Tales from Brazil

Elsa Mireya Gómez Cubillos works in the Stella Maris Centre in the port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Centre is welcoming place where staff are always willing to listen. Here Elsa tells us about the visiting seafarers and their stories.

“I started work as secretary of the Stella Maris club in Rio in March 2006. Working here very enjoyable. Everyday I meet people from different parts of the world and different cultures, men and women, each with their own story.

In conversation, seafarers may talk of their families, of love, of daily work. But they always mention sadness and loneliness and they talk of their home countries and the day-to-day aspects of home life like meals and shopping trips with the family. When they share these things, they seem more relaxed, perhaps because they have found someone with whom to share their experiences and concerns.

Not all seafarers who come to Rio de Janeiro have the chance to visit this wonderful city. The lucky ones who do come back full of energy, delighted to have seen the Cristo Redentor, Sugar Loaf Hill and the most famous beaches in the world: Copacabana and Ipanema.

Those seafarers who do not have time to explore the city may come instead to the Stella Maris Club. We do everything possible to offer them the best. Some read newspapers, others watch television or write letters to their families and friends. Some come simply for conversation over coffee where they can share their experiences. These are typical of the stories which we hear every day.”

In time of sorrow

A seafarer said that he had a wife, three sons and a daughter. His daughter had married at the age of 17 because she was expecting a baby. But when the baby was born, her husband abandoned her. By the grace of God, this situation was resolved. But one of the sons, living in Mexico and with two children, was also unhappy in his marriage. His father was worried that the children would suffer.

That seafarer said that, after a hard day’s work, he always thought of his family. It caused him great pain that he could not always be there to share these sadnesses. But that was the life that he had chosen and he had been at sea for 25 years.

In time of joy

Another seafarer was telling me that he missed his family very much. He had not seen his children grow up and had not been present at significant events such as weddings, birthdays, Christmas and new year. Often he had been told about the events some months later.

He said: “once I went home and my wife said that our daughter had a boyfriend. I set sail again and months later she got married. Time passed, I rang one day and they said ‘congratulations, you’re a grandfather’. I said ‘great! next year I’ll go and meet my grandchild’".

He had been a merchant seafarer for thirty years and was looking forward to retirement.

Love and marriage

One day a young Brazilian woman paid us a visit. She asked if she could come into the Stella Maris Centre and wait for her husband. We started talking and she told us that she had met a Filipino seafarer in the port of Victoria. They fell in love and, after some time, got married.

Her family was supportive and had welcomed her husband into the family. They were very happy but still her husband missed his family, friends and country. Since their marriage he had been trying to get work in the Brazilian company Petrobras but had not had much luck.

After several hours of waiting, her husband arrived and they set out that day for the city of Victoria where they live and where she works in a beauty salon.

Stories such as these we see every day. We know many Filipino seafarers who have families here in Rio and other Brazilian cities.

Elsa meets sailors from the Brazilian national navy

click here to read about the new Stella Maris Centre in Rio