Feed the hungry

I refer to William Attard McCarthy's letter (November 24).

One of the most interesting Xarabank programmes I can say I ever enjoyed watching was the one dealing with this issue of illegal immigrants, refugees etc.

Mr Attard McCarthy, like so many others, take the role of a concerned citizen, worrying of Malta becoming bankrupt and especially worrying about where his taxes are going! I tell Mr Attard McCarthy and many others who feel like him that if we had to sacrifice ourselves and go by with eating bread and oil for years, just to help the needy, we would not be doing anything special. I am not talking about Christian values or use examples from the Bible like the good Samaritan story but just by natural human dignity.

There can be no person who has the right to call himself a human if he turns away from helping another human in need, and there are no ifs and buts. Feeding a human being no matter the colour, is far more important than fixing the roads, than hosting a song festival, changing burnt streets lights, restructuring Tigné or Manoel Island! Aren't we the people known for being missionaries in deed and in monetary offerings?

How many thousands of priests, men and women have left and still leave our shores and go to help the needy? We, who remain, still feel we should help and we pray for them and donate millions of liri for the missions.

If the government tells me exactly how much it is costing me in taxes to take care of these unfortunate people I will be glad to know how much I am donating to such a noble cause, but I do not need to know. Do you think I am happy in donating my taxes for normal expenses? But I would be happy to pay them to aid a fellow living human being and I will still donate to l-Istrina and the missions. If I run out of money then I will not rent as many DVDs and I will eat out less and I will skip a haircut and a night out.

A friend of mine in the Netherlands took a whole family in, mother, father, two small children and a grand-dad. They live with him, he feeds them, clothes them and even pay them for the little housekeeping they do in the meantime. Anyway, now I remember this particular family is white; maybe many of us are still afraid of the black colour of the Babaw! What worries me most is not the financial fact, nor the working bit but the idleness they might find themselves in if we just group them up and do not present them with something to do.

I cannot imagine a healthy man or woman, spending a whole day there in some barrack, doing nothing. Then it will certainly feel like prison! What if we can involve them in some light work, say four hours a day to keep them occupied. After being quarantined why do they have to be locked up? Can't they roam the streets freely, with a temporally visa until they receive their status? That way they could spend the Lm80 we give them. If there is a trouble maker and he offends the law, then he or she will be justly punished as would any other criminal, but we cannot punish the lot for a few. I cannot understand why this is an issue.

Sleep well my friends, because I seldom do when I think of all my brothers and sisters who lack so much of what I freely have.