Source/Credit: Maltatoday: 17 December 2011│ By: Bianca Caruana
SOS Malta launches project to mainstream the integration and diversity of third-country nationals through the media, first highlighting intercultural gastronomy.
Director of SOS Malta Claudia Taylor-East said that the main aims of the Media InterAct project being organisation in collaboration with the Public Broadcasting Services was to see how media can engage with third-country nationals on a culinary front.
“PBS will be producing and showing 13 programmes on television to bring food and cultures into Maltese homes. It has been an interesting process to date. We have also collaborated with Malta Journalism Awards to award journalists with writing on the same topic,” Taylor-East said…
President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Malta Laiq Ahmed Atif is a Pakistani national participating in the project and said that migration was a phenomenon for all creatures and compared humans to birds in their migratory process.
“Just like birds, humans sometimes leave their home countries to find better and safer environments. It can be for various reasons ranging from employment to saving their lives from persecution,” Atif said.
Atif believed that integration was essential for the betterment of countries but it was a two-way process which needed to be respected by both the migrants as well as the host-country.
“Both parties need to respect the dignity of each other and the fundamental human rights. We should accept and respect all races. Migrants must respect and be thankful for the culture, customs and laws of their host-country as a right which when honoured will create harmony,” Atif said.
The Pakistani said that while he was not saying that migration should happen, but that when it does happen, both the host-country and the migrants should look for the positive contributions which can be made to benefit the country.
Atif added that the media can play a crucial role where integration is involved because “everyone has something good to offer” and these can be highlighted by the media.
“We can all learn from each other and share our customs. Like, in Pakistan, we have one custom where men on a bus will always offer and give up their seats to women if there are no seats available,” Atif said.
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Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Malta 