Author: Nathaniel Xavier

Life at sea can be difficult and lead to long periods of loneliness and depression. Since 2019, Stella Maris Nordic has been supporting seafarers and fishers in a large area stretching from Finland in the east to Greenland in the west. Now, the official maritime charity of the Catholic church in the Nordic countries has been incorporated into Caritas Denmark.

For the past two years, Stella Maris Nordic has worked to improve the lives of seafarers in Nordic ports. As the network of volunteers has grown, and the number of ship visits has increased, there is a need for a new focus on fundraising and a firmer organisational framework. Deacon David Noval, who has spearheaded the work, will return to a position in the company where he was previously employed, and Stella Maris Nordic will be incorporated into the Catholic relief organisation Caritas Denmark.

At Caritas Denmark, Michael Andrew Dolan Møller has been appointed National Director of Stella Maris Nordic. Møller has been an active volunteer in the start-up phase of the maritime charity, and he is Caritas Denmark’s parish representative in the city of Aarhus. Aarhus is also the biggest shipping port in Denmark.

Michael Andrew Dolan Møller says: “My wife Jonalyn and I have visited over 160 ships in the past year and a half. It has been an enriching experience for both of us, and hopefully we have made life a little easier for the people we have visited. We look forward to continuing this work in the new structure with Caritas.”

David Noval says: “The last two years of my full-time involvement in setting up Stella Maris Nordic have been fantastic. Many businesses, churches and individuals are now aware of the Church’s work for seafarers and fishers. It is time for a different focus, which I am confident that Caritas can bring. The hearts of Stella Maris and Caritas beat for those who need us, and that is why I am happy that Caritas can take the work in Denmark to the next level. I hope that the strong support in our network will continue in the new set-up. I am honoured to have been part of the journey and excited to see the work flourish in partnership with Caritas.”

Bishop Czeslaw Kozon says: “Caritas’ mission is to reach out to the marginalized. People at sea can also find themselves in a vulnerable position by being far from home for long periods of time and sometimes having harsh working conditions. Historically, Caritas and Stella Maris have many ties that unite. When reverend Knud Ballin founded Caritas in 1947, he was also active in the service of Stella Maris, and in recent years Caritas has supported the work of Stella Maris. I am deeply grateful for Deacon David Noval’s great work and initiative, and I look forward to seeing Caritas further develop the maritime charity.”

Martin Foley, Stella Maris European Regional Coordinator and Stella Maris UK CEO says: “Stella Maris UK will support the continued growth of Stella Maris in the Nordic countries and looks forward to working in close partnership with the new National Director, Michael Andrew Dolan Møller, and the team at Caritas Denmark. We also pay tribute to the departing National Director, David Noval, for the outstanding work he has done in re-establishing Stella Maris in Denmark. He leaves very strong foundations on which to build. We pray for David and his family as he embarks on a new chapter of his life.”

Around 18,600 seafarers, fishers and their families will benefit from support in Kilindini Harbour in Mombasa; Lamu Port in Malindi; Homa Bay, the county with the largest share of Lake Victoria; and Lake Nakuru, Naivasha and Barringo in Nakuru after Stella Maris Kenya was awarded a substantial grant by The Seafarers’ Charity.  

This grant will enable Stella Maris to support seafarers across these areas through the local port chaplains and ship visitors. The main focus of this programme is to meet the pastoral and welfare needs of seafarers, regardless of nationality, belief or race. Thereby improving their mental, physical, and spiritual health and wellbeing and quality of life. 

Stella Maris Kenya’s programmes also include access to training and educational programmes; counselling and psychosocial support for seafarers’ spouses; referral of crew and cases of abuse of seafarers to the appropriate Government Offices; growing our capacity and reach by increasing the number of port chaplains and ship visiting volunteers at each port and therefore the numbers of ships visited and seafarers helped.  

To date the work of Stella Maris in Kenya has largely been restricted to Mombasa. The team has recently grown from one port chaplain and three volunteers to a National Director and a team of more than twenty-seven port chaplains and ship visiting volunteers. By expanding their team, Stella Maris Kenya have grown their reach across both Mombasa and Lamu Port in Malindi, as well as Nakuru and Homa Bay. With the support of The Seafarers’ Charity, we are pleased to have the resource to support this expansion and drive their work forwards.

Since September last year, Margaret Masibo, National Director of Stella Maris Kenya, and her team have provided invaluable support to the crew of the abandoned fishing vessel, FV Ra-Horakthty. When she first went onboard the crew had had no fresh food or water for several days and were starving to death. They had no money and could not disembark from the ship as they did not have papers to be in Kenya. Margaret supported them with a cooked meal; supplies of food and drink; and access to wi-fi so they could contact friends and family; as well as putting pressure on the shipping company to provide support, helping find legal representation for the men and liaising with the relevant embassies for them to go home. Tragically, abandonments such as this are becoming all too common. Support such as this is hugely important in helping to ensure that abandoned seafarers and fishers get the help they need, for as long as they need it. (Watch our webinar on Seafarer Abandonment in which Margaret was a panellist)

Margaret said, “We are grateful to The Seafarers’ Charity for their support of our work. This grant will make a huge difference to the lives of the seafarers and their families whom we help.  

Support from this grant will enable us to grow and solidify our national ship visiting and crew welfare programme across Mombasa, Malindi, Nakuru and Homa Bay, helping more than 18,600 seafarers and their family members throughout the year who are struggling with loneliness, exhaustion, bullying and exploitation. We will provide them with help when they need it most.

Without the support of The Seafarers’ Charity, we would not be able to be there for seafarers in need and we wish to thank them for their grant which helps make our work possible.” 

We’d like to share with you the first Annual Report of Stella Maris South Africa, put together by Fr Rico Talisic, Stella Maris National Director and Cape Town port chaplain. The report covers the period between April 2021 and March 2022.

During this time, Fr Rico has been appointed as the new National Director and Stella Maris South Africa also received a new Bishop Promoter, Bp Vincent Mduduzi Zungu OMI who represents Stella Maris South Africa at the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC).

Stella Maris port chaplains and volunteers tried their best to reach out to more seafarers and fishers during this period. Since April 2021, 570 ships had been visited across the ports of Durban, Richards Bay, and Cape Town. On these ship visits, 1,684 seafarers and fishers had been visited and assisted. In addition, Cape Town had visited 48 hospitalised and quarantined seafarers and fishers due to Covid-19 protocols.

You can find more detail and read case studies and get insights from the pdf document below.

Stella Maris, the Catholic Church’s outreach to seafarers and fishers and their families, will strengthen its global network to become even more effective advocates of the people of the sea.

Delegates attending the charity’s 25th World Congress in Glasgow, Scotland from October 3 to 5 reaffirmed their shared faith and values to stand with the people of the sea in the challenges they face at sea and on shore.

This shared faith stirs us into action, said Stella Maris UK CEO and Europe regional coordinator, Martin Foley. Stella Maris exists to love the people of the sea, its staff, volunteers, and all the people with whom the charity works.

“We strive to serve the people of the sea, the maritime sector, the Church, and all stakeholders, with integrity. We have great strength in the diversity of our teams globally. Being from the communities we serve, and working and living alongside them, gives us an enhanced understanding of the challenges they face” he said.

Nearly 200 port chaplains, regional and national coordinators, ship visitors and volunteers from 25 countries, plus officials from the Holy See, attended the Congress which marked the charity’s 102nd anniversary where Stella Maris was founded in Glasgow.

Use of technology
We need to communicate the work we do more effectively, in shining the light on injustices and abuses taking place within the maritime and fisheries sectors, including abandonment of seafarers, modern slavery and trafficking, said Martin.

“In order to do this, we need more than anecdotes, so we will continue efforts to promote the use of a common Stella Maris database that records our activity on ships, fishing vessels, hospital visitations, and elsewhere. 

“The database, which was set up by Stella Maris UK, and is being currently used in the UK and countries including Kenya, South Africa and in Europe, will be transformative, and help us communicate better internally and with the media, industry regulators and authorities,” he added.

Ukraine
Stella Maris International Director Fr Bruno Ciceri said Stella Maris will continue its support for the seafarers, fishers and families affected by the war on Ukraine.

As the war drags on, Stella Maris chaplains are working to support the immediate needs of these seafarers and their families.

The charity’s Ukraine national director Fr Alexander Smerechynskyy is involved in providing support to the families of Ukrainian seafarers. Fr Alexander and his colleague Rostyslav Inzhestoikov have been working alongside seafarers and are being a source of good counsel and support to their families when their loved ones are away at sea.

“However, there is now increasing demands for mental health support from Ukrainian seafarers and their families suffering trauma, worry and fear during the ongoing war, so the charity is putting in place a new programme of medium to long-term support from professional psychologists in Ukraine.

“The platform will provide a programme of remote, ongoing psychological consultation for those most in need,” said Fr Bruno.

Fr Bruno added that Stella Maris is greatly encouraged by the message Pope Francis sent on the occasion of the World Congress, which urges the charity to never waver in highlighting issues affecting seafarers and fishers, and to voice-out challenges faced by the maritime community.

* To see more photos go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/apostleshipofthesea/albums/72177720302598251

Stella Maris UK Chair of Trustees Captain Esteban Pacha and Stella Maris UK CEO Martin Foley have written a letter to the International Maritime Organization Secretary General Mr Kitack Lim for World Maritime Day, on 29 September 2022.

Below is the letter.

Dear Secretary General,

On behalf of Stella Maris, we would like to offer you our wholehearted support for this year’s
World Maritime Day theme, ‘New technologies for greener shipping’.

In his Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis mentions that an integral ecology
encompasses the environmental, economic, and social ecology; cultural ecology; the ecology
of daily life; the principle of the common good; and justice between the generations. In this
sense, the environment is not regarded as something separate from us or as a mere setting
in which we live. We are part of it, included in it and thus in constant symbiotic interaction
with it. A crisis of the environment necessarily means a crisis for humanity. A crisis of our
oceans and seas necessarily means a crisis for us, especially, the people of the sea and local
fishers. For as Pope Francis observes in Laudato Si, “We have to realize that a true ecological
approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates
on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Stella Maris recognises that greener shipping is not only beneficial for the environment, but
also for the seafarers, fishers, and families we serve and who depend on the marine
environment for their livelihoods.

Thank you for using the platform of World Maritime Day to raise the profile of this critically
important issue.

Stella Maris looks forward to continuing to work with you and your IMO colleagues to
promote seafarers’ welfare.

Yours sincerely,

Esteban Pacha, Chair of Trustees
Martin Foley, Chief Executive Officer

Global maritime network Stella Maris is reiterating calls for the immediate end to the practice of using transit visa to bring migrants into the United Kingdom to work on fishing vessels.

The international charity says the government needs to act quickly to ensure that migrant fishers are offered the same legal rights and protection that foreign seafarers and migrant workers receive.

Stella Maris’ intervention comes as new figures released last week by the International Labour Organization (ILO) indicate there are 50 million people in situations of modern slavery on any given day. This number translates to nearly one of every 150 people in the world.

The 2021 Global Estimates Report also noted that migrant workers are more than three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers.

Although most migration is voluntary and has a largely positive impact on individuals and societies, the global estimates indicate that when migrants are not protected by law or are unable to exercise their rights they can be at increased risk of forced labour and human trafficking, the Report said.

National policy and legal frameworks that promote respect for the rights of all migrants at all stages of the migration process, regardless of their migration status, are urgently needed, the ILO said.

Transit visas are designed for seafarers transiting through the UK to reach their departing ship and are therefore unsuitable for fishers based wholly or partly in the UK as they reduce their basic labour protections in respect of pay and working hours.

Martin Foley, Stella Maris CEO, said: “We urge the UK government to act to prevent the use of transit visas to bring foreign nationals to work in the UK fishing industry. Instead, the government should act to ensure that migrant workers in fishing are afforded the social and labour protections available to others working within the UK,”.

Martin said that transit visas could also trigger further injustice for fishers who have been subjected to abuse and may be possible victims of modern slavery. When they seek protection and support from the authorities, they enter the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) so that their allegations and circumstances can be assessed, and a decision made as to whether they should be granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK whilst an investigation takes place.

Fishers in the NRM who arrived into the UK on transit visas have no right to work, so are unable to undertake any form of paid employment during the period they are in the NRM.  

Due to the sheer number of suspected cases of modern slavery in the UK, the average wait time in the NRM is approximately two years. The denial of the right to work to these fishers strips them of their dignity, compounding the pressure they are under.  

“Modern slavery isn’t just a problem that is happening ‘somewhere else’; it is on our doorstep. Stella Maris is often the first responder in these cases, supporting seafarers and fishers who have become victims of modern slavery,” said Martin.

“Stella Maris is committed to fighting trafficking in the fishing industry and is actively involved in assisting fishers who are in danger of being exploited and abused by unscrupulous owners by providing practical support and spiritual and material assistance to the fishers and their families,” he said.

Stella Maris UK held a reception for its supporters, donors, and members of the clergy on board the HQS Wellington, on September 8th.

After a couple of years of not being able to gather together on this special venue, it was good to see so many familiar faces and meet new people.

The event began on a sombre note, as we received the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen.

Bishop of the Armed Forces and Stella Maris trustee, Bishop Paul Mason led us in prayer and silent reflection as all those gathered kept the Queen and her family in our thoughts and prayers.

This was followed by an update about our work from our Chair of Trustees Captain Esteban Pacha.

Guest of honour, Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, the Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Holy Family of London, gave a moving talk about the situation in Ukraine, and thanked Stella Maris chaplains and ship visitors for their continued support for Ukrainian seafarers, fishers, and their families.

He recognised the good work being done by our Fr Alex Smerechynskyy, National Director Stella Maris Ukraine, and port chaplain in Odesa, and assistant port chaplain Rostik Inzhestoikov, who have set up a soup kitchen there, and are getting urgent supplies to stranded crews, as well as providing pastoral and material support to Ukrainian families.

In Poland, a Stella Maris centre is being used to provide emergency accommodation for refugees, thanks to our Polish National Director Fr Edward Pracz.

A short and informative impact video was shown to attendees about how their support and donations were making a real difference to the many seafarers, fishers and families caught up in the war.

Guests were then treated to drinks and canapes on the upper deck of the ship, concluding a wonderful evening.

More photos of the event can be viewed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/apostleshipofthesea/albums/72177720302269662/