DESTINY

• He was born in Mali 23 years ago;

• Probably did not have much of a childhood;

• Poverty was rampant; education scarce;

• He grew up hearing of the wondrous world beyond Mali’s shores – in Europe;

• He left Mali and probably somehow made his way to Libya;

• He paid good money to be loaded on a death-boat with scores of others;

• Finally he landed in a place called Malta; he had never heard of it before but they said this is part of Europe;

• Not an academic scholar with any qualifications, he found it difficult to find work;

• Finally the construction industry called and he gained employment;

• The dangers seemed awesome but he had no alternative; working at heights probably made him dizzy;

• He was detailed to a site in a place called Qawra;

• He was working on a plank four storeys high;

• Safety provisions appeared to be absent;

• The plank broke;

• He plunged four storeys and smashed his head and his hands;

• He was taken to hospital;

• He died;

• They cry for him back home in Mali;

• In Malta – he is just another statistic; a little passing footnote in the news media.

DESTINY

ALBERT JEROME FENECH