On 21st April I'm running London Marathon. Although I have done lots of races in the past none have been longer than a half marathon so this is going to be a challenge, even for me!

I'm hoping to raise money for Apostleship of the Sea, a catholic charity supporting seafarers worldwide. The Apostleship of the Sea serves seafarers from across the world, regardless of belief, nationality or rank. In all the main ports in Great Britain their team of chaplains and volunteer ship visitors visit thousands of seafarers each year, meeting their needs through the provision of help, support and advice.

The UK ports industry is the largest in Europe, handling around 570 mt of tonnage each year through 120 commercial ports. By nature of our climate many foods cannot be produced within the UK, such as bananas, tea, coffee and cocoa. Some food such as fruit would only be available seasonally without imports. Only 1% of food imports arrive by air - the rest by ship. You may have thought about 'food miles' or buying Fairtrade but have you thought about the conditions on board the ships that bring them these goods?

The man who goes to sea, wrote Marco Polo, is a man in despair. Today’s man of the sea is also probably exploted, probably poor, and living a life that is likely to contain chronic fatigue and overwork; boredom, pirates and danger. Time off duty is measured in hours and rarely, if ever, runs into double figures. Seafarers exist entirely on board their vessels – arriving and departing ports with astonishing speed. Bullying, racism and aggression are often encountered onboard ships, making an already difficult situation even harder to bear. Suicide rates of seafarers are more than triple those of land-based occupations and carrying sea cargo is the second-most deadly job on the planet after fishing. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which represents seafarers,  said recently that ‘the maritime and fishing industries continue to allow astonishing abuses of human rights of those working in the sector. Seafarers are routinely made to work in conditions that would not be acceptable in civilised society’.
 
The vast majority of seafarers live an isolated and lonely existence. Many ships have few facilities for crew – no books, newspapers, magazines, DVD’s, internet etc.. The Maritime Charities Funding Commission, recently found ‘the provision of leisure, recreation, religious service and communication facilities is better in UK prisons than on many ships’. It falls to a charity to provide these extremely basic services which most people wouldn’t call a privilege, but for many seafarers that is exactly what they are.

Apostleship of the Sea helps the seafarers living in these conditions by providing both physical aid and pastoral care, such as small on-board libraries, seafarers centres situated in ports which crew can get to quickly – very important when only a few hours off duty is available - and numerous other services.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.