I have only just started to value the beauty of the Maltese Islands and the versatility of the Maltese people since I have been away from the Island for most of these last five years. Most towns in Europe with our population would not even be termed a city, let alone have its own official language and fund a University that caters for some 5000 students. Still we tend to do quite well for an island without any natural resources, not even fresh water, except our acumen, aptitude and religious faith. The concentration of history and culture in such a small place, just 100 square miles, is amazing. Those wanting to get way from it all, can just go to Gozo for a couple of days and enjoy the peace and quiet of the tiny villages.
Sociologists have a field day analysing some of our more peculiar social eccentricities.
Historians have plenty to ponder on - the symmetrical carvings on the huge dolmens found at the Tarxien and Ggantija Temples are mirrored in similar sites all over mainland Europe and in Ireland. Malta has changed drastically in the last ten years. Perhaps it should be made compulsory that each Maltese should live away from the Island for a while, to appreciate and take stock of what is uniquely ours. This Merhba Malta Home Page should certainly provide an excellent medium for Maltese expatriates to communicate to those 'surfing' the Internet, yet constrained by the geographical boundaries of our Islands, their appreciation for all things Maltese, even our idiosyncrasies. Janet Mifsud de Gray is a final year Ph.D. candidate at the School of Pharmacy Queen's University of Belfast, N. Ireland.