Special Features (as of 2:26 AM)
Akyat Barko Helps Homesick and Seafarers in Distress
By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Here in Rotterdam, 3,000 to 4,000 ships pass every year at Europe’s largest port and fifty percent of these carry Filipino crew members on board.
It is very fortunate for the Pinoy seafarers in distress or are homesick to find a volunteer group called the Community Advocacy for Seafarers Concerns or CASCO, that exists just for them.
CASCO was founded four years ago by a group of Filipinos, German, Dutch and Vietnamese volunteers with the goals of helping and entertaining seamen, particularly the Pinoys, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau reported.
It’s biggest program called “Akyat Barko” has been a tremendous success. Akyat Barko was launched on the context that seafarers live a lonely life at sea.
Seaman Robert Sanchez recounts his life on board the ship. “Trabaho namin is always Monday palagi. Gigising kami ng five o’clock. Five, six, seven hanggang one, trabaho yan. Pahinga ka ng minsan one and a half hours. Minsan isang oras nalang pahinga mo sa hapon, start ka naman hanggang seven minsan. Aabutin ka pa ng hanggang alas otso. Di ka naman makatulog kasi isip mo nasa malayo, nasa pamilya. Pagtapos sa umaga, gising ka naman. Parang ganon, rewind lang ginagawa mo. Almost seven months kaming nandun. Hindi kami bumababa.” Sanchez told ABS-CBN’s Balitang Europe.
Twice a month, CASCO volunteers of the Akyat Barko program, literally go up the ships, knock at the doors and fetch Pinoy seamen and others in order to drive them to the International Seamen’s Center, where they can pass their free time.
The seamen can find everything they need to unwind or relax at the center. There’s an entertainment corner with a giant TV screen and karaoke which is very popular for the typically karaoke-loving Pinoy.
The seamen can also do sports at the center which is equipped with a basketball court, a gym and pool, billiards and table-tennis tables. Even the rubber shoes and basketball uniforms are provided.
And for the homesick Pinoys, there is a cyber and telecom corner where they can surf the Internet or chat with their loved ones in the Philippines over the phone.
Through the leadership of Dr. Eddie Cruz, a Pinoy doctor at the Erasmus University Hospital in Rotterdam, the Akyat Barko program of CASCO has already served thousands of Pinoy seamen.
“So far up to now, successful na successful ang CASCO. Lalo na itong karaoke evening. Sinusundo at hinahatid namin ang mga seamen sa kanilang bapor. Kung sino ang nakadaong dito at the time na meron kaming karoke evening sinusundo at hinahatid. Dito sa seafarers center. Nakaka-basketball sila, nakakapag-pool, meron ding konting bar at naka-karaoke. At least they can use their time safely instead of going to other places,” Cruz said.
He added that CASCO also provides for the other needs of seamen such as warm clothing, DVDs, pocket books and English-language magazines.
CASCO also has volunteers that provide support for seamen who fall ill on the ship or who are hospitalized.
“Pag naospital sila binibisita namin sila sa ospital lalo na kasi wala silang kamaganak dito. Masaya na sila pag nakakita sila ng Filipino na nanggaling sa Holland,” Cruz said.
Eda Liauw-Sinajon is a Filipina who is a “ship and hospital visitor” at CASCO. She has been helping seamen for twenty years now. “Ngayon me binisit kami this afternoon na yung kanyang sakit ay internal. I think intestinal…so hindi siya pinabalik ng barko kasi kailangan i-examine siya dahil gusto ma-sure ng doctor na hindi siya grabe. Etong kababayan nating seaman gusto niyang bumalik ng barko. Kaya pinayuhan ko na mas maganda na dito sa hospital dahil covered naman siya ng insurance,” Liauw-Sinajon said.
For her Vietnamese husband who is a driver on the Akyat Barko program, it is a labor of love to drive the seamen to and from the ships. “Dahil dati siyang seaman. Influence siguro ako sa kanya. Dahil seaman, he knows the seaman’s life,” Liauw-Sinajon says of her husband.
SOURCE: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=81067
Akyat Barko Helps Homesick and Seafarers in Distress
By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau
Here in Rotterdam, 3,000 to 4,000 ships pass every year at Europe’s largest port and fifty percent of these carry Filipino crew members on board.
It is very fortunate for the Pinoy seafarers in distress or are homesick to find a volunteer group called the Community Advocacy for Seafarers Concerns or CASCO, that exists just for them.
CASCO was founded four years ago by a group of Filipinos, German, Dutch and Vietnamese volunteers with the goals of helping and entertaining seamen, particularly the Pinoys, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau reported.
It’s biggest program called “Akyat Barko” has been a tremendous success. Akyat Barko was launched on the context that seafarers live a lonely life at sea.
Seaman Robert Sanchez recounts his life on board the ship. “Trabaho namin is always Monday palagi. Gigising kami ng five o’clock. Five, six, seven hanggang one, trabaho yan. Pahinga ka ng minsan one and a half hours. Minsan isang oras nalang pahinga mo sa hapon, start ka naman hanggang seven minsan. Aabutin ka pa ng hanggang alas otso. Di ka naman makatulog kasi isip mo nasa malayo, nasa pamilya. Pagtapos sa umaga, gising ka naman. Parang ganon, rewind lang ginagawa mo. Almost seven months kaming nandun. Hindi kami bumababa.” Sanchez told ABS-CBN’s Balitang Europe.
Twice a month, CASCO volunteers of the Akyat Barko program, literally go up the ships, knock at the doors and fetch Pinoy seamen and others in order to drive them to the International Seamen’s Center, where they can pass their free time.
The seamen can find everything they need to unwind or relax at the center. There’s an entertainment corner with a giant TV screen and karaoke which is very popular for the typically karaoke-loving Pinoy.
The seamen can also do sports at the center which is equipped with a basketball court, a gym and pool, billiards and table-tennis tables. Even the rubber shoes and basketball uniforms are provided.
And for the homesick Pinoys, there is a cyber and telecom corner where they can surf the Internet or chat with their loved ones in the Philippines over the phone.
Through the leadership of Dr. Eddie Cruz, a Pinoy doctor at the Erasmus University Hospital in Rotterdam, the Akyat Barko program of CASCO has already served thousands of Pinoy seamen.
“So far up to now, successful na successful ang CASCO. Lalo na itong karaoke evening. Sinusundo at hinahatid namin ang mga seamen sa kanilang bapor. Kung sino ang nakadaong dito at the time na meron kaming karoke evening sinusundo at hinahatid. Dito sa seafarers center. Nakaka-basketball sila, nakakapag-pool, meron ding konting bar at naka-karaoke. At least they can use their time safely instead of going to other places,” Cruz said.
He added that CASCO also provides for the other needs of seamen such as warm clothing, DVDs, pocket books and English-language magazines.
CASCO also has volunteers that provide support for seamen who fall ill on the ship or who are hospitalized.
“Pag naospital sila binibisita namin sila sa ospital lalo na kasi wala silang kamaganak dito. Masaya na sila pag nakakita sila ng Filipino na nanggaling sa Holland,” Cruz said.
Eda Liauw-Sinajon is a Filipina who is a “ship and hospital visitor” at CASCO. She has been helping seamen for twenty years now. “Ngayon me binisit kami this afternoon na yung kanyang sakit ay internal. I think intestinal…so hindi siya pinabalik ng barko kasi kailangan i-examine siya dahil gusto ma-sure ng doctor na hindi siya grabe. Etong kababayan nating seaman gusto niyang bumalik ng barko. Kaya pinayuhan ko na mas maganda na dito sa hospital dahil covered naman siya ng insurance,” Liauw-Sinajon said.
For her Vietnamese husband who is a driver on the Akyat Barko program, it is a labor of love to drive the seamen to and from the ships. “Dahil dati siyang seaman. Influence siguro ako sa kanya. Dahil seaman, he knows the seaman’s life,” Liauw-Sinajon says of her husband.
SOURCE: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=81067
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