Allow me to greet you on this relaxed and chilly Sunday.It's a first day in the office when I can actually say that it's not a lot to do,-a welcome opportunity to do some writing. For the last few weeks either our popularity grew, or problems at sea suddenly became more pronounced, but our phones kept ringing. Sometimes all the four lines were busy at the same time. The mixture of languages and dialects that we spoke reminded me of Tower of Babel. Figuratively speaking of course, as by using all these tangs we were trying to restore the order, or draw the plan towards a solution and to stop the chaos. However the original Tower, as we all know, was the actual symbol of latter.

In it's core that's what our job is about-restoring clarity, fixing the broken chain of events, broken lives. I know that it may sound too bolder statement, but that's what we do. Sadly we don't have much time to reflect on the philosophical side of our work, but it is certainly there.

So, with the growing popularity of Seafarer Help, the demands and complexities are getting bigger too. It is obvious now that as an organisation we are in the rare position of existing on the border of quite a few worlds,- the realm of Science, dimension of Human Rights, kingdom of Art, incloser of Law. And I haven't named all of them. This kind of "location" is surely a challenge, but with that it's a blessing since our organisation can obtain necessary knowledge from all these areas, consult with professionals from each of them.

With the rapid appearence of new posters, marketing materials, titles, photographs a visual profile of Seafarer Help becomes more distinct too. Like a growing person, our organisation finds it's true personality. It is interesting to watch, good to listen to and occasionally a bit annurving. Future is approaching, or our organisation moves towards it's shores.Perhaps this motion is mutual.

Hello.Today's events reminded me that despite the creative and truly mind-expanding nature of the job we are doing here, it can suddenly turn towards you it's dark and somber face. Like some kind of forgotten ancient deity with four different faces that are attached to the same head, it can turn any of them todards you in any time. Thing is, you cannot possibly predict when it's going to happen and which emotion will be depicted on this face. Will it be joy, sadness, grief, dissapointment or triumph? We are not to know, and perhaps this unpredictability is one of the most interesting points of our work.

So today on the other end of the phone line I heard a true voice of pain...Of course it was disguised by the frigile and melodical voice of a woman, and yet her recent loss almost managed to turn her into the archetype. She suddenly rose above the level of daily existance and became a new Antigoni, modern Medea, contemporary Electra. Her emotions were so three-dimentional and her thirst for truth and justice so intence, that I simply couldn't help but to feel it with her. She lost her husband. Sea was cruel once again and took him away. Sea was what it really is- a blind forse of nature, fierce and untaimed element.

All we can do at this stage is to help the widow to find out the truth, to listen and to be understanding. I tried to be and to do all that during our conversation. It is not easy for me to say how successful I was, but the genuine effort was there. I even was able to stay positive and somehow not to give into the dark mood when our conversation was finished. A year ago it would be much more complicated for me to mentain a balance between compassion and actually entering the emotions communicated to me by the caller. I would truly suffer and allow my imagination to take me to the places of their pain. But today I gently asked my imagination to show me the pictures of possible solutions, of ways that could lead to the true information that our caller was longing for. And by doing so I saw the light in the end of the tunnel, but not the tunnel itself. As a professional I am glad to say, that I have certainly achieved something.