Victor Mooney, executive director of South African Arts International and the rower of the Spirit of Malabo, a twenty-four foot ocean rowboat built in Brazil was joined by an unprecedented array of elected officials and foreign diplomats at Brooklyn Borough Hall over the weekend.

There were representatives from the Mexico Consulate, Croatia Consulate, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, Assemblyman Nick Perry , Brooklyn Borough President – Elect, Eric Adams, South African Arts International, board member, Dr. Lupenko and others as the Spirit of Malabo was dedicated to Nelson Mandela inside Brooklyn Borough Hall.

Mr. Mooney will use this vessel to encourage voluntary HIV testing with a five-thousand mile ocean row from the Canary Islands to Brooklyn with a resupply in the British Virgin Islands early next year.

“The Spirit of Malabo is expected to arrive in Las Palmas, Canary Islands next week and with a little extra support, I’ll meet her”, said Victor Mooney.

South African Arts International also announced a contribution of five-thousand dollars towards the transportation cost of the Spirit of Malabo from New York to Las Palmas, Canary Islands from Maersk Line. Maserk Line is the global container division and the largest operating unit of the A.P. Moller Moller – Maersk Group that is based in Denmark.

The Spirit of Malabo is supported by the Head of State, H.E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and sponsored by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Among other things, The Honorable Patrick Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for the United States of America, thanked the contribution and support of Equatorial Guinea in achieving stability in the Central African Republic, where in addition to helping with financial aid, it sent a group of members of the armed forces for peacekeeping missions.

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea (República de Guinea Ecuatorial) is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa, and one of the smallest nations on the continent. In the late-1990s, American companies helped discover the country’s oil and natural gas resources, which only within the last five years began contributing to the global energy supply.