Traffic victim had escaped death in Sierra Leone

The Emigrants' Commission yesterday paid tribute to refugee Abdul Rahman Kamara, who died in a traffic accident on Tuesday morning while waiting on the roadside for a lift to work.

Emigrants' Commission director Mgr Philip Calleja said Mr Kamara was a responsible father, whose sad story explained the life of refugees.

Born in Sierra Leone in 1966 and married to Mary Vandi, he had two children Mustapha, 17, and Hamza, 13.

In 1991, when the All People's Congress Party united with the Revolutionary United Front and turned against the Sierra Leonian People's Party, his father, mother and two siblings were killed.

Mr Kamara managed to escape but could not communicate with his family.

In 1995, his life was in danger and he jumped onto a boat, finding himself in Malta, where he applied for refugee status.

In 1999, his wife Mary went to Ghana were she met a Maltese nun who told her she knew a man in Malta by the same name, Kamara. The nun helped them get in touch after having no contact for eight years and husband and wife were reunited.

Mary and her younger son arrived in Malta in 2000 while her elder son, Mustapha, who was left behind when his mother left for Ghana, arrived in Malta a year later.

Mgr Calleja was at the airport that day and he vividly recalls the scene when Mr Kamara was reunited with the son he had not seen for 10 years.

The commission had provided the family with accommodation in Floriana but his wife, who is studying to be a nurse, would now have to take the reins of her family in her hands, Mgr Calleja said.

The number of refugees who arrived in Malta since January 2002 has reached 2,000, the Emigrants' Commission said in a statement to mark Emigrants and Refugees Day.

The commission offered shelter and the basic needs to 400 of those who were granted refugee status or were given humanitarian protection in the last 18 months.

The motto chosen by the Emigrants Commission on the occasion of Emigrants and Refugees Day is: Emigration has ended, but the emigrants are still there.

While the chapter in history which saw hundreds of thousands of Maltese emigrate, was over they were still linked to Malta and their interests are those of the Maltese, the Emigrants' Commission said.

The commission was proud of the success of Maltese emigrants abroad, listing an Australian minister, member of parliament and bishop of Maltese descent, as well as priests and nuns who had homes in other countries, among others.

The commission expressed its gratitude towards those who dedicated their lives to helping the Maltese and its concern at the lack of communication of some with their relatives, Maltese and Christianity.