![\"VallettaSummit\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/VallettaSummit.jpg\")
<\/a>European Union and African nation leaders present at the Valletta Summit on Migration (Malta, 11-12 November 2015)<\/p><\/div> On November 11-12, Malta <\/a>hosted the Valletta Summit on Migration<\/a> <\/strong>promoted by the European Council, during which 28 countries of the European Union met with 35 African countries and representatives of the United Nations. Its goals, as expressed on the Council\u2019s website, include \u201caddressing the root causes by working to help create peace, stability and economic development; improving work on promoting and organising legal migration channels; enhancing the protection of migrants and asylum seekers, particularly vulnerable groups; tackling more effectively the exploitation and trafficking of migrants; working more closely to improve cooperation on return and readmission.\u201d But, meanwhile, it was the Maltese themselves who stepped up and dealt with the situation, <\/strong>also becoming involved in welcoming the migrants. Anna Caruana Colombo<\/strong>, a Volunteer <\/a>from the Focolare Movement, told New City Magazine<\/a> how she and her friends engaged over thirty people in a process of learning about the conditions and the needs of the migrants \u2013 thanks to the Jesuit refugee service \u2013 and then visiting the welcome centres where people who have already obtained refugee status can find lodging. International summit holds discussions on the small Mediterranean island, while the people of Malta roll up their sleeves to welcome migrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893,894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2","category-senza-categoria-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>In one centre they held English classes; <\/strong>provided useful information about Malta; and simply spent time with the migrants. In another centre that welcomed families, they provided child care and tried to meet the basic needs of the little ones. Later, when they received permission, <\/strong>the Volunteers also went into the detention centres, Anna recounted: \u201cThe refugees were in rooms with bunk beds, even twelve per room, and there was not enough room for everyone. At first they were shocked, but seeing that we only wanted to befriend them, they overcame their mistrust. From English lessons we also moved on to more enjoyable moments with music and dance; and the guards remarked that they had never seen them so happy.\u201d The young people of the Focolare Movement<\/a> also became involved, inviting the refugees to events for teenagers such as the Run4Unity<\/a>; and to the Mariapolis for a few days of meetings with Focolare friends and sympathisers. \u201cOur project is beginning to gain visibility,\u201d Anna concluded, \u201cand we were asked to present our experience to the other Ecclesial Movements.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"