Reggae music drifts lethargically with the afternoon breeze, luring passers-by into the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, to sample African food and crafts as part of World Refugee Day celebrations.
The day, which is officially observed tomorrow, is being marked with a rich and varied programme by the UN refugee agency, in collaboration with NGOs and government agencies, as it marks its 60th anniversary.
Banners with slogans, such as ‘The worst mistake you can ever make is being too afraid to make one’, lined the walls of the gardens, and Somali women huddled in a corner preparing their henna tattoo concoction.
Naima Ali, 23, from Somalia, has been in Malta for three months having fled the horror in her country and the war in Libya. She feels welcome though eventually looks to move further into Europe.
Her friend, 29-year-old Hussein from Somalia, reflects on the meaning of World Refugee Day and believes this has to be translated into concrete help.
“To organise a festival on one day during the year does not make sense. What immigrants escaping their problems need is practical help,” he said.
Hussein, who lives with a Maltese family and is fluent in English and Maltese, believes the solution for authorities is to focus on integration.
“We keep talking about resettlement but not about integration,” he said.
World Refugee Day is this year being organised under the spectre of the uprising in Syria and Libya, among others, where hundreds are fleeing persecution from the regime.
Just yesterday a boat carrying 235 migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa and fleeing the conflict in Libya, reached Lampedusa escorted by a Maltese patrol boat.
Since the start of the year more than 11,000 African refugees have landed in southern Italy, and another 1,500 landed in Malta after fleeing the conflict in the North African country.
NGOs believe more than 1,800 African migrants, most from the south of the Sahara, have drowned in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.
On Friday night, the Jesuit Refugee Service, together with the UNHCR, the Malta Emigrants’ Commission and the Peace Lab, held an ecumenical prayer service to pray for those who drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach safety in Europe.
JRS has also concluded its Suspended Lives sixth-month campaign, a documentary that tells the stories of seven immigrants in their own words from the moment they escaped their country until they reached the safe shores of Malta.
In it, the protagonists also tell of the challenges and the daily hardships they face living in the open centres or in the community.
“The feedback we got about the documentary throughout these past six months was very positive and encouraging,” JRS coordinator Roberta Buhagiar said.
JRS will host the final public screening of Suspended Lives, co-produced by JRS and Andrew Galea Debono, at St James Cavalier, Valletta, today at 7 p.m.
Although the campaign will officially end with the last screening, JRS will continue to use the documentary as an advocacy tool, particularly in its school outreach programme.