Save one life, save the world entire

A heart-lifting story about Filipino seafarers recently made it to the news and makes us proud to be Filipinos. Transatlantic rower and AIDS activist Don Victor Mooney of Queens, New York, and his family were received by Pope Francis during a General Audience on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2021, ten years after he was rescued by Filipino seafarers in the Atlantic Ocean.

In March 2011, Mooney's rowboat sank in Cape Verde. He survived by clinging to a life raft. On his second day on the life raft, Mooney was turned away from a ship while he was in distress. Twelve days later, Filipino seafarers on MV Norfolk, a carrier operated by Diana Shipping based in Athens, Greece, spotted Mooney in the life raft and rescued him.