A Seafarer in Crisis: Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Fr
José Juan Cervantes is the AOS port chaplain in Buenos
Aires. Here he tells us about being alongside with a
traumatised seafarer.
“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”.
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.
Photograph: Fr José Juan (right) with Philippine
Consul Dr Raúl Dado |