The Stella Maris Baby

Since its opening in 2000, the Stella Maris Center in Davao has offered pastoral care to hundreds of seafarers and their families. AOS chaplain Fr Jack Walsh tells us how one family benefitted in a very special way.

In the Port of Davao, the pastoral team was blessed with the necessary funding to renovate a former guest house and communication centre which once belonged to a mining company. The renovations were completed in 2000 and the building re-opened as the new Stella Maris Seafarers’ Centre. Surrounded by a hectare of land, it is conveniently close to Sasa Wharf, one of the 30 berthing areas of the Port of Davao.

The centre includes meeting rooms, a dining room, kitchen, laundry facilities, television room, and accommodation in private rooms, family rooms and a crew dormitory with space for up to ten seafarers. News of the spacious and reasonably priced accommodation soon spread and more and more seafarers and their families came to take advantage.

One seafaring family stayed with us for nearly a year. The husband worked on a ship which regularly carried bananas to the port of Talinn in China, returning to Davao every 15 days. Meanwhile his wife was caring for their 18 month old son Budoy who was undergoing major surgery for a medical condition.

Recently the father returned to our centre and proudly announced the birth of a baby girl. She was declared the first “Stella Maris Baby”, conceived and formed in the Stella Maris Centre. Naturally, the baby is to be christened Stella. Her brother Budoy, now two years old, has successfully undergone four operations in Davao Hospital. It is reported that he now aspires to be a newer model of the Filipino champion prize fighter Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao!

Above: Ms Virgie, one of the Stella Maris Centre staff with two year old Budoy Right: Ms Lisa Candelon, administrator of the centre, with Budoy and Mrs Tumanda with baby Stella

Our friendship with the seafarers who work on the banana boats means that we are regularly offerred “banana rejects”. These are perfectly good bananas rejected by strict Japanese inspectors due to tiny blemishes on the skin. At harvest time, the captain and company port manager calls us to send our truck. Sometimes we collect several hundred bunches of bananas. These make very popular, and nutritious, gifts for all our visiting seafarers.

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