A Filipino was honored by Sweden’s consul in Vancouver

By My Blue Heart on Wednesday, 8 of December , 2010 at 3:54 pm

Filipino sailor Jesus Sumook was honoured as a hero in a ceremony at Lynnterm, Port of Vancouver in North Vancouver, B.C., October 5, 2010. In 2006 Sumook was helping to unload a ship full of B.C. wood pellets at a Swedish port when he saved the life of a worker who had fallen unconscious in the hold.

The ceremony took place aboard the Saga Tucano, which is now in the port of Vancouver. Sumook is working aboard the vessel, and the presentation was arranged after the foundation finally tracked him down.

Sumook, a father of two, said he refused to give up on the dockworker as long as he had a pulse.

He began to administer CPR.

“Then he began to gasp,” Sumook said, smiling as he recalled the moment back in November 2006 in the port of Helsingborg.

Asked Tuesday if he felt like a hero, Sumook laughed, shaking his head.

“But I am proud,” he said, adding that his daughters — aged 10 and 6 — have both told him they are proud of him too.

“That makes me very happy.”

Present to congratulate Sumook Tuesday were representatives of local labour groups, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents dockworkers like the man that Sumook saved.

The Carnegie Hero awards were established worldwide in the early 1900s as a way of recognizing civilian acts of bravery.

It took the Swedish organization more than two years to find Sumook as the sailor moved from port to port on his global schedule. Many of the ports had no Swedish representative, complicating the effort.

Tuesday, he received an inscribed gold watch, a certificate and a cheque. A lunch was also organized as part of the celebration.

“It is for heroism,” said Anders Neumuller, Sweden’s consul in Vancouver.

“It is a story that really needs to come out so that more people see what they can do in a situation like that.”

Capt. Clifford Faleiro, operations manager for Saga, added:“That he risked his own life to save someone else’s speaks volumes about what he did, and I think he rightly deserves all the praise and recognition he is getting.”

Comments (3) Category: Work Abroad
Tags: Filipino, hero, Sweden, Vancouver
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The New Heroes for the Country and Family

By Blue Rose on Wednesday, 22 of July , 2009 at 11:54 am

Who is the real hero? What is the basis for us to say that he/she is a hero? Does he/she need to die for the country just to be called “HERO”?

Well, that is not just the basis, if you will look up around you, you can find the true heroes, the live heroes, just walking around you.

What am I talking about? Filipinas, they are the new generation heroes of our nation. Lots of Filipinas work hard for their families, lots of Filipinas flies everyday out of the country to be a DH (Domestic Helpers) or OCW (Overseas Contract Workers), or OFW (Overseas Filipina/Filipino Workers). They gamble their life, their happiness with their family and children, just to give them a good life that they cannot get here in our country. Why they have to go overseas if they can work here in the Philippines? Good question. But, difficult to answer, did you ever ask yourself about that?

Some of the Filipinas get the good job, good employer, but some are unfortunate, got beaten by their employers, raped, overworked with less payment and worst of all if your really unfortunate they went home cold and placed in the casket. Lots of eventual things like this happen for decades. Heroes they are called by our government, when they land “dead” in our airport, they pay tribute and do lots of things to help and show of for the family and people. But, come to think of it, have they done enough to help them when they are still alive?

Look at the news today, there are Filipinas and Filipinos who are in death row abroad, I know our government is doing something to help them, but, try hard and do your best to protect them.

A bow and head rose for the Filipinas, they give their life and death to help our country, they are the number one reason why our economy is growing, because of their love and care our life is a lot better now than before, because of their hard work and sacrifices lots of work opportunity are existing in our country.

I think its time to give them a real hero’s welcome.

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Category: About Filipina Life
Tags: care, dead, DH(Domestic Helpers), filipinas, hardworking, hero, Love, OCW(Overseas Contract Workers), OFW(Overseas Filipino Workers), Philippines, sacrifice
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