{"id":1324,"date":"2023-03-05T21:24:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T20:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/history\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:25:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:25:52","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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History<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cIn the Netherlands, people are thinking of you . . .\u201d \u2014 in 1965 these words marked the beginning of the SPWO -Pastoral Care for Workers in Dredging and Marine Construction. Dr. P.L. Schram, secretary of \u201cKerk Overzee\u201d (\u201cChurch Overseas\u201d), wrote a letter to the ministers in Sliedrecht. During a visit to Dutch families in Lagos, he had met Dutch dredging workers and asked whether the ministers from the dredging town could do something for them. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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It was a time of expansion for Dutch companies. Former colonies were becoming independent countries, and new international relationships were developing. Western workers helped build these newly independent nations by improving food production, strengthening economies, and developing infrastructure. <\/p>

Dutch contractors also played an important role in this work. This meant more employees working abroad and more projects in different parts of the world. As a result, more families were separated from their husband, father, or breadwinner, and more whole families moved overseas. The dredging community became larger, and an important question arose: \u201cWhat does this mean for the people working in the company?\u201d Personnel care became more important within companies, and people were willing to invest in it, even if it cost money. <\/p>

Dr. Schram\u2019s question connected well with what companies were already experiencing. The churches also felt involved. With strong support from the dredging industry, the \u201cInterdenominational Committee for the Spiritual Care of Employees in Dredging Companies\u201d was established. <\/p>

The focus was always on people. How were they doing at work? Could they and their families cope with life abroad? With these questions in mind, Rev. Rinus Grashoff \u2014 sometimes together with his wife \u2014 visited workers in Nigeria (1966), Dunkirk and Southern France, Portugal, Northwest Germany, Copenhagen, and England. In 1971 he also visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai, followed later by Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Bandar Shaphur. Both marine and civil contractors were heavily involved in the economic boom around the Persian\/Arabian Gulf. In some places, Shell camps were also visited. <\/p>

Every pastoral visit was about people and their experiences. There were conversations about hardship, tensions, and the successes and disappointments of projects. People spoke about long working hours, discussions about salary and conditions, and the pain of missing wives, children, and family. There was satisfaction when a project was completed successfully, but also frustration when carefully built work was later neglected. Workers encountered both great wealth and deep poverty. Some people seemed \u201csuperstitious\u201d or \u201cold-fashioned\u201d from a Western perspective, but often showed remarkable wisdom and sincere faith. In the end, people were not so different after all. <\/p>

om 1978 onward, the role of pastoral visitor was filled full-time by Rev. Aage Smilde. Together with his wife, he lived in the Gulf region for several years. He traveled throughout the area, organized discussion evenings and church services, and visited people in their homes. Church services were also extended to Filipino workers. The work broadened in scope. The committee became a foundation: the SPWO – Pastoral Care for Workers in Dredging and Marine Construction . Its motto became: \u201cMore than just sand.\u201d <\/p>

After Rev. Aage Smilde, Rev. Jabuk Koopmans became pastor, followed in 1988 by Rev. Henry Bouwman. After 12\u00bd years, Henry Bouwman was succeeded in 2000 by Toon van de Sande, the first Roman Catholic SPWO pastor. Toon worked for SPWO through the missionary work of the Bishop of Rotterdam. After 12 years, he accepted a new challenge in an international program supporting victims of piracy in their home countries. The current waterbouwpastor is Rev. Stefan Francke. <\/p>

Over the years, the industry has changed considerably. Companies have merged and become larger. Projects have become more complex. Ship crews have become increasingly international. In the Netherlands, secularization has continued, and fewer people feel connected to a religious tradition. This has also changed the role of the \u201cdredging pastor\u201d or \u201cwaterbouwpastor\u201d: perhaps less as a traditional minister representing the church, and more as a spiritual caregiver.But one thing has remained unchanged throughout the years: the work of SPWO is about people and caring for people \u2014 inspired by Christian values. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History \u201cIn the Netherlands, people are thinking of you . . .\u201d \u2014 in 1965 these words marked the beginning of the SPWO -Pastoral Care for Workers in Dredging and Marine Construction. Dr. P.L. Schram, secretary of \u201cKerk Overzee\u201d (\u201cChurch Overseas\u201d), wrote a letter to the ministers in Sliedrecht. During a visit to Dutch families […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1324","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1326,"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1324\/revisions\/1326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spwo.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}