Sea Sunday, 13 July 2008
In solidarity with the People of the Sea
Sea Sunday is an annual appeal to support the vital work of AOS in providing pastoral and practical help to vulnerable merchant seafarers visiting our shores. As an independent charitable agency of the Catholic Church, we are wholly dependent on voluntary donations to continue our work.
AOS port chaplain Richard Withers greets a seafarer in the port of Swansea |
We take the love of Christ to seafarers in the name of the Church, recognising them as our brothers and sisters in need. However we need your support to keep our work going.
Please support us by contributing to our ongoing Sea Sunday appeal
click here for details of how to donate to AOS GB
January 2008 saw troubling times at the Port of Newport where Richard Withers is the AOS chaplain. Luckily he was on hand to provide support, practical care and hospitality.
On Wednesday 17 January, port authorities in the Bristol Channel were alerted that Aleksy, a Polish seafarer onboard a docked cargo ship, was suffering severe mental health difficulties. Unsure of how to respond, the port authorities held the vessel in dock for some 15 hours. Finally the police took Aleksy off the ship and transported him to Cardiff. There he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to the local psychiatric unit to get help.
The police contacted AOS port chaplain Richard Withers to see if he could assist. Richard visited Aleksy at the psychiatric clinic. With Richard trying his few words of Polish, and Aleksy luckily having a good command of English, the story came out. Aleksy told Richard that he had been working at sea for 15 years. On this last voyage something had finally ‘snapped’. He had been suffering from the cumulative strains and stresses of seafaring: severe fatigue due to little free time in port; a gruelling schedule; separation from his family and loved ones with little opportunity for communication with them; and limited social interaction with a crew of diverse nationalities.
With his condition much improved the next day, Aleksy was discharged. Richard and the ship's agent arranged accommodation for him. Arrangements for Aleksy to be repatriated to Poland took a few days to complete. During this time, Richard brought Aleksy to his family home to share dinner with his wife and children on a number of occasions. In this way he could experience a little of life as it was back home. When the travel arrangements were in place, Richard drove Aleksy from Cardiff to Heathrow airport. They parted as ‘strangers who had become friends’.
Richard has subsequently heard from Aleksy and his wife. Aleksy has made a full recovery and returned to work on a new ship in the North Sea that allows him more regular time at home. Richard later explained that he was able to get the full story where others had failed because, on his visit to Aleksy, he spent time listening and empathising, trying to understand his situation, something that no one had done before. Richard then did all he could to fulfil Alexsys’ needs, both practical and emotional.
Please note that the seafarer's name has been changed