By Jeff Dixon
ETC staff

Imagine – you are in a country where you can barely speak and understand the language, you are injured, and, from what you can tell, you are about to be taken to the local jail and locked up.
No, this isn’t somewhere in some other country in some other part of the world. It was happening here in Southeast Texas before the local Apostleship of the Sea stepped in to help.

Seaman Bao Ling was doing his work Feb. 1 on a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Heated pressurized water escaped and gave him severe burns on his face and arms. Ling was flown by helicopter off the ship and taken to the emergency room and treated.

A problem arose when he was ready to be released and Ling had no where to go; he was a stranger in a foreign country.

This is where Father Sinclair Oubre got involved late on a Friday evening, Mardi Gras weekend.
“I received a call from Officer Kidd who is a Customs and Border Protection Officer, Friday night and he told me the situation,” said Father Oubre, director of the diocesan Apostleship of the Sea.

“Mr. Ling did not have anywhere to go and could not speak very much English. He told me if he couldn’t find a place for him to stay that he’d have to spend the night in the county jail,” he continued.

This was standard procedure for cases like this one according to the Customs and Border Protection Officer.

“With cases like this where someone has no money for a hotel room and also no way to communicate and get a room somewhere it’s our policy to keep them in lock up over night,” Officer Kidd said.

“I didn’t want to put him through that and I knew that Father Oubre would be willing to take him so I made the call,” he said.

The language problem was the next barrier to overcome.

Father Oubre contacted one of his parishioners, Edna Noack, from St. John the Evangelist, Port Arthur, to help him translate for Ling. Noack could speak Mandarin Chinese and was able to help Father Oubre talk to the man and tell Ling that he had a place to stay for the night.

Father Oubre made arrangements for a place for Ling to spend the night. Ling was also brought items from the Port Arthur International Seafarer Center that the local Apostleship of the Sea collects for seafarers such as toiletries and telephone card.

Contact was later made with Tony Asta of Aztec Marine who agreed to act as Ling’s agent. Arrangements were made for Ling to rejoin his crew.

“This is the kind of thing that the Seafarer Center was built for. It makes you realize how necessary the AOS is and how much it can help people,” Father Oubre said. “We took what could have been a pretty horrific situation and did our best to make it as painless and comfortable as possible.”

Apostleship of the Sea is one of the 18 diocesan ministries and Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas that the Bishop’s Faith Appeal supports.