A personal reflection from our Tilbury port chaplain Wojciech Holub. He shares his thoughts after visiting a ship, and a photo - see if you can spot the dolphin! :) Yesterday morning I visited Henrike Schepers, a small container vessel in the lock of the port. On board I was asked why am I bringing a Russian newspaper for Ukrainians? Then, told to bring “internet” or pens with the words ‘Jesus died for our sins’ written on them. An interesting combination of needs I thought. It was not easy to persuade a seaman from Odessa that it might be worth going to the seafarers centre. He agreed in the end. We walked silently, looking up to the sky while passing under port cranes. Suddenly, we spotted a little dolphin in the water of the lock. Then yet another one! So we stopped to watch them for a good while. I thought of my friends who travelled to Odessa with their son for dolphin therapy. And I also thought of a scientist I met, who during the Cold War trained dolphins for military purposes. I shared some of those experiences as we started to talk… These days I meet quite a few Ukrainian seafarers. Some of them hope for what has just happened. Others hope the West will help them. During this period of Lent, I think we all need these words like therapy; that Jesus died for our sins, so that we understand one another better; and we shall pray for peace. By the way, I found out the dolphins have been in the lock since December last year. But I think they should be released.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 16:12:02 +0000
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