Fleeing Libya

It is becoming routine for messages sent by the NGO ‘Open Arms’ quoting ‘Alarm Phone’ (a hotline for boat people in distress) to be repeated in the local media, which do not permit readers to make any comments on people fleeing Libya being in danger at sea on their way to Europe.

Regrettably, this is a distortion of the truth. The persons involved are not Libyans. Nor are they legal residents in Libya. Nor did they have any intention to reside in Libya. They were only using Libya as the final stepping stone in a long, expensive, clandestine journey from their country, which could be anywhere in Africa or the Middle East, organised by criminals enriching themselves on the dreams and miseries of fellow human beings.

This is the truth. Using the word ‘fleeing’ is fake news to elicit sympathy, which also goes to help the traffickers in humans. Unless and until the international community, including the United Nations and its branches dealing with migration and refugees, admit the truth and act accordingly, this tragedy will go on repeating itself.

A similar operation is ongoing between mainland Europe, especially France and Belgium, and the United Kingdom across the English Channel, where the word ‘fleeing’ cannot, by any imagination, be used.

Evarist Saliba – Suffolk, England

Concert from Vienna

As I watched the annual New Year’s Day concert from Vienna, I said to myself it’s no wonder God made man the centre of creation. With such wonderful music, what can replace the intelligence of man?

This year, we missed the participation of the audience in the hall.

How can we deny that God created us in his own image? According to the Holy Bible, no other creatures can take the place of human beings.

The 2021 Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert was conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Francis Vella – Mosta

Traumatic effects of abortions

Little attention is being given to the traumatic effects on women who have had abortions. Photo: Shutterstock.com

While Doctors for Life and Doctors for Choice in Malta are arguing in public whether ectopic pregnancy treatment highlights health risks while abortion is still illegal, Doctors for Choice continue to clamour for the decriminalisation of abortion.  

At the same time, little attention is being given to the traumatic effects on women who have had abortions.

Women are constantly being bombarded with pro-choice rhetoric that abortion is necessary. They also hear the words of post-abortive women who say that their abortions were the right thing to do.  

Abortion is never a happy ending. It kills a child and leaves a mother to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she took her child’s life. 

This is what a prominent feminist said after having an abortion: “After napping [after the abortion], I went back to the bar scene. There was not enough whisky to satisfy me that night.

“When I woke up the morning after my abortion, my friend asked how I slept. I said: ‘Like a baby’. She said, ‘You mean like a baby killer?!’ For months after that, I knew nothing except that I wanted to die. Death was the only certain escape from the horrific pit that had formed in my soul. I begged for therapy. How could I admit what I had done? No one else needed to judge me as harshly as I had come to judge myself.”

A former abortion clinic worker said: “At nine-and-a-half weeks gestation, I had an abortion. It nearly killed me. No, not the surgical procedure, the psychological aftermath. I attempted suicide three times after my abortion and, finally, ended up in an adolescent psychiatric ward of a community hospital for a month to recover. Working in the autoclave room was never, ever easy. I saw my lost child in every jar of aborted baby parts.”

 The founder of the pro-life And Then There Were None says: “One day in the car, my daughter asked if someday she would be able to see her siblings in Heaven. I asked her what she meant… honestly, hoping that she was not talking about my own two abortions. She said that she knew I had two abortions and she wanted to know if she would ever get to meet those babies because she said: ‘In my heart, I miss them.’ I never knew I would pass that sort of heartbreak onto my children. When I had my abortions, I never thought about how it would affect others. I didn’t think about my future children. I never thought about how I would have to explain my selfishness to them.”

If, in Malta, you are contemplating having an abortion or struggling with post-abortion grief and regret, there are resources that can help you. Check out Dar Tgħanniqa t’Omm’s lifeline 2033 0033 in Mosta or Dar Gużeppa Debono, Gozo, tel: 2155 2595.

Tony Mifsud – Coordinator, Malta Unborn Child Platform, Floriana

Funds kindly provided by the Mission Fund

My brother, Fr Albert Gauci, is a Franciscan Father who has worked in the Honduras missions since the 1970s. His missionary work varies from taking care of infants, mainly orphans, the elderly and the chronically sick, to the provision of food and medicines to all those in need. 

Thanks to funds from the Mission Fund in Malta, my brother also succeeds in providing for the educatio-nal needs of students, some of whom also obtain a university degree.

In this regard, my family, particularly Fr Albert himself, sincerely thanks the Mission Fund for its periodic contributions, which also go towards meeting expenses following the COVID-19 pandemic and the seasonal hurricanes.  

At the same time, we encourage the generous hearts of all Maltese and Gozitans to make donations to the Mission Fund either directly by cheque in favour of the Mission Fund or online by direct bank transfer to one of the following accounts: BOV: IBAN No: MT70VALL220130000000 16300798022; APS:  IBAN No: MT67APSB77079005231820000 820762; BNF: IBAN No: MT94BNIF1450200000000087963101; or Lombard: IBAN No: MT65LBMA05000000000001440822115.

In the meantime, while the Mission Fund would also appreciate receiving used stamps and lottery-eligible VAT fiscal receipts, more information may be accessed from www.missionfund.org.mt.

Thank you, Mission Fund. Dear all, your contributions truly go to deserving philanthropic causes.

Salv. Gauci – Mosta

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