This is a message I hope will serve to give the extra encouragement needed to set us working on the same wavelength.

Over the past week, I have experienced (and I am sure most readers can relate to this) an uncontrollable, constant wave of emotions, ranging from anger to sadness, helplessness to frustration. The list goes on.

I have lived away from Malta for a while now and have hardly ever felt homesick. Last week wasn’t any different. It was, however, the first time in my life that I felt extremely detached from the place I normally love to call home, the first time that the bitter sweet feeling of returning to Malta became just simply bitter.

With a constant burning sensation in my heart and with a persistent sickening feeling in my stomach, I spent the past week obsessing over any news updates, reading opinions and comments, sharing petitions with all my contacts and basically working hard to remain as sane as possible in the midst of all this absolute madness.

Again, I am sure most of you will relate to this state of complete despair.

Having spent my week visiting chat platforms, one thing I did realise was that I am not alone in having these feelings of unease – on the contrary, these feelings are currently the only thing that are actually reuniting me to my fellow citizens in spirit.

And this is the main message that I wish to convey.

It is so crucial to realise that you are not alone in all of this. On the contrary, it is comforting to realise that we are actually in this together. Fluctuating feelings – feelings of anger, emotion, sadness, frustration, uncertainty, distrust – are all very human feelings and should not be set aside or suppressed.

These feelings must all be taken at face value, acknowledged and understood – this is the only way we can eventually put these feelings to good use and transmit them in a way that will lead us to meaningful unity to achieve our common goal of justice, safety and love for our country once again.

The most unsettling feeling to swallow and fully digest has been a feeling of sheer helplessness, a word I have noticed has been used quite a lot. What is it that I can do to help? Will it even work? How can we possibly set up a resistance against forces, which seem to be so much stronger and mightier than us?

How will my individual actions impact on the scale that needs remedial action? I get it, I really do. This mind trap will, however, not get me, or my country anywhere. On the contrary, it will give those evil elements exactly what they seek to create – fear.

It is not going to be a piece of cake and we must all know and fully understand this and, to be honest, none of us deserve an easy ride – but we must believe that what we are fighting for is pivotal for our future and crucial towards achieving a liberal mindset.

From my own personal experience, residing in Berlin has taught me the true meaning of living in a liberal and free society, the beauty of what it means to feel equal to all those around you, without fear of judgment or restraint.

Berlin is a city which has engraved liberalism within the mindset of its citizens. Indeed, what we currently have in Malta is the complete opposite. Liberal laws do not necessarily translate into liberal mindsets and ways of life.

We have been invaded, we have been violated and we have intruders – and this ultimately happened all under our watch

I urge all to wake up to the current moment, to learn from history and not allow ourselves to go through the suffering that Berliners went through to achieve their freedom at a time when division was made tangible. Let us be different in the way we tackle our common issues.

After the vigil in Berlin and the amazing turnout at the demonstration in Valletta, I feel slightly lighter within my heart. As from today, instead of allowing these feelings to overwhelm me, I will ask for the support of my network contacts in acknowledging this feeling, to then accept it and ultimately translate it into positive action. It is a process that we must accept with humility.

Let us remember our past and our ancestral heritage. Let us remember that the Maltese nation has always stood to protect its own – and no, I am not referring to the 1970s and 1980s. I am even going as far back as the Great Siege.

We stood together as one – with fire in our hearts and unease in our stomachs but, in the end in 2017, we still look back to the day we won our struggles. We still remember with pride when our people fought for each other, for a common goal. This is what makes history, and this is what creates change.

Make no mistake, what happened that Monday is not so different from what was experienced during the 1565 siege. We have been invaded, we have been violated and we have intruders – and this ultimately happened all under our watch.

So it is time to truly get together as one, that we remind ourselves what the Maltese nation has always stood for, that we must turn these individual feelings of helplessness into a collective one, in order to transmit them into the action that is required.

Never underestimate the power of collective action; never underestimate the power of human-to-human support. It is deep and highly effective.

I repeat, you are not alone in the way that you are feeling, and you are definitely not alone in yearning to achieve the common goals of justice and freedom. The demonstration has proved this. We must, however, not stop here.

We must share our collective action with others, we must work towards breaking away from our politically conditioned minds and see things as they truly are. It is only until the feeling of collectiveness is felt, that we can begin to inspire those around us to truly understand its value and ultimately its impact. We must stand as the one nation that we are and to ultimately support each other in doing so.

Let us not wait until we are completely robbed of all our freedom and ultimately of ourselves, let us wake up now to what we have before us, and choose this moment to represent this burning fire we all hold in our hearts.

To all those who were unsure of turning up for the protest, I hope that you now feel empowered to join us in the fight towards change and justice. We are all in this together.

“No man is an island… no one goes his way alone. What you put into the lives of others will come back unto its own” – Phil Jackson, NBA coach.

Tamara Fenech is currently reading a Masters degree in the specialised field of sustainability in fashion design.