Marc Gasol said he would never forget the terrified look on the face of Josefa, the Cameroonian woman left clinging to a piece of wood for 48 hours in the Mediterranean Sea.
Josefa was the survivor of a shipwreck about 145km off the Libyan coast on Sunday. Rescuers recovered two bodies in the water alongside her, including that of a toddler.
“There were pieces of wood and clothes floating in the water,” Gasol said. “Then there was that woman, with her elbows resting on a wooden beam. Her eyes were lost in the void. She was weak and in shock. She had been clinging to that piece of wood with her last bit of strength and had remained that way for 48 hours. I thought of this woman, of her strength, and I felt anger.”
For the past week, Gasol, who plays for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, has been volunteering on board the Open Arms Proactiva, the ship that rescued Josefa and collected the bodies of her fellow travelers.
Gasol has participated in rescue operations: He threw himself into the sea to try to recover the bodies of the migrants and helped bring Josefa on board.
“She would have died after a few minutes if we had not intervened,” Gasol said by telephone from the rescue ship as it sailed for Mallorca.
This summer, Gasol and his brother, Pau, one of Spain’s most famous athletes, have immersed themselves in charity work with the non-governmental organization Proactiva Open Arms.
While many of his fellow NBA stars have spent the summer on the beach, Gasol has chosen to work with migrants in the Mediterranean.
Initially, the All-Star chose not to publicize the decision, but then — at the sight of the bodies in the waves and Josefa’s terrified face, and with photographs of her rescue having circulated on social media — Gasol stopped holding back.
He on Twitter expressed “anger and frustration” at what he had seen.
“It was too important not to tell the world... I could no longer remain silent,” he said.
According to the UN, 1,443 people have died or gone missing attempting to cross the Mediterranean so far this year.
“I do not understand why [the Italian government] is preventing ships like Proactiva from bringing migrants safely to their ports,” Gasol said. “These people save lives every day.”
Marc and Pau help run their own charity, the Gasol Foundation, which funds projects for the world’s poorest children, but this summer, Marc took more direct action and sailed with Open Arms.
After three days at sea, the ship found the wreck that left Josefa stranded in open waters.
Gasol did not hold back his emotions when he talked of the recovery of the drowned toddler.
“I will never forget that child,” the 33-year-old said. “I am a father. I have children, and I imagine the pain of a father who is forced to face a journey like this where one risks everything, one risks one’s own life, to reach a country where one can live in peace and with dignity.”
Open Arms mission leader Riccardo Gatti said he is happy to have Gasol’s help.
“It’s great to have Marc on board. We always need help here. Everybody is welcome on our boat,” he said. “It is important that people like Marc spread the word about what’s going on here.”
Gasol will soon return to the US to prepare for the new season with the Grizzlies, but he will not forget his time on the Mediterranean.
“I cannot understand how anyone can turn away from these people who are dying at sea,” he said. “How can we pretend it isn’t happening? Before being an athlete, I’m a person, a human being, like the ones Open Arms are saving every day. We must work so that these tragedies never happen again. We are all responsible.”
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