Away from the glitz of the tourist resorts, tucked away on the south coast of Malta, are the refugee camps that house migrants from Africa. The men and women who live in the camps are constantly reminded that there is no space for them on the island.
Tareke is an interesting man. Like St Paul, he was washed up in Malta by accident. Arriving unannounced in Malta by boat is generally ill-advised. St Paul somehow got away with it. He enjoyed three months of Maltese hospitality and then continued on his way to Italy. Which is exactly what Tareke would like to do, but it won't happen. For the last couple of years, Tareke has been experiencing a Maltese hospitality very different from that enjoyed by St Paul.
Tareke came by boat, making landfall on Malta's south coast on a hot summer night. That was in 2006. Tareke was one of the lucky ones. The boat was fragile, leaking and overcrowded. The hot weather took its toll and two men, a woman and a baby perished from dehydration on the voyage from Libya. Their bodies were cast into the sea. Tareke survived and found himself stumbling by dark across a rocky foreshore onto real land. Happy to be off the boat at last. Pleased to be alive. Pleased to be in Europe.
Malta is a small island. Only half the size of Greater London. Many would argue that it is already overcrowded. But not so overcrowded that endless advertisements in the in-flight magazines on planes bound for Malta cannot offer a clutch of good reasons for relocating to the Mediterranean island. And along the boulevard at Sliema, a popular haunt for tourists, the timeshare touts are always on the lookout for gullible visitors from northern Europe who might be seduced by sunshine and slick talk.
Away from the glitz of the resorts, the Maltese government does its best to provide reception facilities for the migrants who arrive from Africa.
This is just an excerpt. The full text of this article is not yet available to members with online access to hidden europe. Of course you can also read the full article in the print edition of hidden europe 21.
Print edition in which the article appeared. Click to purchase:
Bookmark or Share This!
