Friday 15 November 2013

 

Dear Seafarer Centre,

 

We have all been shocked by the devastating aftermath of the typhoon that hit the Philippines a week ago. It is estimated that as many as 160,000 Filipino seafarers and their families are directly affected. The world's maritime community quickly sprang into action with pledges of money and ships for the relief effort. The welfare organisations around the world are providing free communications and assistance to Filipino seafarers visiting their ports as well as providing support on the ground in the Philippines.

 

ISWAN has been successful in raising extra funding for the Seafarers Emergency Fund from The TK Foundation, ITF Seafarers Trust, Orange Foundation, Seafarers UK, and the UK Merchant Navy Welfare Board to be used to fund free communications back home for Filipino seafarers visiting seafarer centres.

 

If your seafarer centre is providing free communication for Filipino seafarers, you can apply for this funding - please email help@seafarersemergencyfund.org. PLEASE NOTE - contact your 'parent' organisation/headquarters, if you have one, first as they may have already received funding from the Seafarers Emergency Fund for this purpose. If you are in North America and are a member of NAMMA, then please contact them.

 

ISWAN has been playing an important co-ordinating role with key organisations involved in seafarers' welfare such as ISF/ICS, ITF, and ICMA. Other organisations such as IMEC, IMHA, & WISTA are also involved. ISWAN has convened two teleconferences with these organisations and is also disseminating information. We have set up a dedicated area on our main website at www.seafarerswelfare.org and the SeafarerHelp team www.seafarershelp.org are ready to assist any Filipino seafarer who contacts them.

 

For further news and key resources please go to the dedicated area of the ISWAN website at www.seafarerswelfare.org/news-and-media/typhoon-haiyan. Among the resources you will find is a practical guide for shipping companies and crewing agencies on supporting Filipino seafarers. This guide maybe useful for seafarer centres. 

 

If there is anything that you would like to share about what your organisation is doing re Filipino seafarers then please let me know.

 

We are regularly updating the website and our Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/welfareofseafarers  

 

You can also follow updated news via our twitter feed at @iswan_org

 

Thank you for all that you are doing!

 

Please let me know if you need any further information.

 

Warmest regards

 

Roger Harris

Executive Director 

                          

 

Pictured from L to R Neil Clark, President of the Propeller Club Ports of Southwest Louisiana, Deacon Patrick Lapoint - AOS Lake Charles, and Rev. Lloyd Nelson - Carey Baptist Assocation. The check shows $800 but the amount has already grown to over $1400 and increasing.

 

  November 14, 2013

 

LAKE CHARLES - Seafarers coming into the Port of Lake Charles with families in the devastated Philippines will be able to make contact with them through the generosity of The Propeller Club of Southwest Louisiana Ports, which has raised more than $1,400 from local industry and individuals, according to Neil Clark, president.

 

 

   Clark presented a check to Deacon Patrick Lapoint, director of the Lake Charles Seafarers Center, and Rev. Lloyd Nelson on Thursday morning. The funds will be used to purchase telephone cards so that the sailors can make contact with their families without cost.

   The project only began on Tuesday at a Propeller Club meeting with a challenged by member and local business owner Sheron Faulk of Ship to Shore.

   "She challenged all the business owners to contribution $100 each and from that other business owners and industry representatives stepped forward," Clark said. "There have been corporate donors and individual donors with maritime interests and now more people are becoming involved."

   Anyone wishing to make their own contribution to help purchase phone cards for the seafarers can send their check to the Seafarers Center of Lake Charles, 150 Marine Street, Lake Charles, LA 70601. For additional information, call Deacon Lapoint 337-436-1315.
   
  The Propeller Club is an international business network dedicated to the promotion of the maritime industry, commerce and global trade with local clubs in cities with ports and other maritime concerns.

 

Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) Cebu port chaplain has spoken of the devastation caused by the typhoon and efforts to provide assistance.  Across the globe the charity's port chaplains have come out in full force to support Filipino seafarers and fishing communities affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

 

Father Ulyses Desales, AoS Cebu port chaplain, has described the situation in Cebu as "devastating and saddening".

 

Father Ulyses has been helping with relief efforts in Bantayan Island, Cebu, one of the areas most affected by the storm.

 

"It was only when I arrived on the island that I saw the extent of the damage for myself; almost all the houses have collapsed, trees have been uprooted and debris is all over the place. It is in the provinces of Cebu that you really get a sense of the destruction caused by the typhoon," he said, adding that he saw people holding up placards with the words 'Please help us. We need water, food, medicine.'

 

Fr Ulyses has turned the seafarers' centre in Cebu into a hub which he can use to mobilise assistance, together with his team of volunteers.

 

AoS has seafarers' centres all over the Philippines from which supported is being provided. Its network of centres around the world are providing free telephone cards and internet access to allow Filipino seafarers to contact their families back home.

 

Its network of chaplains has been visiting crew members and their families to offer practical and spiritual assistance to victims of the devastating storm.

 

Karen Parson, an AoS chaplain based in Galveston, Texas, USA has spent the past week helping Filipino seafarers contact their relatives back home and assisting with their material needs.

 

"One seafarer who is going home to the Philippines asked me to find him a solar powered LED light which I managed to do online. We have been on board ships every day since the tragedy, praying for the crews' families and offering counselling."

 

AoS' Yokohama port chaplain Soon-Ho Kim said fishermen who were affected by the 2011 tsunami have offered their help through the AoS network.

 

"These fishermen, who were supported by AoS after the Tsunami in Japan, phoned to say they would like to do something for those hit by Typhoon Haiyan. It was heart-breaking news for them too."

 

Many AoS chaplains have celebrated Masses for the deceased, and have helped seafarers make sense of the devastation and turmoil.

 

Cruise operator, Carnival Cruises, has also asked AoS to deploy its chaplains on board several of their ships to support Filipino crew.

 

The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which coordinates the activities of AoS worldwide, has set up a special fund which will enable AoS to provide support to those affected by the storm in the long term.

 

  

From the Vatican , November 13th, 2013

   

Prot. n. 7423/2013/AM

 

Re: AOS special Fund for the Philippines

   

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

Once again, we have witnessed the catastrophic power of the nature that in less than one month hit the same area twice (Central - Southern Visayas) in the Philippines . On October 15th, a devastating earthquake and then on November 7th, the Typhoon Haiyan hit the Nation, sweeping away people and property in its course. The death toll is in the thousands, while the survivors struggle to put together what is left of their lives.

 

Our prayers and solidarity go to all the Filipino seafarers miles away from their loved ones, not knowing their fate. We praise many of our AOS Centers around the world that have provided free telephone cards and internet access to allow Filipino seafarers to contact their families. Many of our AOS chaplains have celebrated Masses for the deceased, and have helped the seafarers make sense of such devastation and turmoil.

 

We appreciate that Carnival Cruise has requested AOS deploy Catholic chaplains on board of several of their ships to support Filipino crews.  

 

The great family of AOS would like to show its closeness and manifest its solidarity to the Filipino people. Therefore, as it was done for the tsunami that struck the coast of Japan in 2011, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which is responsible for the overall direction of the Apostleship of the Sea, has decided to set up a special fund with an initial contribution 10,000 (ten thousands) US dollars. The fund will support long-term reconstruction projects, to be realized in cooperation with AOS - Philippines , benefiting the people of the sea in the affected areas when, after the initial weeks of emergency, people will have to return to their "normal" life.

 

Attached, you will find the instructions for your donations in US$ or in Euros (enclosure).  

Bank Transfer Document 

 

Please be kind enough to inform our office (aosinternational@migrants.va) of any transfer of funds.

We would also be grateful if you could share this initiative, giving it all the exposure that you deem fits. In advance, we express our sincere thanks for your support and generosity, asking Mary, Star of the Sea, to bless this initiative.

 

 Antonio Maria Card. Vegliņ

 President

                                                                                                            X Joseph Kalathiparambil

 Secretary