A shelter for those abandoned at sea

The Reverend Stephen Miller, unlike many professional expatriates, is in touch with the country's manual workers seafarers, in particular.

He is formally the Seafarers' Welfare Officer at the Mission to Seafarers based in Dubai.

Informally, he also takes care of seafarers' needs, mainly material, rather than spiritual.

The mission has been in Dubai since the 1970s, when the late ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, approved the office's establishment, and even gifted land to build on.

In the 1970s, seafaring was globalised, and cheap labour was brought in from the Philippines, India and Malaysia.

The Rev Miller's work is a whirl of human problems such as seafarers abandoned on-board ship after their company collapses and unpaid wages, some dating back more than two or three years. Some sailors need to be informed of bad news back home. Others just want a cup of tea and a chat.

Some of the stories the Rev Miller comes across are heartbreaking, like the Pakistani watchkeeper who went without wages for four years in Ajman. The Pakistani begged in Sharjah for two-and-a-half years and came to the reverend when he developed a cough.

It was tuberculosis and the Rev Miller carried him in his arms to hospital. The man was subsequently put in an isolation cell in Sharjah prison, where he was treated, and began to recover. The mission gathered money and sent the man back home.

Another case involved four ship cadets, men in 18 months of training, who were sexually abused by the ship's captain. The Rev Miller made sure the captain went to prison.

"Nobody should ever tolerate such behaviour," he said. However, most cases he deals with involve abandoned ships.

Besides an administrator, the Rev Miller is almost a one-man show. However, other organisations pitch in and help. Most of the mission's work succeeds through cooperation, such as the Korean ship in the port of Fujairah, where the captain and the Chinese crew had gone for more than a year without pay. The ship was also running out of food.

Another ship donated three tonnes of food, the ship's agent organised another ship to go out 12 miles to deliver it. The mission purchased and sold the ship and paid the crew.

"It's all local connections and advocacy," the Rev Miller said.

He says most cases he receives are resolved "but take time".

"People call when it's so bad they can't live with it. But problems are not easy to resolve. You have to give owners and companies time," he said.

The UAE is one of the mission's busiest spots, because of the amount of trade carried out here. The Rev Miller receives between 5 and 10 distress calls a week. He said seafarers find out about him through "the grapevine".

'Actions speak louder'

He hopes to have another chaplain by the end of the year, to help out. As the UAE grows, so does his work. The Rev Miller says the authorities, the ports, police, and immigration, have been nothing but helpful.

Shipping agents who are meant to be legally responsible for seafarers routinely abandon them to their fate.

"But actions speak louder than words. We sort our problems, authorities here see that. We are a well-known international organisation," he said.

The mission is hoping to buy a small ship in Fujairah "the largest parking lot for ships in the world," according to the Rev Miller to serve seafarers there. It will have a library, satellite-communications equipment and e-mail.

At a glance
The mission was founded in 1856 as a Church of England charity to reach out to British sailors.

It opened 300 offices, mostly in colonial ports.

Its budget is about Dh400,000 a year. Cash is raised through different organisations and fundraising.

It lobbies for seafarers' rights through international bodies, mostly the United Nations.