“Fr José, could you help this seafarer?”
This was a message I received by email from Roy Paul, a representative of the ITF in London. It continued,
“I have had a text message from Len who runs a group for seafarers’ wives in the Philippines. Her brother Ed was hospitalised three days ago. Since then, she has had no news. She has asked me to contact someone in San Lorenzo or nearby who can find out more about his condition.”
I immediately tried to find out more. With the help of Captain Rodolfo Vidal, ITF inspector in the ports of the River Parana, including San Lorenzo, I found the telephone number of the clinic where Ed had been admitted. The doctor who was treating him informed me that the diagnosis was psychological trauma. I was struck by something the doctor said over the telephone:
“after three days, at last someone is interested in him”.
Seafarer Ed had been put ashore in San Lorenzo where the ship’s agent brought him to the clinic for a medical check. At that point, matters slipped out of control. They had tried to transfer him to Buenos Aires but he became violent at every attempt to get him into a car. He refused all medication and would only respond to questions with “yes” or “no”. Once he escaped from the hospital and was found in the port.
The doctor’s main concern was that Ed needed psychiatric treatment which they could not offer him there. However, no one wanted to take responsibility. The doctor and the shipping agency could not do any more.
Once I had some news, I contacted Ed’s family. They were very worried but, at the same time, grateful that someone was interested in helping them. The Philippine Embassy was also informed of the situation. Three days later, Consul Raúl Dado and I went to San Lorenzo to visit Ed in hospital.
We found him in a room, surrounded by chaos, looking physically unkempt. On the bedside table there was an untidy pile of papers. Among them, one stood out. In very large letters it said:
“please help me”.
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We tried to talk to Ed. We told him that his family had asked us to help him. He was surprised to hear us speaking in Tagalog. But he did not believe that we were really a consul and a priest. To me, he appeared to be afraid rather than confused. We tried hard but we could not gain his confidence. I showed him an email from his nephew but that was not enough. Neither my clerical collar not the consul’s ID convinced him that we were the consul and priest mentioned in the nephew’s email. It became almost impossible to talk to him. How could we help him if he would not permit it?
On speaking to the doctor, we agreed that it would be better to transfer him to a hospital where he could be given the attention he needed. The consul asked if he could be transferred in an ambulance with medical personnel in attendance. The biggest problem was that we would have to transfer him against his will which meant that someone would have to accept legal responsibility.
That evening, I received a report by email which the ship’s agent had sent to Ed’s family. It was written by the captain of the ship. The report said that Ed had been the only witness to a robbery onboard. Since the incident, he had seemed anxious. He ate very little, was withdrawn and felt ill. They had tried to make him more cheerful but he only became sadder and more desperate. When the ship reached the port of San Lorenzo, the captain requested that Ed be put ashore and examined by a doctor.
After reading the report, it did not take an expert to see that the incident onboard had triggered a psychological crisis. We wondered what had really happened on the ship. Why was Ed so frightened and distrustful? The following day we returned to the hospital. The consul gave the authorisation for the necessary procedures so that Ed could be transferred to Buenos Aires. At last, he was taken to a pyschiatric clinic in the capital where he received the appropriate treatment.
Ten days later, Ed’s sister Len arrived accompanied by a representative of the maritime agency. Seeing Len was a great relief for Edgar. They talked for a long time and Ed told her what had happened onboard. Len told me that when she asked if the consul and priest had visited him in San Lorenzo, he started to cry. After he said that we had but that he could not believe that a consul and priest would be interested in him. The next day, I went with Len to visit Ed. When I greeted him, he was extremely upset and said,
“Talagang pari ka pala. Sorry po.” “You really are a priest. Forgive me.”
Ed and Len have now returned to the Philippines. He is receiving psychiatric treatment before returning to his wife, three children and the rest of his family at their home. Before they flew to Manila, Len said to me, “God has been good to us. He has sent us a lot of suffering but he has also listened to our prayers and given us many people who wanted to help us in this difficult situation.”
Len is a volunteer in her local Stella Maris Centre so she knew how and where to find the help that Ed and his family needed. Thanks be to God, we finally were able to care for Ed, Len and their family when they most needed it. However, there is a question that troubles me; How many other seafarers experience situations in which they need help but do not know where to turn?
May Our Lord continue to inspire us in our work for seafarers.
Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the seafarer and his family.
