of his brother, who died of AIDS, and the work of the late New York City Cardinal John O’Connor, who cared for those suffering from HIV/Aids, Victor’s goal is to bring attention to HIV/Aids prevention and awareness in the community, workplace and uniformed services by encouraging abstinence. He believes the deadly illness is 100% preventable and awareness is the key. Victor has spent the last four years rowing around the waters of Long Island and Manhattan doing just that.
Image of Victor and the Pope, courtesy of Victor Mooney: "On World AIDS Day, Pope John Paul II blesses Victor Mooney from Woodhaven, New York inside the Vatican."
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