The chief engineer, in this case was ready to talk to me! He lamented the fact that he had hoped to disembark in Vancouver and fly home to the Philippines. He is on board for 9 months and can't wait to go home and meet his wife and four children. I asked him how old his children are. He started with the youngest one. It was his birthday today. Always a painful thing to talk about since seafarers are seldom home when their children have their birthday. When he began to talk about the second child he hesitated a bit and then mentioned that he was a ' special ' child. I asked him why ' special? ' Tears started to swell in his eyes. Their son was born with webbed fingers and toes. He told me that he is 10 years old but he is 4 years behind in his development, in fact he is finally beginning to speak. This is the first time in my entire ministry that a seafarer shared with me his concerns about a ' special needs ' child. The chief engineer can't wait to go home because the plan is to send their son to a special school in one of the major cities in the Philippines and he has to be there to arrange everything. I was also reminded, again, that in that country there is zero government funding for ' special needs ' children!
Today I went to the ship hoping to meet him again, but he was busy. Instead I had a wonderful lunch with the crew, some of them who have been here before.
I hope that the chief engineer will fly home when they arrive in China and join his family in the Philippines...
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| The ' second ' cook is taking a break after lunch. He told me that he signed an 11 month contract. He has 9 more months to go! |
