HUNGRY SAILORS

HUNGRY SAILORS

{ Solidarity not Charity }

There are hundreds of international sailors, mostly holding Indonesian, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Kiribatian passports, docked at the Honolulu Harbor. The sailors are at sea for months at a time. Since they do not have visas to enter the US, they are not allowed to leave the piers. A group of volunteers visits twice weekly as members of a pop-up clinic to offer them medical and translation support. They include doctors, healthcare workers, medical students, college students, interpreters and dentists. Before COVID there were also physical therapists, chiropractors, nurses, nurse practitioners … This initiative was started by a pastor but it is not religion-based. Their focus is to support the sailor’s practical needs. The group also receives donations of medicine and other supplies, including a van!

The HUNGRY SAILOR project is to add fresh produce to the services of the pop-up clinic. While their bosses do purchase them some vegetables, they could use a lot more. Quite a few of them have high blood pressure and/or diabetes, and the sailors are generally more accustomed to a high vegetable diet as opposed to meat. The enticement of fresh produce could also encourage them to visit the pop-up clinic more often.