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SEA SUNDAY
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On Sunday the 15th
June we will observe "Sea Sunday" in Bahrain when we remember and
pray for all seafarers and their families. What have seafarers got to do with us? A great deal as it happens. If you had a cup of tea, coffee or an orange juice for breakfast; if you eat bananas, drive a car, use a computer or wear clothes made outside Bahrain, then seafarers will have been involved. Their ships carry over 90 per cent of world trade. Many of the things we eat and use on a daily basis are brought across the oceans from other countries. Bahrain (meaning 'two seas') is an Island depending mostly on imported goods. Because ships usually berth in isolated places, it is easy to forget the people who crew the world's ships even though we depend upon them. They are the invisible people coming from different countries, leaving their homes and families and all that is familiar to them for months at a time, facing isolation and danger. Seafarers' time in port is brief as today's ships can be loaded and discharged in just a few hours before sailing on to their next destination. When they do get ashore they are faced with unfamiliar languages and customs; in fact they can feel like unwanted strangers. The work of The Mission to Seafarers is so valued by seafarers of all nationalities and faiths. There are chaplains, staff and volunteers in most ports around the world ready to make seafarers welcome, share their joys, listen to their difficulties, and support them when they feel lonely, homesick, or have a problem or suffer bereavement. In over 100 ports worldwide the Mission has seafarers' centres. In Bahrain we have our Seafarers' Welfare Centre in Mina Sulman Port, where crews can relax briefly, away from their place of work and meet local people, enjoy some recreation and telephone or email their families. Some Mission centres have chapels where seafarers can join in worship or pray quietly away from the noise and bustle of their ships. They also provide Holy Bibles and Christian literature in many different languages and offer God's love to seafarers by caring for their welfare whatever the need. We all depend on seafarers. Sea Sunday is an opportunity to remember and pray for the 'SEAFARERS', their families and all who work for the Mission to Seafarers. I take this opportunity to say 'THANK YOU' to our dedicated volunteers who man the Centre in the evening and also to the members of St. Christopher's and Awali congregations for supporting this ministry in many different ways through the fund raising, dinner dance and hospital visits. If you would like to know more about our work among the seafarers to wish to assist as a volunteer, give me a call on : Mob: +973 39 24 74 13 - Office: +973 17 72 82 66 or email: biss@batelco.com.bh With God's Blessing and Peace - Victor Salve |
