An open letter to the government of Mauritius
From Mauritian crew members on Emerald Princess
Good day honorable Minister Joe Lesjongard, I have listened attentively to your press conference dated July 17, 2020 and I felt the sudden needs to put pen to paper my thoughts so that we both can come to an agreement on the use of the word "humanitarian".
Since my native language is not English, I went into a deep search of that strong word on the online Oxford engine search and below is what I found.
Being a humanitarian means helping people who are suffering and saving lives any time any place in the world. And so humanitarian work requires being responsible, conscious of the circumstances of other people's lives, and helping them on the basis of need, without discrimination.
Unless Oxford has some descrepencies, then our understanding of the word "Humanitarian" is completely different. Let me explain why: since the start of this pandemic, at least four cruise ships with Mauritius citizens had made their approached to the island. They were ready to comply with any conditions set by Mauritius government to have the Seafarers off on their motherland however this was immediately dismissed.
At this point, I still had faith in Mauritius government because COVID 19 was relatively new to the whole world and worldwide nations were justifiably focused on protecting their own citizen.
We were just some unfortunate souls unwittingly caught up in the fast-changing health, policy and border restrictions which have rapidly affected the globe. But then, as we start learning more about COVID 19, world leaders started to come up with plans to repatriate their citizens although keeping their borders close for foreigners.
And yet, Mauritius government did nothing. After some much pressure from the media, they came up with a plan and we all know what came out of this disastrous action plan for the Seafarers.
Only 450 Seafarers per month are allow and we are over 3000 Mauritian citizens still stranded at sea. And then came the fiasco of allowing a private jet to land in Mauritius with three Malagasy nationals to land in Mauritius on "humanitarian" basis. And to make matter worst, one of them had been tested positive.
My question to you honorable minister Joe Lesjongard, what do you classify as "Humanitarian"? What I am deducting from all of this is unless we come on a private jet we are not welcome. I thank you in advance for any clarification you can bring to the table, because right now I am at lost at the way the word "Humanitarian" was used.
From Mauritian crew members on Emerald Princess
Good day honorable Minister Joe Lesjongard, I have listened attentively to your press conference dated July 17, 2020 and I felt the sudden needs to put pen to paper my thoughts so that we both can come to an agreement on the use of the word "humanitarian".
Since my native language is not English, I went into a deep search of that strong word on the online Oxford engine search and below is what I found.
Being a humanitarian means helping people who are suffering and saving lives any time any place in the world. And so humanitarian work requires being responsible, conscious of the circumstances of other people's lives, and helping them on the basis of need, without discrimination.
Unless Oxford has some descrepencies, then our understanding of the word "Humanitarian" is completely different. Let me explain why: since the start of this pandemic, at least four cruise ships with Mauritius citizens had made their approached to the island. They were ready to comply with any conditions set by Mauritius government to have the Seafarers off on their motherland however this was immediately dismissed.
At this point, I still had faith in Mauritius government because COVID 19 was relatively new to the whole world and worldwide nations were justifiably focused on protecting their own citizen.
We were just some unfortunate souls unwittingly caught up in the fast-changing health, policy and border restrictions which have rapidly affected the globe. But then, as we start learning more about COVID 19, world leaders started to come up with plans to repatriate their citizens although keeping their borders close for foreigners.
And yet, Mauritius government did nothing. After some much pressure from the media, they came up with a plan and we all know what came out of this disastrous action plan for the Seafarers.
Only 450 Seafarers per month are allow and we are over 3000 Mauritian citizens still stranded at sea. And then came the fiasco of allowing a private jet to land in Mauritius with three Malagasy nationals to land in Mauritius on "humanitarian" basis. And to make matter worst, one of them had been tested positive.
My question to you honorable minister Joe Lesjongard, what do you classify as "Humanitarian"? What I am deducting from all of this is unless we come on a private jet we are not welcome. I thank you in advance for any clarification you can bring to the table, because right now I am at lost at the way the word "Humanitarian" was used.
