The last trip

July 4, 2003, morning
The ship sails into international waters for the last time. We set sail very early in the morning, having have heard that the antis are planning a large protest. While we are at sea the wind increases, and we realise that had we left later we might not have been able to sail at all. We arrive back early in the afternoon. There are hardly any protestors at the quay. Once the ship is moored, a special team of customs officials board the ship. We are informed that some of the passengers will be body-searched. All passengers wait in the steering cabin and are very quiet. It is very intimidating, some women are asked to remove all of their clothes and their bags are emptied and searched. Nothing is found and finally everyone is allowed to leave the ship. The disembarking passengers cover their faces and head for the security vans that are waiting to bring them away.

Security co-ordinator, Yvette: "At 04:00h the security team is supposed to arrive with the first van. At 03:50h I get a phone call from our security saying that they are in the front of the house. Nurse Juul, who is supposed to go with me, is still asleep and I decide to wake her up. Barbara from BBC is filming the sunrise. The sky is breathtaking, bright pink sky with the bright orange, pinkish sun on the horizon – it is moments like this that remind one of the joy of waking up early. We finally are ready to leave with the first van. We head to the city to pick up the women. I had made appointments with every one of them, every 5 minutes, and I expect to collect them within 25 minutes, but after 10 minutes everyone is present and accounted for and we can go earlier than planned to the harbour. In the parking by the harbour the second van has collected the other women and we go together in the direction of the ship. After one and a half hours the ship sails away and I can return home.

I can't sleep anymore, even though I am very tired. I eat some breakfast with Noortje and Shawnna and decide to go for a run to get some exercise. I get a phone call that the ship will be in the harbour in about 15 minutes and I run as fast as I can back to harbour. I am the first one to arrive. We have to wait a long time and stay 20 meters away from the ship. Meanwhile more customs officials arrive, among them female customs officers. It becomes clear to us that they will carry out body searches. I hear afterwards that the officials did indeed carry out the searches, but not on everyone. After the customs clearance the women can finally leave the ship. I organise security cars for them and drive them away safely."

Nurse, Juul: "Both before the ship sails and when the ship returns it always takes the customs officials hours and hours to carry out their work."

Press team, Jeannette: "My initial focus has changed. It is more and more important to me to protect the women who are courageous enough to come on board from indiscreet cameras and threats from the LPR. I find myself in a very inelegant split between giving information to the media and protecting women who want an abortion from the ever present cameras and microphones."

July 4, 2003, afternoon
At 16.00 we begin our last press conference. We are happily surprised by a large group of demonstrators quayside that support Women on Waves. They're chanting "Thank You, Thank You!"

Right after the press conference the Langenort leaves for the Netherlands. It is raining. The supporters and antis both gather at the quay. The Dutch and Polish volunteers are crying, it has been such an enervating and intense period of time, and now its over and the ship is sailing away.

Hotline team, Yvette: “This is our last day and at 14.30 there is the press conference. When I arrive at the harbour, I am surprised to find demonstrators, who from this distance look like the antis, but turn out to be supporters from Racja, an anti-clerical party. It is the first demonstration of support here in Wladyslawowo. There are few 'anti' boys standing on the dock looking around. Lots of journalists visit the press conference. We have a short goodbye party together with our security boys and the crew from the Langenort. We then all go down to the harbour to wave the ship goodbye. The custom officers and border patrol are happy that this will be the last time they have to visit us. It is raining and we get soaking wet. But at the moment it doesn’t matter, all of us are very emotional; this is the last hour of our project with this group of people.

On the other side of the harbour is small group from the League of Polish Families (LPR) is protesting and yelling at us, “Go Home!" which we are planning on doing anyway. Meanwhile the other group, (Racja) starts to approach them in a stand off in support of us. At one point it looks like it might become a riot and some of the protesters get arrested. The border patrol is standing between the two groups trying their best to keep everyone quiet. The ship is leaving and our supporters are yelling, "Thank you!"

I am standing in the rain with rather mixed feelings of happy and sad. On the one hand we have succeeded and on the other hand we haven't. We have succeeded in bringing the subject of reproductive rights to the headlines of the newspapers, to the first story after the Pope on the news at 20.00. We put the most unspoken subject of many Poles back on their lips and into the mouth of the Polish government. But we haven’t succeed in helping everyone in a practical sense. The women we have helped during these last 2 weeks are only symbols of hope for change and a better future. I had hoped we could have done more, but the time is so short and we have to accept that we have done our best.�

Press team, Jeannette: "My initial focus has changed. It is more and more important to me to protect the women who are courageous enough to come on board from indiscreet cameras and threats from the LPR. I find myself in a very inelegant split between giving information to the media and protecting women who want an abortion from the ever present cameras and microphones."