Jose and Anu-Marja

From Kokkola, Finland, comes this delightful letter.  Jose and Anu-Marja share in the ministry to seafarers from there.  Jose writes:

In these lines I want to share with you a little bit about my experience here in Finland and specifically in Kokkola.

Some of you know the beginning of this story, but for the ones who don’t know: it all started at SMT in Durban, South Africa, where I met Anu-Marja, port chaplain at Kokkola, Finland.  A year later she became my wife and I moved to Finland from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where I had been a port chaplain of Stella Maris.

I arrived in Finland during the summer of 2007.  In the long days of that summer, I started to realize how big the challenge was to adapt to this new situation.  My first priority was to learn the language. It is a fact that with English it is possible to survive in Finland, but it is not enough for living here and getting into the culture. My greatest advantage was that Anu-Marja is Finnish.  She continues to be a big help in every step that I have taken.

When I started to study Finnish, I also got to know other migrants living in Kokkola. After learning the basics in the language, I worked mainly in a primary school where I helped a teacher in a special class. The class was for  children from different countries. Some of them were children of refugees from Myanmar and Iraq, others had come here because their parents got a job in Finland, and some had a Finnish parent.

I also worked in an International Youth Centre.

These experiences of migrants and children inspired me to find a job in the social and health field.  I wanted to help these people.  Unfortunately, my previous studies did not help much to find such a job.  I decided to study for a new profession.  I am studying what is called “lähihoitaja”.   It is commonly translated to English as “Practical Nurse”, but that’s not really accurate, in my view.  The Finnsh word implies also the social field and not only the health sector.

Jose on the frozen Baltic

Even though my life has changed, I am still in contact with the seafarers ministry, because my wife is the port chaplain in the Port of Kokkola.  Whenever I can, I go to the harbour to work as a volunteer in the Mission, trying to contribute with my experience from Kaohsiung.

It has been amazing how much my own experience as a migrant has taught me about the ministry to seafarers.
I am also a foreigner living here in Finland, and like many seafarers I sometimes feel “homesick”.  I have come to understand that by sharing time with them, I can help them to continue doing their work.  But seafarers enrich my life too:  their experiences help me, living here “under the North Star”.

I don’t regret my decision to change the direction of my life. I was born in a place without any river and not near to the sea.  Now I have a life in continuous relationship with the sea…    I once heard that life is like a river.  In my opinion it is more like the sea:  in the river there is only one way to go, but on the sea the possibilities are endless.   The sea is able to unite continents.  The possibilities of life are as immense as the ways of the sea. I have decided to follow the star of the north and that decision has opened to me a new world of opportunities.

Greetings from Kokkola, Saludos desde Kokkola, Terveisiä Kokkolasta!!!

José Guadalupe Flores Vargas

The Annual General Meeting and Consultative Forum of the International Christian Maritime Association are set to meet in Penang, Malaysia.

These events are opportunities for all 28 members of ICMA to come together.  At these meetings the members participate in discussions and workshops on pressing issues relevant to seafarers’ ministry. The membership advise the Executive Committee on ICMA policy and strategy.

This year the meetings move to Asia.  The Consultative Forum, planned for 25 September, follows directly after the ICMA East Asia Regional Conference.  The proximity of these meetings allow for the frontline chaplains and volunteers who attend the East Asia Conference to meet and mingle with the ICMA-societies’ leaders, and for these leaders to touch base with grass roots carers.

The focus of the East Asia Conference is on self-care for chaplains, and the ministry to fishers.  Dr. Marion Gibson, renowned Irish academic and valued collaborator of ICMA, leads the presentations on self-care.  Father Bruno Ciceri from the Pontifical Council for Migrant and Itinerant People, leads the discussions on fishers.  The East Asia Conference will be held from 21 to 24 September.

The Consultative Forum kicks off with a presentation from Mr. David Fredrick, a ship owner with recent experience of pirate attacks on his fleet.

During other plenary sessions, ICMA will discuss the implementation of its developing training and education policy, and the plans for the Hamburg 2011 World Conference.

The Consultative Forum will split up into four working groups that will workshop

• ICMA’s value to its members,
• the theology of our ecumenical working,
• responses to piracy and
• our ministry to fishers.

ICMA is fortunate that it can rely on the financial support of the ITF Seafarers Trust to stage such events.  Both the East Asia Regional Conference and the Consultative Forum are generously supported by grants from the Trust.  These grants enable ICMA members from developing countries, who would not otherwise be able to attend, to come to these meetings and to contribute to these consultations from the wealth of their experience.  ICMA would be immeasurably poorer without these members’  contributions.

Click here for a programme of the events in Penang. The programme is subject to change.

Hennie la Grange, general secretary

Somali pirates' boat. Source: Wikimedia Commons

With only five weeks to go before the deadline, the petition to encourage international action on piracy has reached 300,000!

Jon Whitlow, ITF Seafarers Section, says:

This is a fantastic achievement, but we also need to remember that we only have five weeks to collect the remaining 200,000 signatures.

The situation in Somalia remains critical, with 351 seafarers and 16 ships being held in Somalia, some since October 2009.  Most recently, the Syria Star was fired on and hijacked and two crew members were injured before the ship was released.

Printable petition forms are available at www.endpiracypetition.org.  These PDFs can be emailed to ships, signed, scanned and returned to howard_penny@itf.org.uk.

The petition is now available to be signed on-line in Chinese, Russian and Spanish.  PDFs of the petition are available in these languages in addition to Japanese, German, and French.

Plans are being made for the presentation of the petition to the IMO General Secretary in London on World Maritime Day, 23 September 2010.  Supporters of the initiative are encouraged to organise local events to present the petition to their own governments.  The ITF can provide you with the package of signatures.

These final five weeks will be critical to the success of the petition, and we ask everyone to think about how they can contribute, says Whitlow.

Paige Sato

And so preparations for Christmas 2010 begin in earnest.   Many ICMA members visit ships bearing gifts at Christmas.  And many of those gifts will be beanies and scarves lovingly knitted by scores of people who want nothing less than to demonstrate the warm heart of God’s coming in Jesus Christ.

Paige Sato is no different.  She zealously supports charitable causes.  And Paige co-owns a knitting store in Montclair, NJ.

The Reverend David M. Rider, SCI President & Executive Director, says: “Paige brings incredible personal energy, life experience, and entrepreneurial skills.”

Paige began knitting at Colby College, where she endured what she characterizes as “insanely long bus trips.” She played varsity women’s ice hockey at Colby, and one of her teammates taught her to knit.

Sato enthuses about her new appointment, which ties her keenness for knitting with public service. She says:

“The possibilities are endless. All the aspects of the organization—from the maritime education, to the advocacy, to the ministry and hospitality—serve such a great need, and I think I can really help advance the organization’s mission through the Christmas at Sea program.”

To read more from SCI’s new Program Manager, Paige Sato, visit the SCI’s Christmas at Sea knitter’s blog.

Fishers plying their trade. Source: R.N.M.D.S.F.

10 August 2010.

The BBC reports today that deep sea fishing is the most dangerous occupation in Britain.

Fishers are most at risk of losing their lives at work.

• The risk that a fisher might die while working is 115 times greater than any other.
• One in 20 fishers are at risk of serious injury.

The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishers report that fishers are unlikely to survive if lost overboard. 

Read more on the website of ICMA member The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishers.

The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishers is one of several ICMA members dedicated to caring for fishers.  Almost all other members of ICMA care for fishers as part of their service to all merchant seafarers.

ICMA is presently looking at ways to enhance its ministry to fishers.  At its Consultative Forum planned for September in Penang a workshop on ministry to fishers will be led by Father Bruno Ciceri.  It is hoped that a sub-committee on fishers might be established.

ICMA calls for prayers and support for fishers.

Hennie la Grange, General Secretary