It has just been announced that Ashih Tekleab Haile, the Eritrean refugee who last Wednesday (July 20) lost his life while trying to save a French student will be recommended by the Prime Minister for a posthumous medal of bravery. The Prime Minister's decision should be soundly commended.

This cannot be done as the law stands now. The Medal for Bravery can only be given to Maltese citizens in their lifetime or posthumously "for exceptional acts of bravery". Government has just said that the law will be changed and Ashih will be honoured posthumously.

The story is a tragic one indeed.

Ashih had left the horrors of Eritrea with his wife. He faced the dangers of the desert crossing; the hardships of the sojourn in Libya; the greed of the human traffickers and the perils of the Mediterranean Sea. He risked all for the promise of a new life.

After a troubled voyage at sea, together with other immigrants he was rescued by our army boys and brought ashore. He had probably planned to reach Italian territory. His plans were frustrated by a faulty engine. From what was said by those who knew him, Ashih was a busy and industrious persons. He gave his day's work with enthusiasm. It also seems that this fair land treated him fairly.

Ashih Tekleab Haile was happily settled together with his family. He and his wife were working in the same hotel. Encouraged by their employment they moved out of the open centre and shared a rented flat. He bought a car. The sun was rising on the horizon of their lives. Living in Malta must have been a luxury when compared to miserable living of his compatriots in Eritrea.

When everything seemed to be going for him and his wife disaster struck. Life can be so cruel.

He escaped the rough seas between Libya and Malta but fell victim to the rough seas at Paradise Bay. He could have still been alive today. He just had to play safe. Instead, he preferred to be brave and altruistic instead. The cries for help from a French student who was drowning made him show his true mettle. The need of the other made him put aside the risk for his life. He tried to save the French student from drowning. Ashih Tekleab Haile succeeded but paid the ultimate price for doing so.

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 13). Ashih had a love greater than the greater love. He did not lay down his life for his friend. He laid down his life for an unknown person. Ashih did not look at the colour, nationality or gender of the other person. He just considered the humanity of the other person. He saved a man, not a Frenchman or an Arab or a black or a white.

The bravery and altruism of Ashih should be a lesson to those Maltese racists who look on these poor, black people as if they are children of a lesser god. His heroism should put them to shame. His altruism shows how vile is their hate. The industriousness of Ashih should help them realise how horribly mistaken is their stereotype of the refugees in our midst as just louts and bummers.

From the death of Ashih flourished a new lease of life for a young Frenchman. Every breath that this young French student takes is a breath he vicariously takes for Ashih. Every embrace he receives he owes it to Ashih. The children he will probably someday father will be fathered thanks to Ashih. The Frenchman's mother had a son returned to her.

The Eritrean's wife, Selemawit Hagus Belay, whom he met and married in Sudan in 2006, is now a widow. She will be comforted by the nice things that people are writing about her husband. She will be proud when she is decorated in his stead. However, people do not live by nice words and medals alone. She should be treated and helped in the same way as if both of them were Maltese. Treating her in such a way is not charity but a sign of humanity and an act of justice.